On November 14, 2006, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, a fourth-year University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) student, was drive stunned five times with a Taser by campus police while handcuffed.
Tabatabainejad allegedly refused to show his school ID to a fellow student acting as security at the college library Instructional Computing Commons (CLICC) lab at Powell Library during finals week. A UCLA ID card with magnetic strip is needed to enter into the library after hours and therefore it was assumed that all individuals in the library were students and had valid ID cards to gain access. However, asking students to show ID was not a common practice and for this reason the student refused to show his ID and instead asked the community officer if he had asked anyone else that evening to show their ID.
The community officer threatened to call campus police if he didn't show ID. Tabatabainejad, being confident the campus police would take his side as he felt he was being harassed and singled out because of his Middle Eastern ethnicity, invited the community officer to do so.
When the campus police arrived they did not ask questions but instead handcuffed Tabatabainejad and attempted to physically remove him from the library. Tabatabainejad sat on the floor in protest of the way he was being treated at his own university while he was studying for final exams. The campus police then tasered him five times while his hands were bound behind his back with plastic wrist restraints. Part of the incident was recorded on video by a camera phone and is available for viewing on YouTube.
Tabatabainejad, an Iranian-American of Muslim heritage, 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.
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 the 24-hour library after 11:00 p.m., when use of the library is restricted to staff, faculty and students.
When Tabatabainejad refused to produce university identification, he was asked to leave the premises. When Tabatabainejad failed to leave, UCPD officers were called to the scene, arriving approximately 10 minutes later. Following a confrontation, the officers used the Taser repeatedly, then told him to stand up.
Tabatabainejad was released from custody after being given a citation for obstruction/delay of a peace officer in the performance of duty. According to a press release issued by the UCPD, he was also issued a court date.
Officers
Terrence Duren, a former Marine and 18-year veteran of the UCLA Police Department, tasered Tabatabainejad multiple times. Duren had been the subject of other use-of-force complaints and had been previously recommended for dismissal. In an October 2003 incident, Duren shot and wounded a homeless man in a university building, a case that went to trial. In May 1990, Duren was accused of using his nightstick to choke Kente S. Scott, who was idling in front of a fraternity late on a Saturday night. Scott sued, and the university moved to have Duren removed from the force but later gave him a 90-day suspension. Duren stated that all of the past allegations against him regarding police misconduct and use of excessive force were investigated by the UCPD and proven false. Prior to the UCLA Taser Incident, several grassroots campaigns between 2002-2006 were undertaken by UCLA students to educate the student body in regard to Duren's history of excessive force. The campaigns were initiated by distinct parties in response to Duren's aggressive behavior for pedestrian citations. Prior to joining the UCPD in the late 1980s, Duren was fired from the Long Beach Police Department due to "poor report-writing skills and geographical knowledge." Following the tasering incident, Duren remained on active duty. Duren was named 2001 UCLA Officer of the Year by the University of California Police Department. Also on the scene were Officers Alexis Bicomong, Kevin Kilgore, and Andrew Ikeda.