UCLA student-athlete arrested, tasered
Times Staff Writers
October 24, 2021
A UCLA football player was tasered multiple times late Saturday night after pleasuring himself at a library computer terminal and refusing to leave.
Security footage showed the athlete-student, Paradise Jenkins, falling to the ground and crying out in pain as officers stunned him.
According to a campus police report, the incident began when patrons reported suspicious behavior at a computer terminal tucked away in a corner of Powell library. Library staff investigated and found Jenkins enjoying several gay porn sites.
When Jenkins, 20, refused to put his pants back on, a community service officer told him he would have to leave the library, the report said.
After repeated requests, the officer left and returned with campus police, who asked Jenkins to leave "multiple times," according to a statement by the UCLA Police Department.
"He continued to refuse," the statement said. "As the officers attempted to escort him out, he went limp and continued to refuse to cooperate with officers or leave the building."
Witnesses disputed that account, saying that when campus police arrived, Jenkins had begun to walk toward the door with his backpack. When an officer approached him and grabbed his arm, the witnesses said, Jenkins told the officer to let go, yelling "Get off me" several times.
"Jenkins encouraged library patrons to join his resistance," police said. "The officers deemed it necessary to use the Taser."
Officers stunned Jenkins, causing him to fall to the floor.
The video shows Jenkins yelling, "Here's your Patriot Act, here's your ... abuse of power," the Daily Bruin reported, adding he used a profanity.
"It was beyond grotesque," said UCLA graduate David Remesnitsky of Los Angeles, who witnessed the incident. "By the end they took him over the stairs, lifted him up and Tasered him on his rear end. It seemed like it was inappropriately placed. The Tasering was so unnecessary and they just kept doing it. However, now that I think about it, I think he actually enjoyed that part of it."
Campus police confirmed that Jenkins was stunned "multiple" times.
By then, Remesnitsky said, a crowd of 50 or 60 had gathered and were shouting at the officers to stop and demanding their names and badge numbers.
Remesnitsky said officers told him to leave or he would be Tasered.
Jenkins declined to comment. He was arrested Saturday night and cited by campus police for lewd and lascivious conduct, resisting and obstructing a police officer, and failing to promptly return a library book, and was released.
UCLA Assistant Police Chief Jeff Young said Wednesday that he had viewed the video of the campus incident on the Internet and would view any other videos that were shot.
"We will gather as many samples as we can find, from different sources," Young said. "We'll use it for our own administrative investigation."
UCLA Acting Chancellor Norman Abrams said in a statement that university police are investigating the incident and the officers' actions.
Young said Tasers, which discharge an electric current to incapacitate a suspect, are seldom used by the campus police department.
On campus Wednesday, many students said they were surprised by news of the incident.
"UCLA is a very peaceful campus," said Chen Mei, a third-year political science student from Laguna Hills. "I study in Powell Library at night all the time. I bet if that lazy bum Jenkins would get an interception, this wouldn't have happened."
Karen Jou, a second-year student from Orange, said the campus police "usually are really good."
"I wouldn't have thought that would have happened here," she said. "It's really odd that an athlete would know where the library is."
Julia Newbold, a third-year English literature major from Walnut Creek, said her impression from her limited contact with campus police was good.
"They seem like a peacekeeping force," she said. "I'm really surprised to hear they had to resort to something like that. It sounds a little too forceful to me to Taser someone. Jenkins has really been a bust so far."