Student Tased for questioning Kerry
University of Florida president Bernie Machen said Monday’s takedown, in which the student loudly yelled, ‘Don’t Tase me, bro!’ was ‘regretful.’ He asked for a state probe of campus police actions and placed two officers on leave.
The student in the middle of it all, 21-year-old Andrew Meyer, had no comment after he was released on his recognizance on various charges following a night in jail.
Various videos of the arrest had been viewed more than 400,000 times on YouTube as of Tuesday afternoon and were in heavy rotation on TV news.
Benjamin Dictor, a liberal arts junior, called for the officers to be disciplined, Tasers to be banned on campus and the charges dropped.
“For a question to be met with arrest, not to mention physical violence, is completely unacceptable in the United States, especially in the halls of education,” Dictor said.
Just before Monday’s scuffle started, Meyer asked a woman to tape his exchange with Kerry. One officer said the woman was “there to film him” and that Meyer asked, “Are you taping this? Do you have this? You ready?” before beginning his question.
Another officer said the 22-year-old woman said she was in line to ask a question ahead of Meyer when she was asked to tape, but she did not know him.
Meyer refused to leave the microphone after his allotted time was up, police said. He had asked Kerry about impeaching President Bush, why he didn’t challenge the 2004 election results and whether he and Bush were members of the secret society Skull and Bones at Yale University.
After Meyer repeatedly and loudly refused to walk away, two officers took him by the arms. Kerry can be heard saying, “That’s all right, let me answer his question.”