Michelle Malkin has the most comprehensive coverage of the taser incident at the University of Florida.
And here's Kerry's statement:
"In 37 years of public appearances, through wars, protests and highly emotional events, I have never had a dialogue end this way," Kerry said in a statement. "I believe I could have handled the situation without interruption, but I do not know what warnings or other exchanges transpired between the young man and the police prior to his barging to the front of the line and their intervention. I asked the police to allow me to answer the question and was in the process of responding when he was taken into custody."
"I was not aware that a taser was used until after I left the building," he continued. "I hope that neither the student nor any of the police were injured. I regret enormously that a good healthy discussion was interrupted."
I don't know how Kerry could have missed the shouts of "don't tase me bro," but I'm not sure what his response should have been anyway. It's the university's responsibility to maintain order, and Kerry was probably wise to keep his distance from the whole thing--plus the kid was heckling him, so why not let him take his lumps. Now the Huffington Post is calling for the arresting officers to be thrown in jail, which only reinforces my sense that this was a clean shoot.
What really stands out is his pathetic wailing when the cops tase him. I've been tased before, the company's PR reps hooked me up for a three second jolt at our offices one day and it wasn't that bad.
Update: I've been swayed by one of my more thoughtful colleagues that this is "terrible police work." Meyers is clearly an unstable guy, but the police should have found a way to deescalate the situation. Still, once you go resisting arrest, you can't expect a whole lot of restraint from the cops.
