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Two videos: A pushy minister tries to enter a Senate hearing with an anti-war button pinned to his coat, is swarmed by half a dozen police officers, taken to the floor, and arrested. An obnoxious student tries to question Sen. John Kerry at a public forum, is swarmed by half a dozen police officers, taken to the floor, and arrested.
Are our public officials so delicate that they need to be protected, with this kind of force, from impolite behavior? Why are the police wired so tight, so these days? (Senator, can you explain why you -- DON'T MOVE, YOU'RE UNDER ARREST!) The bubble of force surrounding our politicians is becoming absurd.
And man, do they love that taser.
ADDED LATER: Here's another video of the Florida arrest from a different angle and with a different starting and ending point. Pretty clearly the kid is an incredible idiot, but I'd say the same for the officer who tells him he was"inciting a riot." And note how the whole thing begins: Kerry saying"That's all right, let me answer his question," while the police decide that it's their job to regulate questions asked in public.
This student is known for disruptive, attention-grabbing activities. The extensive national TV coverage has been just what he wanted. That's why some of the semi-hysterical concern about First Amendment violations and police brutality are somewhat reminiscent of the over-reaction to the Duke Fiasco in its early stages.
Perhaps, as the story fleshes out, those so upset about alleged civil rights violations will realize that this incident is really much ado about nothing.
Here is an excerpt from the Miami Herald which, I believe, puts the story in a more realistic perspective than the same edited TV clip seen over and over again on national news:
"About 1 p.m. Monday, Kerry was nearing the end of a forum at University Auditorium...At that point, audience members were allowed to ask questions at a microphone, university spokesman Steve Orlando said.
The person in front of Meyer was told he would be the last person to speak, Orlando said. Meyer said he was upset with that, so Kerry gave him the OK. When he took the microphone, Meyer asked Kerry several questions..... When reminded that he was only supposed to ask one question, Meyer responded...He's talked for two hours. I think I can have two minutes.''
''He had used his allotted time. His microphone was cut off then he became upset,' Orlando said.
Members of the student group sponsoring the event summoned UF police to escort Meyer out, according to a police statement. At first, students can be heard cheering as he is asked to leave. But Meyer refused to leave, police said.
When officers tried escorting him, he resisted, and officers only partially got handcuffs on him, according to police.
By then, officers had moved Meyer to the back of the auditorium, where he was on the floor, Orlando said.
Officers told him to stop resisting, and when he still refused, they used the stun gun, Orlando said... Meyer was then put back on his feet and taken out of the auditorium, he said."
Chris Bray -
9/19/2007
I think it's possible for Andrew Meyer to be an asshole and for the police to have overstepped their role. He goaded them, engaged in histrionics, played to the camera, etc. They still intervened in the socially irritating but non-criminal event of an obnoxious citizen abrasively questioning an elected official. If anything, a videotaped and nationally publicized arrest gives the guy what he wanted, while turning off his microphone and politely answering his question would have deprived him of the spotlight. Showboating ranters are better ignored than arrested.
Steven Horwitz -
9/19/2007
My first reaction to this incident was much like the above - outrage at what appeared to be an unjustified restriction on free speech and an overly strong reaction by the cops with the use of a taser.
I still think the taser was unnecessary but any sympathy I had for the young man is now gone, given what's in the police report found here.
It's clear he did this all on purpose, as a set up to goad the cops into reacting. He had a camera at the ready and note this from the report:
"As the man was escorted down stairs
with no cameras in sight, he remained quiet, but once the cameras made their way downstairs he started screaming and yelling again. Some of the comments that the man made were
"You can't kill me.", "They are giving me to the government." and "They are going to kill me."
Meyer was transported to the Alachua County Detention Center by my myself and Officer Vinson. Meyer stated he just wanted Senator Kerry to hear what he had to say and that he was upset when he ended the questions without being heard. Meyer stated, on the way to the jail, "I am not mad at you guys, you didn't do anything wrong, you were just trying to do your job." Meyer was laughing and being lighthearted in the car, his demeanor completely changed once the cameras were not in sight. Meyer did ask, at one point, if the cameras were going to be at the jail."
He has a history of staged stunts and this seemed to be just another one.
Grant W Jones -
9/18/2007
I find myself in agreement with Chris Bray on this one. If Kerry was alright with letting the guy rant on and then anwsering the question, the cops should have backed off. On the other hand, the fool in question was resisting a lawful order, bad idea. Tasing the fool was way overboard, however.
Chris Bray -
9/18/2007
Look at first few seconds of the second USF video. Around 6:30 (the timer counts backward), a police officer walks up behind Meyer and puts a hand on his back. She's not intervening against a threatening person, putting herself between the speaker and the senator or trying to restrain the speaker; she's telling him that the police department has decided that his questioning may not be continued. The police have decided that they are responsible for controlling the boundaries of political discussion. There is no crime when the police intervene.
Rob MacDougall -
9/18/2007
Just so long as nobody tries to jay-walk in Atlanta.
Jonathan Dresner -
9/18/2007
So did the 9/11 hijackers.... seriously, though, I really don't think that the purpose of these interventions is to supress dissent or questions, but to impose a high degree of control over the physical and social aspects of the interaction based on certain profiles of certain types of hazardous and/or attention-seeking people.
As with any form of profiling, it can be very useful when used subtly and carefully, and absurd in the hands of your average security guard/police officer.
Chris Bray -
9/18/2007
Er, "overreactions have..."
Chris Bray -
9/18/2007
And at the very least, the minister inside the Capitol had been through metal detectors and a security screening just to get in the building.
But if I had to guess, I'd bet that the reasoning behind these kinds of overreactions has to do with the "post-9/11 world" that we supposedly all now live in. The Mighty Personages will not be safe if questions are directed to their physical bodies. We must address them only from a very great distance, and possibly through the intervention of the saints.
David Silbey -
9/18/2007
Those explosive anti-war buttons have taken out so many politicians...
Jonathan Dresner -
9/18/2007
The question was about why security personnel overreact to apparent disruptive behavior in the presence of prominent personages.
Huey Long may not have been the best addition to the list; I was in a hurry.
Ralph E. Luker -
9/18/2007
The videos are about police suppression of speech, not about political assassination. Even if they were about political assassination, Huey Long? I'm no advocate of political assassination, but I could think of a lot of assassins of political figures before I'd list the assassin of Huey Long as an "asshole."
Jonathan Dresner -
9/18/2007
"Bong hits 4 Jesus", Sheehan and Young at the State of the Union...
I'm having an argument with myself.
Feel free to disagree!
Jonathan Dresner -
9/18/2007
Sirhan Sirhan, James Earl Ray, the assholes who killed Huey Long and John Lennon....
The beat goes on.
Nonpartisan -
9/18/2007
The Republicans willfully do the wrong thing regarding freedom of speech; Kerry knows what the right thing is and tries to do it, but is too weak-kneed to do it effectively. He should have been screaming into the mike for the cops to unhand the student; imagine Teddy Roosevelt in that situation, and you'll get the picture. Instead, he just stands there, his lanky frame slumped helplessly while he watches lesser men destroy one of the principles that made this country great.
It's a perfect illustration of why John Kerry was perhaps the worst standard-bearer (except for Lieberman and Sharpton) the Democrats could have chosen to oppose the strong-arm tactics of the Bush regime.
