4A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2007
COLLEGE
Florida student Tasered at forum
ASSOCIATED PRESS
University of Florida student Andrew Meyer struggles with University Police as officers try to remove him from a question and answer session with Sen. John Kerry, (D-Mass.) on Monday, in Gainesville, Fla. Meyer, 21, was Tasered and arrested after he angrily and repeatedly tried to ask Kerry about the 2004 election and other subjects during a campus forum.
BY TRAVIS REED
ASSOCIATED PRESS
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida asked state investigators Tuesday to review campus officers' use of a Taser during a forum with Sen. John Kerry, on a persistent questioner who is known for posting practical jokes online.
Video of Monday's takedown of the 21-year-old student was replayed extensively on TV and the Internet. University President Bernie Machen called the confrontation "regretful" and said two officers were placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the probe.
The student, Andrew Meyer, spent a night in jail before his release Tuesday morning. He had no comment when he left. His attorney, Robert Gristi, said he may speak with reporters later but had no immediate comment.
Some Florida students reacted angrily to the arrest, planning protests and possible sit-ins against alleged police brutality.
University police said in a news release that officers had been summoned by the forum's sponsors to escort Meyer from the building. They added that Meyer was Tasered because he resisted when officers attempted place him in handcuffs.
Meyer, a senior telecommunications major from Weston, Fla., has a Web site that contains several comedy videos that he appears in. In one, he stands in a street with a sign that says "Harry Dies" after the latest Harry Potter book was released. In another, he acts like a drunk in a bar while trying to pick up a man dressed in drag. The man later appears as an attractive blonde as Meyer gets more intoxicated.
The site also has what is called a "disorganized diatribe" attributed to Meyer that criticizes the Iraq war, the news media for not covering the conflict enough and the American public for paying too much attention to celebrity news.
Another site had pictures of Meyer making a suggestive pose as he stood behind a fake cow. The site listed his activities as "getting wasted" and "being ridiculous."
Machen, asked if the university had any previous conflicts with Meyer, said some issues would come up in the investigation, but he declined to elaborate and would not say whether he thought the latest episode was a prank.
Various videos of the arrest had been viewed more than 400,000 times on YouTube as of Tuesday afternoon.
Monday's scuffle started when Meyer refused to leave the microphone after his allotted time was up, police said. He had asked Kerry about impeaching President Bush, why he didn't challenge the 2004 election results and whether he and Bush were
members of the secret society Skull and Bones at Yale University.
Kerry, D-Mass., said Tuesday he regretted that a healthy discussion was interrupted, and said he never had a dialogue end that way in 37 years of public appearances.
"Whatever happened, the police had a reason, had made their decision that there was something they needed to do. Then it's a law enforcement issue, not mine," he told The Associated Press in Washington.
After Meyer repeatedly and loudly refused to walk away, officers came to escort him out. As two officers take Meyer by the arms, Kerry can be heard saying, "That's all right, let me answer his question."
Audience members applauded, though it was difficult to tell whether it was for the officers' action or
Kerry's remark. The audience for the most part sat quietly and watched the fracas.
Meyer struggled for several seconds as up to four officers tried to remove him from the room. He screamed for help and tried to break away from officers with his arms flailing at them, then was forced to the ground and ordered to stop resisting.
As Kerry told the audience he will answer the student's "very important question," Meyer yelled at the officers to release him, crying out, "Don't Tase me, bro" just before he was shocked. He was led from the room, screaming, "What did I do?"
Meyer's grandmother, Lucy Meyer of Pembroke Pines, told The Miami Herald that he is a hardworking student with no prior run-ins with the law.
》 COURTS
Maryland court upholds marriage law
BY BEN NUCKOLS ASSOCIATED PRESS
BALTIMORE — Maryland's highest court on Tuesday upheld a state law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, ending a lawsuit filed by same-sex couples who claimed they were being denied equal protection under the law.
Maryland's 1973 ban on gay marriage does not discriminate on the basis of gender and does not deny any fundamental rights, the Court of Appeals ruled in a 4-3 decision. It also said the state has a legitimate interest in promoting opposite-sex marriage.
"Our opinion should by no means be read to imply that the General Assembly may not grant and recognize for homosexual persons civil unions or the right to marry a person of the same sex," Judge Glenn T. Harrell Jr. wrote for
Plaintiffs said that the judges missed a historic opportunity to strike down a discriminatory law, and that they would continue the fight in the Legislature. Legislators on
recognize that the constitution is there to support the people, is to create an ignorant and irrelevant solution."
State Sen. Richard Maladena, who is openly gay, said he plans to introduce a bill to allow same-sex marriage. He also expects a proposal to create civil unions.
"I think we'll have a lengthy discussion next session about what the options are for legal recognition for gay people," Madaleno said.
Don Dwyer, one of the General Assembly's most conservative members, said he would introduce a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage as "insurance."
The ACLU of Maryland, which provided legal representation for the plaintiffs, said the fight to legalize gay marriage in Maryland would continue.
Many of the plaintiffs have children, and they argue that their families are being denied. the stability and legal protection that comes from having married parents.
"I think we'll have a lengthy discussion next session about what the options are for legal recognition for gay people."
RICHARD MADALENO
State senator
both sides of the debate predicted action on the issue in the next session.
"I think history will hold them in contempt," plaintiff Lisa Polyak said of the judges. "To create a legal solution in a vacuum, that doesn't
L i s a Kebreau, 39,
and partner Mikki Mozelle,
31, who live in
Riverdale, have
three children
17.
ages 20 months, 2 and
"We really wanted them to understand how normal and good their family is — that their family is just like any other family," Kebrau said.
Nine same-sex couples and a gay man whose partner died filed the lawsuit in 2004 against court clerks who denied their applications for marriage licenses. Baltimore Circuit Judge M. Brooke Murdock in January struck down the law defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman, but the state immediately appealed.
Murdock's ruling was put on hold during the appeal and never took effect — unlike in Iowa, where same-sex marriage was legal for less than 24 hours last month. Massachusetts is the only state where gay marriage is legal, but nine other states have approved spousal rights in some form for same-sex couples — California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.
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