Nearly nine months after the now-infamous Taser incident sparked outrage among some students and community members, an independent investigator sided with critics calling police actions excessive.
An independent report authored by Merrick Bobb, a police force expert, has found that officers violated university police use of force policies when using a Taser on UCLA student Mostafa Tabatabainejad in Powell Library on the night of Nov. 14, 2006.
An internal UCPD report found no such violation.
The independent report is critical of all parties involved: the police officers, the community service officers and Tabatabainejad. And as Bobb phrases it in the introduction of the 77-page document, “this story has no heroes.”
What happened
Up until this point, several key elements of the night’s events have remained murky. With one low resolution YouTube video, few witnesses coming forward, no comment from the police department, and several conflicting reports from all other angles, it was difficult to determine what had happened.
The report authors had access to all available information, including the full UCPD investigation, the YouTube video, witness and CSO interviews, library security footage, and statements from the officers.
Even with all the resources available, there are still unanswered questions, and some of the facts of the night have evaded even the investigators, but the report provides the most comprehensive and complete picture of the night available to the public.
It reads that at about 11:15 p.m., a CSO entered the Powell Library CLICC lab to make sure everyone present was a current student, faculty or staff member and thus was authorized to be there.
The CSO announced to the room that he was going to be checking BruinCards, and began in the back corner of the lab where Tabatabainejad was seated and, according to his court complaint, working on a history paper.
There was a brief exchange between Tabatabainejad and the CSO, wherein the student felt he was being singled out and asked the CSO to check the cards of the students around him in a good faith effort to show he would be checking the entire room.
Tabatabainejad had his BruinCard but refused to show it, claiming later as he sat handcuffed in the back of a squad car that it was “the principle of the thing.”
The CSO called his supervisor and, soon after, UCPD was called.
The authors of the report are careful to note that the first officer to arrive on the scene only talked briefly to the CSO in the library lobby before going into the lab to confront the student and made no effort to assess the situation independently.
When the officer arrived in the lab, Tabatabainejad was packing his things to leave. By the time the officer met him in the hall, he was on his way out, according to the report.
The officer touched the student and grabbed his arm, which constitutes a use of force that Bobb called “unnecessary” in the report and served to further escalate the situation.
By this time, another officer had arrived and went into the lab grabbing Tabatabainejad’s other arm to escort him out of the building. One of the police officers then took out a Taser and pressed it against Tabatabainejad’s side as they were leaving the library.
This is when events began to spiral.
When nearly out of the lab, Tabatabainejad stopped and shifted his weight downward, bringing himself to the ground and forcing the officers to stop and bend over with him.
The officers repeatedly asked him to stand up and threatened him with the Taser, using the weapon on him soon after in the “drive stun” setting, which acts similar to a stun gun.
Tabatabainejad remained on the ground, and just over a minute later, after repeated shouting from both the students and the officers who demanded that he get up, the Taser was used on him again.
The largest unanswered question at this point is whether after the second application of the Taser one of the officers was able to handcuff Tabatabainejad.
The report concludes that the officers were most likely able to handcuff him, partially because his hands remained firmly behind his back during the third application of the Taser.
The reports from the two officers also differ on this point, with one saying he was placed in handcuffs at this point and the other saying he was handcuffed after the third application.
After about another minute, the officers used the Taser on him again and were then able to move into the lobby of the library and out of the building.
The Taser log reveals that the Taser was used only three times, for a duration of five seconds per use; however, the officers say they only held the Taser to Tabatabainejad for durations of two to three seconds each.
Use of force
The report found several instances where a university police officer violated department use of force policies.
“We conclude that (the officer’s) multiple and ineffective uses of the Taser were not reasonable or justified according to (the department’s) policies on the night of the incident ““ policies that, in various and important ways, deviate from common and best law enforcement practice,” the report read.
The report also went on to recommend nine changes to UCPD’s policies, four of which the department is “fast-tracking” on the order of former Acting Chancellor Norman Abrams, who was still chancellor when he recommended the changes.
The rest are being looked into, and there is no time frame for the completion of any of the recommendations, Chief of Police Karl Ross said.
The four recommendations that are being fast tracked all have to do with Taser use specifically and include defining the differences between passively, actively or violently resisting officers. These would limit the use of a Taser to people that are violent or aggressive, specifically forbidding Taser use on passive or handcuffed people, and clarifying when a Taser can be brandished, Ross said.
Ross added that, when UCPD was done reviewing its Taser use policy, he wants it to be the best and most comprehensive policy on any college campus in the nation.
While the UCPD internal investigation into the incident cannot be legally released, Abrams said that it did not reveal any violations of the UCPD use of force policies ““ in contrast with the independent investigation, which found several.
“I think both reports were done carefully and thoroughly. I have faith in the objectivity of both fact finders,” Abrams said.
But Paul Hoffman, Tabatabainejad’s lawyer, said he was disappointed that the internal investigation did not reveal an obvious use of force violation.
“I think that’s just ridiculous, and calls into question the leadership of UCPD,” he said.
Hoffman also said that he was generally pleased with the results of the report, despite some small differences in the timeline of events between Tabatabainejad’s account of events and the report.
“(The report’s) overall approach is consistent with our overall view of the case,” Hoffman said. “Well-trained police officers would have defused the situation in no time.”
The report also criticized Tabatabainejad’s behavior, as well as the CSO’s ““ saying that any of the parties involved could have easily verbally defused the situation even before the police were called.
Hoffman said that his client could have behaved differently, but that the crux of the responsibility in this situation lies with the officers.
“Probably the student officers should have handled it differently, probably (Tabatabainejad) should have handled it differently, but the police definitely should have handled it differently ““ they should have de-escalated the situation,” Hoffman said.
The report also faulted the officers for confronting Tabatabainejad when he was clearly leaving the library, as well as for not verbally defusing the situation before resorting to force.
An important distinction is that the use of the Taser was not the only use of force that occurred that night. An officer simply touching a person can be seen as a use of force, and the report read that it was unnecessary for the officers to grab Tabatabainejad’s arms initially.
It was also an unnecessary use of force to brandish the Taser and press it up against Tabatabainejad when he was still cooperating with the officer’s orders, according to the report.
Moving forward
The report does not name the officers involved at the incident, but UCPD previously confirmed that one of the officers at the scene was Terrence Duren ““ who shot a homeless man in a Kerckhoff study lounge in 2003, to much criticism.
Tabatabainejad alleges in his court complaint that Duren was the officer that used the Taser on him multiple times, and the court papers reveal the names of the other officers to be Alexix Bicomong, Kevin Kilgore and Andrew Ikeda.
The report harshly criticized the officers’ conduct that night, saying UCPD’s use of force policies were violated on several occasions and that the entire situation was unnecessarily escalated.
Ross said there have been no disciplinary actions against any of the officers present, including Duren.
Hoffman said a court date has been set for the trial in February of 2008, with depositions beginning at the end of this month.
Abrams and Ross did not comment on the case, but Abrams stressed that this incident occurred because of a rule designed to increase campus safety, and that campus safety remains a top priority for UCPD and campus administrators.
“The police were acting on behalf of campus safety, and as acting chancellor I continue to have great faith in (UCPD),” he said.
Undergraduate Students Association Council President Gabe Rose said he was impressed with the way the university handled the situation afterward.
“I think both the university and Chancellor Abrams should be commended for taking this very seriously in the aftermath. It was commendable to commission the independent investigation,” he said.
Abrams added that UCLA has learned a lot from this experience, including the importance of transparency.
“We learned that there was a need for a change in policy regarding the use of a Taser. We learned also that enormous controversy can be created by videos that don’t necessarily present a clear picture of the event,” he said.
“We learned that it is useful to provide a window into what happened and to be transparent,” Abrams added.
Ross said UCPD is always looking for ways to better serve the UCLA community, including taking feedback on its policies.
“We welcome constructive criticism and feedback on our policies,” he said. “We want to make sure that we have policies that meet the needs of the community and provide for a safe community.”