Tased Bro Goes To Law School

Of course this happened. Of course Andrew Meyer, the University of Florida student who was famously tased during a John Kerry speech, ended up going to law school. Of course a law school looked at Meyer’s history of barely civil disobedience and resisting police and said, “Come on down.”

And really, Meyer’s story isn’t even the craziest law school matriculation story out there today. Not in a world where a 15-year-old kid is trying to figure out which law school he’s going to.

Which institutions of legal education are welcoming these students with non-traditional life stories?

Let’s start with Doogie Howser J.D. The ABA Journal reports that Ty Hobson-Powell is a 15-year-old graduate of the University of Baltimore, and he’s been admitted to three law schools:

Hobson-Powell is considering which law school to attend, the Baltimore Sun reports. He is the youngest person ever to graduate from the University of Baltimore, and he has been accepted at three law schools: Howard, William & Mary and North Carolina Central.

Hobson-Powell’s father teaches at Howard’s medical school and his mother is an officer for the U.S. Public Health Service.

Look, if he can do the work, more power to him. This isn’t the NBA; there’s no need to put anti-competitive arbitrary age restrictions on people who want to compete at the highest level they can.

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It’s just that if this kid is a little boy genius, it’s too bad he’s not taking his talents to a field that’s more useful to humanity. Not to dog lawyers, but does the world really need another super lawyer? Couldn’t we steer the Wunderkind towards cancer research or strategic nuclear defense or television sitcom writing? It just seems we’ve already got enough people arguing over our rights, and not enough people developing the science that will save us from ourselves.

(The ABA Journal notes that Hobson-Powell “is considering medical school after law school.” So there’s still hope.)

Let’s leave the lawyering to people like Andrew “don’t tase me bro” Meyer. The Washington Post did a “where are they now” feature on Meyer and, well, you can kind of see why he’s going to law school:

Meyer graduated in August 2008, but instead of pursuing a career in journalism, the telecommunications major enrolled in Florida International University’s law school.

“I got a taste of the system,” says Meyer, who is in his second year. The experience made him “want to know how to defend myself. Want to be able to help people.”

Meyer trademarked the phrase “Don’t tase me, bro’’ in September 2007 and says he has sold quite a few T-shirts on his Web site. Meyer says he finished a book about the incident in April and hopes to find a publisher for it.

Dude, if Florida International is offering a course on Taser defense, I might have to audit it. Getting to a zen level of calm while Taser bolts bounce off of me could be very useful in my career.

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I’m rooting for Meyer for one reason and one reason only: his television lawyer ad will be top material. There are so many possibilities:

  • “They tased me, but I won’t let them tase you, bro.”
  • “Have you been tased? Call me once you are grounded enough to use a cell phone.”
  • “I’ll get tased so you get paid.”

You guys can stop reading now, I’m going to keep coming up with one-liners through lunch…

Whatever Happened To … the college kid who got tased by police at a Kerry forum?
[Washington Post]
15-Year-Old College Grad Is Headed to Law School [ABA Journal]