A videotaped altercation between campus police and a skateboarder has led to student outrage at San Diego State University.
A cell-phone camera captured the end stages of the confrontation, during which Josh Gandy, 21, who was shocked with a stun gun, can be heard screaming. Video of the incident was posted on YouTube, reported NBC 7/39.
The campus rally held on behalf of the skateboarder was organized by a Carlsbad skateboard shop.
"I don’t blame any cop, you know, for anything, but [expletive,] you know, there's a difference between having power and using power," Gandy told NBC 7/39 on Thursday.
Campus police want people who see the video to understand that what they are watching is the end of the incident -- which took place at about 11 a.m. on Tuesday -- and not what led up to it.
Officials said that Gandy is not an SDSU student. According to campus police, he became belligerent after refusing to get off his skateboard. The campus does not allow skateboard or bike riding on campus, and there are signs posted throughout the school..
Clearly, however, a lot of students break the rules: NBC 7/39 videotaped several students riding skateboards on campus on Thursday. Campus police said that on Tuesday, however, an officer was asking people to get off their skateboards. They said that about five to 10 people complied, but Gandy did not, they said.
Authorities said that a second officer responded after Gandy had been asked to stop skateboarding and that he used the Taser gun in response to what campus police called a perceived physical threat.
"The guy became, initially, verbally argumentative, and then a physical confrontation ensued, and then, obviously, somebody captured probably the last 15 seconds of this contact, not the two to two and a half minutes that led up to it," said SDSU police Lt. Bob McManus.
One witness NBC 7/39 spoke with disagreed with that assessment.
"The skateboarder kind of was making a scene, and you can tell people were starting to come in from everywhere, and it looked like the officer was kind of rattled and kind of just went after the skateboarder," said witness John C.
The two officers involved will not be placed on administrative leave while the investigation continues, reported NBC 7/39.
Campus police said that skateboarding is one of the major problems on campus and that during the last two years, officers have issued 198 citations.
