Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/University of Florida Taser incident (2nd nomination)
Our policy on |what Wikipedia is not says that we should consider the "enduring notability" of events. Coverage of this event was, of course, heaviest in the days and weeks following the incident, but there is nothing unusual about this. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/technology/tasers-latest-police-weapon-the-tiny-camera-and-the-cloud.html?_r=0 This article in the New York Times published in February of 2012, well over four years later, says that video of the incident was responsible for "keeping concerns high" about the safety of tasers. http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/01/court-dials-back-taser-use-cops-cant-zap-to-force-behavior/ A 2010 article in Wired about a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals restricting taser use called the incident "famous". A http://www.today.com/id/31202935/#.UT6Prxy0KSo 2009 NBC News report called the comment by the man tasered an "immortal phrase". Another http://www.today.com/id/32414436/m/videos/#.UT6QJBy0KSo 2009 NBC News report called this incident the "most famous" video of police use of a taser. Fifteen months after the incident, Time magazine described it in the opening paragraph of their story titled http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1866748,00.html Are Tasers Deadly? That same month, Newsweek/The Daily Beast ran a http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2008/12/05/they-tased-you-bro.html followup article on the incident. Ten months after the incident, Deseret News ran a story called http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700244550/Are-Tasers-good-tools-for-police--or-deadly-force.html Are Tasers good tools for police — or deadly force? that said the student had "forever immortalized" the phrase he uttered. John Kerry http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=LOWB&p_theme=lowb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=1216AD0FB19B3800&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM discussed the incident himself at a public appearance nine months later. Three months after the incident, the editor of the Yale Book of Quotations said that the phrase, "Don't tase me, bro" was http://uk.reuters.com/article/2007/12/19/uk-usa-quotes-idUKN1854456920071219?rpc=64 the most memorable quotation of 2007, and that it was "a symbol of pop culture success", and in its coverage, Reuters UK said it was "a phrase that swept the nation". A book published in 2010 called http://books.google.com/books?id=0HGH_V_S7JUC&pg=PT554&dq=%22don't+tase+me,+bro%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vpU-UafPNY2xqwGX3YCYCQ&sqi=2&ved=0CFcQ6AEwCA U.S. Criminal Justice Policy: A Contemporary Reader says that the incident (the only one specifically described in this section of the book) was among several that led the International Association of Chiefs of Police to issue a 9-step strategy for "effective deployment" of tasers and similar devices. A 2009 book called http://books.google.com/books?id=p5-Dx4h6obEC&pg=PA269&dq=%22don't+tase+me,+bro%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vpU-UafPNY2xqwGX3YCYCQ&sqi=2&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=%22don't%20tase%20me%2C%20bro%22&f=false Introduction to Criminal Justice devoted two pages to the incident, plus a mention in the introduction. In Charles Ogletree's 2012 book http://books.google.com/books?id=SMhYJBqLCsQC&pg=PT73&dq=%22don't+tase+me,+bro%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Spg-UfrzAZGZqAH77YDADg&ved=0CC0Q6AEwADgK The Presumption of Guilt: The Arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Race, Class and Crime in America, he says that many African-Americans related to this incident because of memories that tasers were used on Rodney King. It has been five and a half years, and this incident is still being discussed in a wide range of reliable sources. It is also interesting that two editors recommending deletion are using the deprecated "NEWS" shortcut. Of course, Wikipedia has articles on newsworthy events of enduring significance, but the point is that Wikipedia does not function like a newspaper. When an event has been discussed in reliable sources for years, including in serious books, concerns about newspaper type coverage should evaporate
— User:Cullen328, 02:58, 12 March 2013 (UTC)
Stance: keep
Cited policy: WP:NOT (Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not)