So about this Florida U student

Originally Posted by BlueMikey

There is no reason the cops can't arrest him for disturbing the peace. That is perfectly legal and they are allowed to hold him and charge him or release him. Anyone saying otherwise doesn't know how it works.

The only issue here, really, was why they used the taser. Everything else was exactly what police officers are supposed to do.

But was he really disturbing the peace? I've seen town hall meetings in my area that sound like that for an entire hour, but that's the process of it all. One person speaks for their time, the council members answer with whatever tripe they pull out of thin air, rinse and repeat.

If police can start arresting people that are just exercising their right to free speech in that kind of context (i.e. a public forum), can we even draw a line as to where they can't arrest us?

Think of it this way: a public speech session with an open-mic question forum with a passionate questioner is acceptable because it's kind of expected, isn't it? Who wants to see a political forum where the questions are all pre-approved nonsense? So was he disturbing the peace with his question, however hair-brained and passionate he was about it? No, not unless he ran up there and stole the mic from someone else.
On the flip side, think of a family playing in the park and some kids running around spray painting trees and screaming at kids about how their mommies and daddies fucked so they could be born. Now: is a gang of kids causing trouble in a park expected in that context? No. Those kids are, by all definitions, disturbing the peace.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Quote:

The University may be a public university, but campus security does have the right to remove you if there is sufficient need.

But before he started pushing back from the cops, there was no "sufficient need" to withdraw him.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by LZ

I like that. You totally refuted his whole post by ignoring what he said and telling him he's wrong. Very high-level.

And I like your post too. Let's hang out sometime on our high-level plateau of 1-lined responses of imaginary awesomeness.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Anyone find it coincidental that the microphone is cut off and the cops rush in, like, 2 seconds after the kid mentions Kerry being in a secret society? I feel like Paul Walker in a crazy prep school...

And Deni, that kind of depends on who asked the kid to step aside doesn't it? It's not like I can yell out at someone to sit down and have the cops arrest them for me if they don't...unless everyone agrees with what I said. But in the video, half of the audience seems to just not care about the question until the point where he starts saying "No I will not sit down" or however he says it.
It's not clear at all who tells him to sit down (from the video--the only thing I've seen from this incident). It could be an audience member. Or was it later disclosed that it was an event staff member who told him to?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?