Before the YouTube videos, the protests and the Wikipedia entry, Toby Turner already knew the quote "Don't Tase me, bro" was going to catch on.
Since Andrew Meyer's arrest on Sept. 17, Turner, a UF telecommunication productions senior, has designed a T-shirt, created a remix video and made a ring tone available with those famous words.
"Everyone has made T-shirts, but at least I'm his friend," Turner said.
Turner met Meyer two years ago in a telecommunications class.
The day after the arrest, Turner designed a T-shirt logo on printfection.com. He just wanted a T-shirt for himself but decided to leave it up for sale.
"It just says 'Don't Tase me, bro,'" Turner said. "A lot of them say 'Taser,' but that's retarded."
At least a hundred of the T-shirts, which go for under ,20, have been ordered.
Turner has seen T-shirts that look a lot like his, with a Taser gun in a red "no" circle symbol under the infamous phrase.
"I like to think they saw mine and stole it from me," Turner said.
Turner also made a YouTube video listed as "Don't Tase Me, Bro! (UF Student Tasered Remix)." The live recordings of the incident at the University Auditorium are paired with a hip-hop beat.
One of the video's more than 130,000 viewers suggested he turn the remix into a ring tone. He did.
The 99-cent ring tone is linked off the YouTube video for pocketfuzz.com. At least 20 people have bought it.
Originally, the purpose of these efforts was to raise money to help Meyer as he dealt with his third-degree felony and second-degree misdemeanor charges.
"But he sounds pretty confident about it," Turner said.
The T-shirt and ring tone sales are not making much profit.
Turner will take the "couple hundred" dollars he has made and throw Meyer a party when the ordeal is done.
Meyer is "laying low" and has only spoken to Turner once since his arrest, he said. Turner hasn't seen Meyer in the two classes they share this semester since the incident.
"He sounded like a different person, rugged but not worried," Turner said. "He sounded like he enjoyed it all deep down."
Meyer called him, he said, to say, "Sweet remix, bro."
