Sure he screamed. He had a hundred and some odd thousand volts pulsing through him. So he said he would leave and offer no more resistance. Welol, its a little late for that when the cops have to show up and its a little late for that when they ask and you say no. If a man robs your house and you catch him, if he offers to put it back do you let him go unpunished? No. If you break the law you break the law. When they told him to produce papers or leave he could have. When the police told him to leave he could have. Any result of him not doing so is brought on upon himself.

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They are trained to use their judgement under stress.

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great judgement there. "shall we tase him? or just pick him up? - ....tase him"

I have no problem with police acting like this. I like to think that my self and my family will be safe. I think that it is 1000 percent more likely that I, or a loved one, will get hurt by somebody who is breaking the law because he has no fear of getting cought or punished, rather than by a rogue cop.

while what we might see is an idiot boy in the library, as far as the polic eknew he was a criminal, a rapist or a thief, or maybe even a terrorist, who was mingling with students in a place he didn't belong.

I would not want strangers to have access to my childrens schools freely, and if their is a policy that people must show id, then I want it enforced. if soembody really objects to policies that are in place to protect my children, then I have no problem with him getting tased, or, better yet, taken out back and wached around with a night stick.

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I think, for me, it comes down to the fact that I do not want police officers to behave in the manner I saw on the 6 min. long UCLA video.

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Again, I personally think that tasering the kid was a bit over the top, from what I saw. HOWEVER, there are simply too many variables for us too judge. No one here knows for sure what that kids intentions were, and with many Columbine style attacks that have happened, I don't think the police were WAY over the line.

The important thing to remember is that the kid could have avoided all this before it happened. He is not a victim.

I have deliberately stayed off this thread preferring to watch it's direction. Interesting to say the least. As I have a significant amount of experience in LE and am a Taser Instructor, I have a different perspective on al of the above points made.

Just a few points based on some of the comments made so far...

1. Taser is a non lethal weapon designed to incapacitate and facilitate control of physically resisting subjects. It is not a substitute for deadly force no matter what anyone tells you. A deadly force threat justifies a deadly force response. Use of a Taser in a lethal force situation is not a required step in the process, period.

2. Most agencies have the Taser as a response to a subject exhibiting "Active Physical Resistance" defined by "pushing, pulling, bracing or tensing to deliberately and actively defeat the control efforts of the officer". I know some agencies allow it's use at lower "Passive Physical Resistance" defined characterized by the stereotypical Passive Protester going limp and forcing officers to carry them. Fewer agencies still, have the Taser at a higher "Aggressive Physical Resistance" forcing the officers to wait until attacked physically before using the weapon. This should make sense as I mentioned in point #1 that the Taser is about "Control" more than "Self Defense".

3. Did the kid deserve to get Tasered? Let's look at the totality of the circumstances (without making blanket statements about society and roles of law enforcement please).

The guy is in a University Library which required the patrons to have ID for access. He caused a disturbance which prompted some other students to call the campus cops. He was asked to leave and the cops left him alone only to come back and still find him there in violation of the campus rules (read "Law"). They attempted to detain him to make an official record of his being evicted from the premises. To do so they needed to talk to him and get his personal information such as name, DOB, etc. The guy refuses and says he's leaving...("sorry buddy, too late." would have been my response.) A scuffle ensues when the the cops put hands on him to detain him and he attempts to make as loud a disturbance as he can to gain sympathy and support from the students. He is threatened with the Taser, continues to physically resist by refusing, though apparently fully able, to stand up and walk out with them. He is Tased by officers who have all likely been Tased themselves as part of their certification to carry the weapon. They know what he is experiencing and that he likely is fully capable of cooperating but is choosing instead to show his a$$ and act like a spoiled child hoping for sympathy and support. Whether or not he resisted to the point of being a Tased is not clear from the video especially without knowing theat agency's policy. It does seem plausible however, that he resisted initially and at some point he would have been justifiably Tasered.

4. The students came up to the officers in the middle of the situation while they were still dealing with the subject and demanded their badge numbers. As an officer, I can tell you that there is a time and a place for everything. You come up to me and demand my name and badge # while I am dealing with a physical confrontation, I might have a few choice words for you myself.

In closing, it is sometimes hard to explain what all goes into a decision by an officer to use force, Taser or otherwise. I am certainly not going to defend everyone as I know cops are human and they make mistakes. It is a unique position that they are in and a unique water that they have to swim in. They are generally required to do irrational things by most citizen's standards and required to take risks that most people would be happy to avoid. They are given rules and tools that are designed to make their jobs less difficult and more complex at the same time.