Make yourself watch the whole thing. It will be hard, but it’s important. Just as it’s important to be proud of the students who didn’t just sit back and cower in fear. Good thinking, kids, and way to use technology to document the atrocities.

Look, it’s a simple matter. If you can’t handle one loud mouth self-important college student without resorting to brutality, you’ve got no right to be a cop on campus. The video didn’t capture the beginning of the encounter, but even if the kid had been tossing books around and stomping on the floor shouting “Free Mumia!” the right way to escort some one from the library is with two strong hands on either arm. There’s just no need to treat “criminal” matters like this as if you’re in a war zone. Apparently, his “crime” was forgetting to bring his ID, and then getting a little pissy when asked to leave. As John says,

I’m glad the police repeatedly tasered that student at UCLA, while handcuffed and seated and offering no resistance, for simply not having his ID in a university library. That student was an asshole. And in America, civil rights aren’t for assholes, or niggers, or spics, or burn-outs. They’re only for people like you and me.

It seems the UCLA officers agree with that.