Tazering is putting around 3,000 kilovolts into a person with significant chance of heart failure or internal or external burns.

Occasionally you hear about someone who was electrocuted by mains electricity, well that is only 240 volts, not 3,000,000 volts.

The use (or misuse) of Tazers by American police has led to the death of 245 Americans since 2001.

Tazering is not a crowd control weapon, the only correct use is as an alternative to shooting. If the situation is not appropriate for a bullet then it is not appropriate for a Tazer.

Tazers cannot be used on prisoners as it is considered to be cruel and abusive punishment. What is not fit for prisoners is not fit for our brightest young people.

I just watched another video of a non-violent student being needlessly tazered in an American University campus building. A bright 21 year old media student has had his health risked for no good reason at all.

I found out via Andy Lockran's blog. Here is the Youtube link. This video is not so graphic as the UCLA one so hopefully it will not make you sick.

The background was John Kerry who has come on the University campus to give a two hour speech and answer questions.

A student was trying to ask a question, and he starts off by explaining a quote in a book he has read, this is good academic practice to quote and explain yourself, but after about 30 seconds he is rudely being prompted to stop, but he carries on.

I do a bit of audio recording for my University and academic questions can easily be 10 minutes or more. His question was quite rational, he asked about voting irregularities and the disenfranchisement of black voters at the election that Kerry was involved in. Someone who has run for president should be a big enough boy to handle such a question.

However, after another minute he is dragged off by police, handcuffed then held down on the floor and then tazered repeatedly. He is read no rights, nor offered no chance to sit down peacefully. The police just decide to meter out summary punishment.

There are at least five officers holding down the student before they apply the tazer, it was absolutely unnecessary. There are no excuses for this, a guest lecture by a washed-up politician does not warrant risking someone's health.

For his part, John Kerry looks on like a fool, he can see a student being tazered in front of him for asking a question, and he says nothing. Americans should be glad that such a wet fool did not become president. He is a loser in more ways than one.

The University of Florida has failed in their duty of care to their student. They do not seem to care that police brutality happens on their campus. The University of Florida are not worthy of having students go there.

This is not acceptable behaviour, at all. British Universities have boycotted relationships with Universities in developing countries over far less.

Students should be safe at university, at the University of Florida, the harshest thing should be natural orange juice before you add the sugar.

If you are thinking of going to University in America, don't go to the University of Florida, if you are a parent don't send your children there. It seems the University of Florida will not only censor its own students, but it seems that the University of Florida will not guarantee your children's safety but will risk their health by giving them electronic shocks.

If in doubt then send your child to University in Europe, you will find the fees competitive and at least in Britain, Universities do not contain hotheaded police armed with tazers.

The senior administration rushed out a statement saying it regretted the situation, they are right to fear for their positions, one of their students was abused on campus on their watch by police they invited in.

The police tried to save face by holding the student over night in a police cell (why?) but the student was not prosecuted for any crime.

When it hit YouTube and then the mass media, the Florida police department made a U-Turn and some police officers have been suspended on full pay, this is not acceptable, they should be sacked and then prosecuted for assault, the evidence is right here on YouTube. It is a pretty sad day when the police break the peace rather than keep it. These Florida police officers have brought shame on their whole profession.

The police have no right to attack the public, they had not arrested him and had not told him what he was being charged with. If a gang of five normal people grabbed someone, threw them to the floor, held them down and gave them electric shocks, then they would be rightly arrested for assault and/or bodily harm. Therefore these police officers should be prosecuted also.

The Florida University newspaper has a lot more info.

Update, two really interesting views in this post's `comments`_, feel free to `have your say too`_.