On November 14, 2006,
Mostafa Tabatabainejad, a fourth-year
UCLA student, was
stunned multiple times with a
Taser by
campus police, for allegedly refusing to be escorted out of the College Library Instructional Computing Commons (CLICC) lab at
Powell Library. The police had been called after Tabatabainejad had refused to provide his BruinCard (student
ID) to a UCLA Community Service Officer during a routine check. Part of the incident was recorded on video by a
camera phone.
Tabatabainejad, an
Iranian-American,
CBS2 Los Angeles, November 15, 2006. who adheres to the
Bahá'í Faith,, the
Associated Press at
CBS2 Los Angeles, November 17, 2006. by Sara Taylor,
Daily Bruin, November 20, 2006. said through his lawyers that he refused to identify himself because he believed himself a victim of
racial profiling and that the tasing was an instance of
police brutality.
Tabatabainejad filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the officers used excessive force and that they violated the
Americans with Disabilities Act. The case was settled on May 15, 2009, with UCLA agreeing to pay $220,000 to Tabatabainejad.
Incident
At approximately 11:30 p.m. on November 14, 2006, Community Service Officers were conducting routine checks of students' BruinCard IDs in
Powell Library.
UCPD Assistant Chief of Police Jeff Young said the checks are a standard procedure in...
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