On November 14, 2006, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, a fourth-year

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

(UCLA) student, was drive stunned five times with a

Taser A taser is an electroshock weapon used to incapacitate people, allowing them to be approached and handled in an unresisting and thus safe manner. It is sold by Axon, formerly TASER International. It fires two small barbed darts intended t ...

campus police Campus police or university police in the United States and Canada are sworn police or peace officers employed by a college or university to protect that private property of the campus and surrounding areas and the people who live, work, and v ...

while handcuffed. Tabatabainejad allegedly refused to show his school ID to a fellow student acting as security at the college library Instructional Computing Commons (CLICC) lab at

Powell Library Powell Library is the main college undergraduate library on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Powell Library is also known as the College Library. It was constructed from 1926 to 1929 and was one of the original f ...

during finals week. A UCLA ID card with magnetic strip is needed to enter into the library after hours and therefore it was assumed that all individuals in the library were students and had valid ID cards to gain access. However, asking students to show ID was not a common practice and for this reason the student refused to show his ID and instead asked the community officer if he had asked anyone else that evening to show their ID. The community officer threatened to call campus police if he didn't show ID. Tabatabainejad, being confident the campus police would take his side as he felt he was being harassed and singled out because of his Middle Eastern ethnicity, invited the community officer to do so. When the campus police arrived they did not ask questions but instead handcuffed Tabatabainejad and attempted to physically remove him from the library. Tabatabainejad sat on the floor in protest of the way he was being treated at his own university while he was studying for final exams. The campus police then tasered him five times while his hands were bound behind his back with plastic wrist restraints. Part of the incident was recorded on video by a camera phone and is available for viewing on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

. Tabatabainejad, an Iranian-American of Muslim heritage,"Groups Call For Answers In UCLA Stun Gun Incident"
the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

2 Los Angeles, November 17, 2006.Sara Taylor (November 20, 2006
"Student to file suit in Taser incident"
'' Daily Bruin''. said through his lawyers that he refused to identify himself because he believed himself a victim of

racial profiling Racial profiling or ethnic profiling is the act of suspecting, targeting or discriminating against a person on the basis of their ethnicity, religion or nationality, rather than on individual suspicion or available evidence. Racial profiling involv ...

and that the tasing was an instance of police brutality. Tabatabainejad filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the officers used excessive force and that they violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. The case was settled on May 15, 2009, with UCLA agreeing to pay $220,000.

Incident

At approximately 11:30 p.m. on November 14, 2006, Community Service Officers were conducting routine checks of students' BruinCard IDs in

. UCPD Assistant Chief of Police Jeff Young said the checks are a standard procedure in the 24-hour library after 11:00 p.m., when use of the library is restricted to staff, faculty and students.Sara Taylor (November 16, 2006
"Community responds to Taser use in Powell"
''Daily Bruin''. When Tabatabainejad refused to produce university identification, he was asked to leave the premises.Sara Taylor (November 17, 2006
"Student to file suit against UCPD"
. ''Daily Bruin''. When Tabatabainejad failed to leave, UCPD officers were called to the scene, arriving approximately 10 minutes later. Following a confrontation, the officers used the Taser repeatedly, then told him to stand up. Tabatabainejad was released from custody after being given a citation for obstruction/delay of a peace officer in the performance of duty. According to a press release issued by the UCPD, he was also issued a court date."Re: Powell Library Incident"
memo released by the UCLA Police Department.

Officers

Terrence Duren, a former Marine and 18-year veteran of the UCLA Police Department, tasered Tabatabainejad multiple times. Duren had been the subject of other use-of-force complaints and had been previously recommended for dismissal.Charles Proctor; Richard Winton (November 21, 2006
"Officer in Taser case identified"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' In an October 2003 incident, Duren shot and wounded a homeless man in a university building, a case that went to trial. In May 1990, Duren was accused of using his nightstick to choke Kente S. Scott, who was idling in front of a fraternity late on a Saturday night. Scott sued, and the university moved to have Duren removed from the force but later gave him a 90-day suspension. Duren stated that all of the past allegations against him regarding police misconduct and use of excessive force were investigated by the UCPD and proven false.Sara Taylor (November 21, 2006
"Officer named in Taser incident"
''Daily Bruin''. (The homeless man was convicted of assaulting an officer.) Prior to the UCLA Taser Incident, several grassroots campaigns between 2002-2006 were undertaken by UCLA students to educate the student body in regard to Duren's history of excessive force. The campaigns were initiated by distinct parties in response to Duren's aggressive behavior for pedestrian citations. Prior to joining the UCPD in the late 1980s, Duren was fired from the Long Beach Police Department due to "poor report-writing skills and geographical knowledge." Following the Tasering incident, Duren remained on active duty. Duren was named 2001 UCLA Officer of the Year by the University of California Police Department.Officer of the Year 2001
UCPD,

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

, 2001 Also on the scene were Officers Alexis Bicomong, Kevin Kilgore, and Andrew Ikeda.

Video and eyewitness accounts

Part of the event is recorded in a six-minute cell phone video recorded by another student. The video has been widely disseminated online, and an edited version is available on the ''Daily Bruin'' site. Tabatabainejad is first heard (though not seen) repeatedly shouting "Don't touch me!" to the officers. Over the course of the video, he is stunned multiple times, while officers repeatedly order him to stand up and stop fighting, and threaten to administer further stuns. Tabatabainejad repeatedly states that he is not fighting and that he will leave the premises. He shouts that he has a medical condition,Lisa Connolly, Derek Lipkin and Saba Riazat (November 15, 2006
"Student shot with Taser by UCPD officers"
i, ''Daily Bruin'' and shouts "Here's your

PATRIOT Act The USA PATRIOT Act (commonly known as the Patriot Act) was a landmark Act of the United States Congress, signed into law by President George W. Bush. The formal name of the statute is the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appro ...

! Here's your fucking abuse of power!" Witnesses say that when it was clear none of the other students were going to help him, Tabatabainejad said "Am I the only

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

?"R. Winton (November 21, 2006
"UCLA orders outside probe of Taser arrest"
''

The Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

''. According to one witness, " abatabainejad wasno possible danger to any of the police.

e was E, or e, is the fifth letter and the second vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''e'' (pronounced ); plu ...

getting shocked and Tasered as he was handcuffed." Bystanders can be heard demanding the officers' names and badge numbers, and shouting for them to stop using the Taser on Tabatabainejad; numerous times these officers responded to demands of their badge numbers with phrases such as "do you want to get tased too?" At one point, the officers told the crowd to stand back and threatened to tase anyone who approached too closely. A female student said that the officers threatened to tase her when she asked an officer for his name and badge number. According to an ACLU attorney, such a threat of force in response to a badge number request constitutes illegal assault. At 6:36 in the video, an officer tells a male student, "Get back over there or you're going to get tased, too." A press release issued by the UCPD claims that the officers "asked Tabatabainejad to leave the premises multiple times", and that Tabatabainejad refused to leave. Witnesses dispute this account, saying that Tabatabainejad had begun to walk toward the door with his backpack when an officer approached him and grabbed his arm, whereupon Tabatabainejad told the officer several times to let go.Amanda Covarrubias; Stuart Silverstein (November 16, 2006
"A third incident, a new video"
''Los Angeles Times''. Tabatabainejad has said through his lawyers that he was stunned five times, which is the count reported in the media immediately after the incident. The reported count was reduced to three after the release of the independent report. The independent report clarifies:

Official response

According to the UCPD press release from soon after the incident, "Tabatabainejad went limp and refused to exit as the officers attempted to escort him out." The release also states that Tabatabainejad "encouraged library patrons to join his resistance." At this point, the officers "deemed it necessary to use the Taser in a 'Drive Stun' capacity". In a statement released November 15, 2006, the day after the incident, Acting Chancellor Norman Abrams said: On November 17, 2006, a press conference was held by Abrams and UCPD Chief Karl Ross, during which it was announced that the UCPD was planning to conduct an independent investigation into the incident led by Merrick Bobb, president of the

Police Assessment Resource Center The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

."Powell Incident Investigation"
''

'', November 17, 2006. Retrieved August 4, 2007. On November 18, 2006, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini condemned the incident, and urged punishment for those responsible. On August 1, 2007, the results of the internal and independent investigations were released, nine months after the incident. The independent investigation found a number of policy violations, but the internal investigation found none. According to Abrams's statement, the difference in conclusions "is not unusual in the legal system. Reasonable people may disagree regarding the inferences to be drawn from the same set of facts, and the facts may differ if some witnesses testify in one investigation and not in the other." The internal investigation is confidential, but the full independent report is available for review.
A Bad Night at Powell Library: The Events of November 14, 2006
' Merrick Bobb, Matthew Barge and Camelia Naguib (August 2007
Police Assessment Resource Center
Retrieved September 3, 2007. On December 10, 2007, the UCLA Police Department released its new policy governing Taser use. The policy was developed from recommendations made in the independent report and with input from experts on Tasers and police use-of-force policy. School administrators and student leaders were asked to review and comment on the policy before it was finalized.Anthony Pesce (December 10, 2007
"New Taser policy released"
''Daily Bruin'', Retrieved January 30, 2008.

Community response

On November 17, 2006, 400 protesters, including UCLA faculty and staff, parents, community members, and UCLA students, gathered at Kerckhoff Hall to protest against the incident. This was followed by a march to the UCPD police station, where protesters were met by officers in riot gear.Richard Winton, Rong-Gong Lin II and Charles Proctor (November 18, 2006
"UCLA orders outside probe of Taser arrest"
''Los Angeles Times''. The protest was organized by more than fifty student organizations to demand an independent investigation into the incident, and to demand the inclusion of students in the investigation.Julia Erlandson and Anthony Pesce (November 17, 2006
"UCLA community gathers to protest Taser incident, campus violence"
''Daily Bruin''. Combiz Abdolrahimi, one of the protest organizers, said that the chancellor should appoint students who will be able to make sure the investigation is transparent and campus police reforms are carried out to protect the students and ensure their safety. He also called for justice and the officers to be held accountable. On the same day as the protest, Abrams announced an independent investigation in addition to the internal investigation. On November 18, 2006, the

University of California Students Association The University of California Student Association (UCSA) is an active 501(c)(3) unincorporated association, purposed as a student association of all University of California (UC) students. Its charter states that it "shall exist to: serve the int ...

passed a "Police Brutality Resolution" regarding recent incidents at

UC Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge ...

and UCLA.Foaad Khosmood, Doug Jorgesen, and Tina Park (November 17, 2006
"UCSA Police Brutality Resolution"
. A ''Daily Bruin'' editorial criticized the UCLA portion of the resolution, describing it as "full of inaccuracies"."Editorial: UCSA Taser resolution inaccurate, uninformed"
''Daily Bruin'', November 29, 2006. On November 21, 2006, the UCLA Undergraduate Students Association Council passed a resolution "opposing inappropriate force against students by university police"."USAC opposes 'inappropriate force'"
Kimberly Young and Jennifer Han, ''Daily Bruin'', November 22, 2006.

Lawsuit

Tabatabainejad's former lawyer, Stephen Yagman, announced on November 17, 2006 that he planned to file a lawsuit against university police alleging "brutal excessive force" and false arrest. According to Yagman, Tabatabainejad was asked to show his university identification card and did not do so because he believed he was being singled out for racial profiling. Yagman, who characterized the incident as an example of police brutality, claimed Tabatabainejad was the only person who was asked to show ID. A November 22, 2006 article in the ''Los Angeles Times'' reported that Yagman had said on November 21 that he was no longer representing Tabatabainejad. On January 17, 2007, Tabatabainejad filed a federal lawsuit alleging the campus officers used excessive force, and that they violated the

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ...

. He was seeking unspecified damages.Andrew Blankstein (January 17, 2007
"UCLA student sues over tasering"
''Los Angeles Times''. According to the lawsuit, Tabatabainejad has

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...

and informed the officers of his condition, but was treated in a way that constitutes discrimination under the ADA.Sara Taylor (January 18, 2007
"Student files lawsuit over Taser use"
''Daily Bruin''. Retrieved June 3, 2007. His attorney, Paul Hoffman, said that a February 2008 court date had been set.Anthony Pesce (August 6, 2007
"Report examines use of force"
''Daily Bruin'', Retrieved August 12, 2007. On May 15, 2009, UCLA announced that the university would pay $220,000 to settle the civil rights lawsuit.

UCPD policy on Taser use

The UCLA PD policy in effect at the time of the incident calls the Taser a "less lethal device" and says that "although not absolutely prohibited, officers should give additional consideration to the unique circumstances involved prior to applying the Taser to ... Individuals who are handcuffed or otherwise restrained" (4C). According to the policy, the "Drive Stun" capacity is appropriate "to eliminate physical resistance from an arrestee in accomplishing an arrest or physical search" (6A) as well as "pain compliance against passive resistors" (6B).General Order 05-01
UCPD policy on Taser use, amended September 27, 2005. Retrieved March 28, 2007. Of the ten UC campus police departments, six have equipped officers with Tasers, but only UCLA had a flexible policy authorizing Tasers to be used as a pain-compliance tool against suspects who are passively resisting.Rong-Gong Lin II (November 22, 2006
"Taser use limited at most UC campuses"
''Los Angeles Times''. The UCLA PD released its new Taser policy on December 10, 2007. According to UCPD Chief Karl Ross, the new policy is considerably longer, includes specific definitions of appropriate and inappropriate use, and explicitly prohibits use against a "passive resister".

References

External links

''Daily Bruin'' TV: Students march at UCLA to protest actions taken by police against student

KNX Newsradio audio of the Nov. 17th Abrams press conference and an eyewitness account of the taser incident.

YouTube video of the incident caught on a cameraphone

Excessive and lethal force? Amnesty International's concerns about deaths and ill-treatment involving police use of tasers
{{UCLA 2006 in Los Angeles 2006 controversies in the United States November 2006 events in the United States Electroshock weapon controversies Law enforcement in California Police brutality in the United States Protests in California Taser incident Taser