I wrote a piece last evening about a University of Florida student who was tazed (is it tazed or tased?) by the police after asking a question of John Kerry at a town hall type forum. There are several things that are not clear in the video but I indicated that it was clear the student did nothing wrong, and from the video that was presented, this is the case. After I posted I received a comment from Tyler Antar who was at the forum and he indicated that what everyone is reporting is not what actually happened and he offered to be interviewed about the incident. I sent him some questions so that he could clear up the items that are unclear and to let us know what actually happened. Despite what some of the people who visit here would have you believe, I believe in the truth and will report it regardless of what it is (so long as it is credible). Here is the interview with Tyler about Andrew Meyer:
BD: Did he threaten Kerry or not leave after his turn?
Tyler: This is probably the most important piece that the video did not cover. While Senator Kerry was answering a student’s question about Iraq, Meyer rushed to the microphone with cops in tail. No one knew what was going on at that point and I’m sure the cops were looking at the worst case scenario (does he have a gun? a bomb?). They eventually grabbed Meyer who started shouting that Senator Kerry should answer his question because he stood in line for so long. He also said that the Senator should answer everyone’s question who was in line. Senator Kerry responded to the extent that he would try to get all the questions. Clearly he was trying to calm the student down (I can’t remember if it was Senator Kerry or a university official who said earlier that the Senator would only be taking three more questions, which meant that Meyer wouldn’t be able to ask his). The police grabbed Meyer who began to taunt the cops by saying “what, are you going to taser me? are you going to arrest me?” Senator Kerry asked the police to let him go and ask his question. They complied, and Senator Kerry began to finish answering the other student who had been rudely interrupted by Meyer’s antics. (This whole scenario is not on any video that I can find. There is a video on youtube that shows 2 police officers behind Meyer while he is giving his question. This first incident proves why they were standing behind him.)
BD: Was he a conservative or a liberal (or could you not tell)?
Tyler: From the questions he was asking, He would seem to be a liberal. However, I have no information about his official political status. Yet, just from looking at the questions we have:
- asking Kerry why he didn’t contest the allegations of faulty voter machines and the vote discrimination in the State of Florida. Meyer kept mentioning how a book he was carrying actually named Senator Kerry as the President in 04′.
- He asks why has Bush been impeached if Clinton was impeached for getting a blow job.
- This is the strangest question of all. It seems that Meyer is Pro-Kerry at this point, but then he asks the Senator if he was part of the same Skull and Bones secret society at Yale as President Bush.
(It is possibly that Meyer is trying to say that Kerry conceded the election quickly because he was buddy-buddy with Bush) However, Meyer’s mic is cut off because he said “blow job” and the madness ensues.
**Tyler later emailed that Meyer’s Facebook profile indicates he is Libertarian**
BD: Were his questions insulting to Kerry?
Tyler: No, not really. However, Senator Kerry only answered his first question to the audience. In no way was Senator Kerry trying to use police force to get rid of the student. As I stated earlier, he literally pleaded with the officer to let go of Meyer and let him ask his question.
BD: Was this person a known threat on campus?
Tyler: No, not that I know of
BD: Was he disruptive at this event?
Tyler: Only from the time he rushed to the podium till he was eventually brought outside
BD: Do you think the police used excessive force?
Tyler: No. When Meyer rushed to the microphone, I only saw two cops (a guy and a girl). However, when Meyer constantly resisted arrest, they had to call in for backup. As far as I can tell 4 cops were stationed in the auditorium. 2 by Kerry’s stage and 2 at the entrance with more in the lobby.
BD: Do you believe it was necessary to taze this guy with 6 cops sitting on him?
Tyler: Yes, Meyer was told constantly to put his hands behind his back and comply. He was also warned that if he did not do this, he would be tasered. From the videos, we can not actually see if he complied or not before being tasered.
BD: If this were George Bush speaking and a liberal kid had this happen would it be viewed the same?
Tyler: These were University Cops at this event. Now if George Bush were to speak, he would [have] Secret Service with him. I don’t even want to know what would happen to that kid then. Remember, as far as I can tell, Meyer is a liberal and so is Kerry. Meyer was just cracked out it seems.
BD: Could this have been handled any better?
Tyler: Kerry could have shortened his speech a lot more and therefore given more time to respond to questions. Or maybe no speech at all! I mean the event was called the John Kerry Town Hall Forum. Does that not imply that the event is going to be a Q&A session instead of being filled with speeches? However, as a hardcore conservative I do respect Senator Kerry for trying to soothe the situation down as best he could. After he closed the forum, he stepped off stage to shake hands and signed autographs. I even got him to answer my question that I wanted to pose earlier had Meyer not gone nuts. I’m really surprised that Meyer was able to get away from the officers multiple times. The kid is not bursting with strength. Maybe that could have been handled better.
I think this is pretty telling in that the first part of the video is not included and that would have cleared a lot of this up. One has to ask why the person who took the video edited it out (assuming that a person with a video camera is taping Kerry and not waiting for a ruckus). Perhaps Meyer intended for this to take place or perhaps with the Virginia Tech murders, the police were hyper vigilant and were quick to react when he ran up. Maybe instead of being cracked up, Meyer is a truther. They can get pretty obnoxious. Tyler indicates that Kerry asked the police to leave Meyer alone and he [Kerry] would answer his question. I must retract my comment that Kerry said nothing (which is not present on the video shown) and commend him for trying to diffuse the situation. While it does not change my opinion of him, I believe in giving credit where it is due.
Tyler indicates that he does not think excessive force was used and he was there so I cannot dispute what he saw. From what I saw on the video it seems that the police could have taken this guy into custody without shocking him. Another witness who was sitting in the back row indicated that the student was already cuffed when he was shocked (and Tyler said that was not clear to him). In either case, it was a bit much for this one little fellow. Certainly six cops can handle one kid. Now that I have the rest of the story I am inclined to say that this kid should not win any kind of lawsuit but that, in exchange for no suit (for the excessive force) the school can drop the charges and they can all get on with their lives. The police in DC did not shock anyone and they arrested nearly 200. Perhaps the police here can review their policy on when it is appropriate to shock someone.
I am glad that Tyler was able to clear this up and provide us with a first hand account of the events.
Thanks Tyler. Please keep us up to date with how this gets handled.
**The words taze, tase, tazer(ed), and taser(ed) are all used to indicate shocked with a weapon. SInce I am unsure of the spelling we will go with all of them.
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