Andrew Meyer Gets Probation

Andrew "Don't Tase Me, Bro" Meyer will not go to jail. He was given 18 months probation in exchange for community sevice, a donation to American Cancer Society and the writing three apology letters. One each to the University of Florida, and Bernie Machen and UF Police Department.

State Attorney Bill Cervone explains the plea agreement.

“It is to me important to remember that in our community, perhaps more than in many others, we deal with a large number of young people, some of whom cross the line into criminal behavior without necessarily intending to do so and without understanding the possible consequences to their futures of what they are doing. A responsible society should attempt to correct rather than simply punish such behavior when there is no indication that doing so risks creating a threat to the safety or peace of the community. This agreement accomplishes that and puts the burden on Mr. Meyer to demonstrate his ability to be a productive participant in society, which I trust he will do," Cervone said.

Meyer issued a statemant expressing he is aware of the error of his ways.

"I didn't write write these letters to get off the hook," Meyer states. "I wrote them genuinely, accepting responsibility for breaking the forum rules. I am truly sorry, especially for the negative spotlight which has been cast on the university."

UF has enough image problems without Taser Boy. Meyer created an PR problem for the Left. Michelle Malkin (who has her own image problems of her own) used Meyer to brand lefties ranting lunatics. People like Meyer are the gift that keeps giving to the Right-wing noise machine.

I don't think Meyer should have been tased. I was outraged when I first saw the video. That doesn't mean Meyer should have butt in front of people hog the microphone and not give John Kerry a chance to answer his questions. That behavior is better suited for Bill O'Reilly's show and not a public forum.

Andrew Meyer Update

Attytood found out some interesting facts about Andrew "Don't Tas me, bro" Meyer. The kid's narcissism entends to his email address: Famouswriterman@aol.com. Meyer refers to himself on his website as "The Andrew Meyer."

Bob Norman discovered that Meyer wrote for the Sun-Sentinel's Teentime section. Norman found that Meyer mainly wrote entertainment articles.

Sun-Sentinel blogger Michael Mayo has key passages from the police report of Meyer's arrest.

“A crowd began to form and yell at us. Some were yelling let him go, he didn’t do anything. I pulled my Taser, turned off the safety, dropped the cartridge, put it against his left chest and pulled the trigger. It did not activate after several attempts. While my Taser was still against his chest, where he could see it, he was told several times to stop resisting and turn over or he would be tased. He still would not comply, continued to struggle and yell for us to let him go. I instructed Ofc. Mallo to utilize her Taser, which she did.”

That crowd video-recorded the incident. The cops could have carried Meyer's sorry ass out of the venue. Tasering a meek 5'6 loudmouth is extreme. This is coming from someone who hopes Meyer never gets a job as a journalist. (He would be perfect for Inside Edition.)

UF Taser Incident Update

University of Florida journalism student Adrew Meyer has been offered a job by Greg Palast. Meyer was tasered by police officers after he refused to yield the microphone at a John Kerry speaking engagement. Meyer was already pinned by several officers when he was tasered. Palast has not been able to make the offer to Meyer personally.

"His attorneys seem to be keeping him on ice," Palast told us, when we asked if he'd been able to officially offer the gig to Meyer.

In related news: two UF police officers have been put on paid leave.

What bugs me is that Meyer had a cameraman present to film the incident.

He then turned to a woman and said "Are you taping this? Do you have this? You ready?" the report said.

Meyer has a personal website where he brags about taunting professional athletes.

Now, you have to know this about me: I am huge Marlins fan, and a born heckler. My purpose in life is to badger, jeer, and cajole professional athletes. I have angered two other All-Star baseball players, Bobby Abreu and Odalis Perez, on separate occasions. I have booed singers that mess up the national anthem. Heck, I’ll even heckle other hecklers if I don’t care for their stuff. What happened during this particular game was destined to be, the paths of Griffey and I on a collision course.

My view is the use of force was questionable and this guy is a crackpot. Free speech is a right we all have. I'm willing to defend Meyer's. Even though is wasn't willing to let Kerry answer his questions or let others speak at the microphone. If Palast hires Meyer, he will regret it.

University of Florida Taser Incident

Student Andrew Meyer was tasered when he was arrested for speaking too long at a John Kerry Q and A. Officers told Meyer he was arrested for inciting a riot. The student was annoying, but inciting a riot is pushing it. There were hardly any people at the Kerry event.

John Kerry was overwhelmed by the situation. He stammered a few words. It was obvious he had no control over the events. Kerry released this 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."

University of Florida Police Chief Linda Stump will conduct an investigation into the arrest.

To students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends:

I have received a great deal of communication and input last night and this morning regarding the incident that occurred Monday at the conclusion of a town hall forum being held by Sen. John Kerry. The incident resulted in a student being tasered.
We are interested in learning what happened and are taking the following immediate steps to ensure the university utilizes best practice protocols:

• University of Florida Police Chief Linda Stump has requested the Florida Department of Law Enforcement conduct a formal investigation into the arrest of UF student Andrew Meyer. An independent review such as this will make sure the results are objective and impartial. Chief Stump’s priority is to ensure that the public remains confident in the department’s ability to keep the campus safe.

• Two officers involved in the incident have been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

• We plan to assemble a panel of faculty and students to review our police protocols, our management practices and the FDLE report to come up with a series of recommendations for the university.

• Administrators and police officials plan to analyze the incident and conduct an internal review and will consider changing protocols in response to this incident, if necessary.

• Finally, as is standard procedure, the State Attorney’s Office will review the charges brought against Mr. Meyer. We have communicated with the State Attorney and understand he plans to expedite his review.

I will talk about the incident and answer questions at a news conference scheduled for 2 p.m. in Emerson Alumni Hall.

J. Bernard Machen

I personally hate the use of tasers. I am certain that if several law enforcement officers are telling me to shut the fuck up or I will be tased: I'm going to shut up. This whole situation is a mess that could have been avoided. Kerry showed no leadership, Meyer ilustrated bad judgement and several law enforcement officers openly used a taser in the Youtube era.