The news does not claim it was staged. The police under investigation are the ones claiming that and the news is reporting what the police public relations people said.
As for the UCLA incident. There has been no settlement. Read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UCLA_Taser_incident
If you watch it on youtube, it's a lot worse than what happened in Florida - they repeatedly tasered the kid while demanding that he stand up - something that is difficult if not impossible to do if you've just been tasered. They even threaten bystanders to stop filming or they'll get tasered too.
When there is a lot of hype and coverage like this it's a good idea to keep in mind that just because the results are big does not mean the people involved had any intention to create the results. This is very interesting essay on the phenomenon: http://www.wired.com/politics/securi...tymatters_0712
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