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College Police Officer Could Lose His Job for Declining to Use Stun Gun on Suicidal Student

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Recent controversy over police force used in certain situations may have caused a California State University - Monterey Bay (CSUMB) officer to freeze, or it caused him to make an important judgment call.

According to the Huffington Post, the officer received a call about a suicidal student in Feb., so the CSUMB policeman sought help from the Marina Police Department (MPD). When the student reportedly grew upset after a period of remaining calm, three Marina officer subdued him on the bed with their stun guns. They urged the CSUMB officer to do the same to get the student's legs under control, but he did not.

The matter is now under investigation and the CSUMB Police Department is saying it is far from cut-and-dry.

MPD Chief Edmundo Rodriguez told the HP the CSUMB officer "froze" and "didn't know what to do." Jeff Solomon, president of the Statewide University Police Association (SUPA), said the officer is a 20-year veteran with a sterling disciplinary record and used proper judgment in that situation. Solomon, whose union represents the CSUMB officer, told the HP the officer sized up the 150-pound student and did not believe four officers had a reason to use their stun guns.

"With the current public impression and distrust of law enforcement, I think we need to see more officers that choose to conduct themselves peacefully and professionally," the student's father, who made the 911 call about his son, told the Monterey Herald.

Rodriguez told the newspaper his officers found the student in a room spattered with blood and a sweater that appeared to be burned. The MPD officers were simply trying to subdue the student long enough for medical aid to arrive. There was also a knife and hammer in the room, though the student had neither on his person when the officers arrived.

Use of the stun guns was also an attempt to prevent the student from reaching the knife and hammer to use them as weapons.

Kathleen Mastagni-Storm, an attorney representing the CSUMB officer, told the Monterey County Weekly the resulting investigation could cost him his job. She said she will pursue the matter in court if it were to come to that end.

"Just look at the national landscape right now," Solmon told HP. "Here we have somebody that showed incredible restraint. It can be really easy to jump in the fray and join in... but here's this guy standing up to something that so many people in our society are complaining about. It speaks volumes. And it's not a popular stance with police officers."

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