UCLA Police Repeatedly Taser Handcuffed Student For Refusal to Show ID, University Orders Outside Probe

Officials at the University of California in Los Angeles are launching an independent investigation into campus police officers" repeated shocking of an Iranian-American student with a Taser stun gun.

The incident took place last Tuesday evening in a UCLA library filled with students studying for their midterm exams. The student, Mostafa Tabatabainejad - a 23-year old senior - was in the library's computer lab. Campus police ordered him to leave after he failed to produce a student ID.

Police then handcuffed Mostafa and shocked him with a Taser gun at least five times. The entire incident was captured on video by another student and has been widely seen on local TV news and the website YouTube. In the video Mostafa can be heard screaming "I said I would leave" after police repeatedly shock him with the Taser gun.

* Video of UCLA police Mostafa Tabatabainejad.
[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyvrqcxNIFs&eurl= ]

Mostafa"s attorney, Stephen Yagman, said he plans to file a federal civil rights lawsuit accusing the UCLA police of "brutal excessive force," as well as false arrest. He said Mostafa initially refused to show his ID because he thought he was being singled out because of his Middle Eastern appearance. Mostafa is of Iranian descent but is a U.S. citizen by birth and a resident of Los Angeles.

Meanwhile more than 200 UCLA students marched to the university police station on Friday calling for an independent investigation and the suspension of the officers involved. Hours later, the university announced that a veteran LA law enforcement watchdog would head up the probe. Merrick Bobb served as staff attorney for the Christopher Commission, which was formed to examine allegations of excessive force in the Los Angeles Police Department after the Rodney King beating in the early "90s.

We speak with the Southern California Council on American Islamic Relations which has also called for an independent investigation into the case.

* Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Southern California Council on American Islamic Relations.

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