Current Events Fall 09

Debate over lowering the drinking age is heating up in several states, fueled in part by legislators who contend that men and women who are old enough to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan are responsible enough to buy alcohol legally.

College presidents from about 100 of the best-known U.S. universities, including Duke, Dartmouth and Ohio State, are calling on lawmakers to consider lowering the drinking age from 18.">

Largest and most active Youth Rights organization in the country. Fights to lower the drinking age, voting age, and eliminate curfews.">s license, national minimum drinking age act, zero tolerance, zero intelligence, ageism, adultism, age discrimination, ephebiphobia, youth liberation, youth freedom, media, alex koroknay-palicz, student representation, student advisors

NBC Chicago highlights a nasty piece of police brutality that was caught on tape in El Monte, California. After leading police on a high-speed chase, a suspect flees on foot but quickly realizes he can't escape and lies on the ground with his hands and legs spread awaiting arrest.

The guy stops resisting arrest after running from the cops. The cop then punted him in the head. This was a misuse of force because he stopped resisting arrest and he still used unreasonable force.

Honestly, the guy resisted arrest, but then he finally surrendered. He clearly put his hands up and layed down on the ground. He did not even have a weapon on him, but the police officer still misused his legal force.

A 76 year old man driving a tractor during a local parade in Wyoming decided he would take the same route as in past years in order to attend another event in a near by park. He drove his tractor done a side road where he confronted a police officer. Unaware that what he was doing wrong he drove around the officer who claims the man hit him with the tractor injuring his wrist. The man drove off and the officer followed on foot until he met up with another officer and persued the man in an SUV. When the two officers drove in front of the tractor in order to cut him off the man stopped but the tractor bumped into the SUV before completely coming to a stop. The officer claimed the man attempted to ram the vehicle and got out and used a taser on the man but not before removing a 9 year old child from the tractor. After using the taser upon the 76 year old man with a heart condition, the police asked him to step down off his tractor.

this was really unecesary and dumb

poor old man! that was a definitly a misue of force!!!! they didnt even arrest him?? and they taser him.....! could have used another means of force for this situationnnn

A police officer in a small Arkansas town used a stun gun on an unruly 10-year-old girl after he said her mother gave him permission to do so

Unreasonable force was used because a 10 year old girl could easily have been restrained using other methods than tazing her.

This probably wasn't needed to restrain a 10-yearold girl at all. So i do think that this was a misuse of force. If the police officer really knew what he was doing wouldnt need to taser a ten year old girl because she was kicking and screaming.

In Little Rock a police officer was fired for using a stun gun on a ten-year-old girl, and not using the camera on the taser. The girl was "violently kicking and verbally caomabtive" so her mother called the police, because she wouldn't take a shower.

This girl could have been easily restrained by using other methods. It sounds like this polices man was just very trigger happy and wanted to get some action by using a weapon he never used.

The girl could have been easily restrained. The girl didn't even resist arrest.

Video shows 2-year veteran tasering a man who was in handcuffs. Officer Ryan Smith, a two-year veteran of the department, has been suspended without pay for two weeks.

From the video, I think the officer used excessive and unneccessary force. The man was handcuffed and standing still, but the police still made the decision to taser him.

This seems to be a misuse of force. There were 3 officers on the scene and I feel that between them they could've subdued the man without tasing him.

Thats totally not cool......the guy did not deserve to be punched!

People were shot by police officers in a couple different pschiatric crisises where cops were unaware how to handel mentally ill cases. People believe that if the cops were better trained they would have known to use lesser force and wouldnt have shot and killed these people.