Re: Incident involving UCLA student Mostafa Tabatabainejad (Merged)
A few things.
Mostafa, the student, is not Muslim. He is of Baha’i faith. But his religious affliation is not the question. It could have been any of ethnic students on campus. Thats whats the student groups on campus protested about. But his atorney ofcourse knows a better course of action for him.
The officer that tasered him has been identified. He is black and has a history of abuse. He was fired by Long Beach Police Dept before he became a UCPD.
*A: In May 1990, he was accused of using his nightstick to choke someone who was hanging out on a Saturday in front of a UCLA fraternity. Kente S. Scott alleged that Duren confronted him while he was walking on the street outside the Theta Xi fraternity house.
Scott sued the university, and according to court records, UCLA officials moved to have Duren dismissed from the police force. But after an independent administrative hearing, officials overturned the dismissal, suspending him for 90 days.*
B: I*n October 2003, Duren shot and wounded a homeless man he encountered in Kerckhoff Hall. Duren chased the man into a bathroom, where they struggled and he fired two shots.
The homeless man, Willie Davis Frazier, was later convicted of assaulting an officer. Duren said Frasier had tried to grab his gun during the struggle. But Frazier’s attorney, John Raphling, said his client was mentally ill and didn’t do anything to provoke the shooting.
*Officer in Taser case identified
.*…some of which include altercations with students, the Daily Bruin reported.
According to one court complaint presented in the trial, Duren allegedly woke a student sleeping in the study hall in Kerckhoff in August 1993, escorted him outside, slammed him against a wall, and handcuffed and arrested him.
The complaint also stated that on the way to the police station, Duren told the student, “For a while there I thought I was going to have to ‘Rodney King’ you.”
In 2002, Duren had a verbal confrontation with another student, Kirk Zhong, which resulted in Zhong being arrested, according to an incident report.
Zhong said the confrontation began when he walked by two officers questioning a homeless man and they began yelling at him.
According to the report, Zhong took a combative stance against the officers by clenching his fists.
Zhong maintained the report was unfounded because he was carrying books, so he could not have clenched his fists. *
http://www.dailybruin.com/news/articles.asp?id=39047
It would be safe to say that his career as UCPD is in limbo.