This is truly horrible. Tasers are supposed to be used in lieu of deadly force. These officers appear to be using it to punish a student they already have on the ground.
According to the police in this video, asking a politician questions they may not like is "inciting a riot."
It's really hard to tell why the police moved in on the student. They were standing behind him while he was making his statement and asking questions. Then, when he was finished they moved in on him, despite Kerry saying that he would answer his questions. Interestingly, the police made it out that he was only making a big deal out of it for the cameras.
Police noted that his demeanor "completely changed once the cameras were not in sight" and described him as laughing and being lighthearted as he was being driven to the Alachua County Detention Center.
"I am not mad at you guys, you didn't do anything wrong. You were just trying to do your job," Meyer said, according to the police report.
But why should we believe this?! The police lied in another part of the report, as evidenced by the video.
"You will take my question because I have been listening to your crap for two hours," Meyer told Kerry, according to the police report of the incident.
That's a lot different than the actual dialogue: "He's been talking for two hours, I think I can have a couple minutes." The CNN article also quoted Clarissa Jessup as saying, "Organizers had cut off questioning before Meyer went to the microphone." This is unconfirmed, but I think the fact Kerry actually called on him contradicts that the question/answer period was finished.
Two of the officers have been suspended with pay. I think all of the officers involved in this incident should be suspended without pay, and the ones that actually used a taser on him should be fired or suspended without pay for half a year. If this goes unpunished, it will encourage more police to use excessive force when dealing with free speech issues. This must be nipped in the bud before we slide even further toward a police state.