An Iranian-American, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, UCLA student was shot 5 times by a taser gun by UCLA’S UCPD November 14th 2006. UCPD claims it is because he could not show his Student ID. Police threatened to shoot students who got too close. The Student yelled out that he had a medical condition and that he was leaving. The cops kept shooting.
Tabatabainejad: “Here’s your Patriot Act, here’s your … abuse of power.”
WATCH THE INCIDENT:
Caught on a students cell phone. (Warning this is difficult to watch)
TAKE ACTION: Hold the university responsible, demand an independent investigation.
Watch the video and see for yourself. Read the accounts. See Below for more info.
1. CONTACT UCLA ADMINISTRATION About Taser Incident at Powell Library
CALL NORMAN ABRAMS: 310-825-2151
Dr. Norman Abrams (Acting Chancellor) – chancellor@conet.ucla.edu
Dr. Daniel Neuman (Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost) – evc@conet.ucla.edu
Dr. Maryann Jacobi Gray (Assistant Provost) – mgray@conet.ucla.edu
Dr. Robert J. Naples (Assistant Vice Chancellor and Dean of Students) – dean@saonet.ucla.edu
2. CONTACT the UCLA Police Department
Express your disapproval of how the situation was handled:
http://www.ucpd.ucla.edu/
CALL: 310-825-1491
3. CIRCULATE this video so that we may hold those responsible accountable for their actions.
At what point during “standard library procedure” does brutality become acceptable?!? How can an “internal” investigation be “fair” and balanced?!? CALL for an independent investigation.
Resist the abuse of authority by this Public institution and protest the chancellor’s police organization; Call attention to the repeated incidence of police brutality in Los Angeles.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
>The CHANCELLOR released four sentences on the incident that fail to address the brutality of the police:
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/page.asp?RelNum=7513
>UCPD released a statement, it accuses that Mostafa “encouraged students to join his resistance” and created an urgent situation
http://www.ucpd.ucla.edu/ucpd/zippdf/2006/Taser%2011-15-06.pdf
>LA TIMES: A Third Incident, A New Video:
The incident was the third videotape of an arrest to surface in the last week in Los Angeles.
>One video showed a Los Angeles Police Department officer dousing a handcuffed suspect in the face with pepper spray as the suspect sat in a patrol car.
>That video came to light Monday, just days after the LAPD and the FBI launched investigations into another videotape showing a police officer hitting a suspect in the face several times after a foot chase in Hollywood.
>UCLA School Newspaper Article
>CAIR Calls for an independent investigation
When asked whether the student resisted when officer attempted to escort him from the building, the witness said, “In the beginning, no. But when they were holding onto him and they were on the ground, he was trying to just break free. He was saying, ‘I’m leaving, I’m leaving.’ It was so disturbing to watch that I cannot be concise on that. I can just say that he was willing to leave. He had his backpack on his shoulder and he was walking out when the cops approached him. It was unnecessary.”
