Click here to view a video of the incident

A student at the University of Florida, Andrew Meyer, was Tasered Monday while being restrained by four police officers after resisting officers who were attempting to escort him from the public forum with Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

Videos posted on YouTube have already reached tens of thousands of viewings, while many more people continue to hear about the incident on CNN.

Like many other campuses, including the University of Florida, faculty and administration at Iowa State are divided as to whether the actions of the police were justified.

Barbara Mack, attorney and associate professor of journalism and communication, said the student was “grandstanding” and “talking over the senator,” dominating the floor until it became clear he was not going to let anyone speak.

“If people look at the full-length video, it is easy to see that the young man’s purpose was not to ask a question,” Mack said.

At that point, he did the “stupidest thing ever,” Mack said, by fighting the police.

“Even if the police officers are wrong in making any kind of arrest, it’s never a wise idea to strike a police officer,” she said.

Mack said if she were an officer in that situation, she would have used a come-along hold or carry technique instead of a Taser.

“There should be a thorough, calm investigation before anyone starts pointing fingers,” she said.

David Saldana, adjunct assistant professor of journalism and communication, is also an attorney who worked on police public force cases in California.

Saldana said police are only authorized to use force in three circumstances: self defense, the defense of others and to effecting a lawful arrest. In each of these circumstances, only the minimum amount of force necessary is allowed.

“Any use of force beyond the necessary amount is excessive,” Saldana said.

Saldana said he believes Meyers has a strong case against the police in terms of using excessive force.

“The student did not do anything wrong. He asked a question,” he said. “I don’t see where he broke any law.”

Saldana said the police aggravated the situation and the use of a Taser was an example of excessive force in the circumstance, considering there were four cops trying to cuff a single student.

“The situation was exacerbated from the start, and they didn’t have cause to arrest him,” he said. “Was there a crime? Did he ask a bad question?”

Saldana said if police are taught to respond in such a way, he would advise that students not ask questions in a public forum that offend anyone.

“It was a question-and-answer period. They didn’t like the question. At a public school, he had reason to be there,” Saldana said.

ISU Police Cmdr. Gene Deisinger would not comment specifically on the incident at the University of Florida, stating he did not know all the facts and could not accurately say whether he believed the actions of the police were justified or not.

However, Deisinger shared the protocol that would be implemented if a disruption at a public forum ever occurred on the ISU campus. The first discussion at the event should be between the sponsor of that event and the disruptive subject, he said.

“In a situation like a political event, the host has a lot of control over what is allowable,” Deisinger said. “Only if that subject refused to cooperate with reasonable expectations, the sponsor is certainly empowered to ask them to leave the premises. If that person refuses to leave, based on lawful request, the police can be called.”

Deisinger said that in the case of ISU Police, they would be reluctant to get involved in such a situation unless the circumstances were “absolutely ludicrous.”

“We would ask the person to leave of their own accord. If the person refused to comply with the decision, then they could be arrested on account of trespass,” he said.

Deisinger said that at that point, the subject is failing to comply with a lawful order to leave and the law allows the police to use a reasonable amount of force. The amount of reasonable force would depend on the situation, the resistance of the subject and the safety risk to officers or others in the proximity.

No matter what the circumstances, however, Deisinger said there must be an action done by the sponsor of the event in order to call the police in on such an incident.

“The situation has to be predicated,” he said. “A subject who is ‘unduly interfering’ is the burden of whoever controls the property first.”

Saldana, however, disagrees with the police procedure.

“I find it very troubling that the campus police would say that at a public event at a public school, sponsored by an organization that presumably receives some public funding, that they would eject and possibly arrest someone simply because the event organizer wants them thrown out,” he said. “To remove someone and subject them to arrest on nothing more than the say-so of the event organizer violates the university’s mission as a land grant school, the integrity of the school as a place where competing ideas are given fair hearing, and, in all likelihood, the First Amendment.”

Deisinger said he only remembers 12 incidents on campus in which Tasers were drawn. He also believes many people have misunderstandings about Taser use.

“Overall, multiple officers increase the chance of injury to a subject or to other officers. Weapons like Tasers bring rapid compliancy with greatly reduced risk to the injury of the subject,” he said.

ISU campus police are currently allowed to carry both chemical spray and expandable batons, in addition to Tasers.