Police brutality causes a riot in Ames. (1288 hits)
Category: PoliticsRating: 0.55 on 12 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by David Jones <davjones.at.iastate.edu> (View user info) at 2004-04-20 22:22:32 EDT
As if it wasn't painfully apparent already, I am going to start by saying that I live in Ames, Iowa. Ames' population is roughly 20k in the summer, but bursts up to 50k during the school year. More then half the city is Iowa State University. Without this school, the town would deteriorate into little more than a grain silo. Here in Ames there are basically 2 distinctions: resident or student. This distinction may seem trivial, since we all live together most of the year, but this is simply not the case.
Here in Ames we have a silent war. Residents, local government, and police all combine into an unholy trio out to get the students, who fight back equally hard, sided with local business. Every time one side throws a punch, the other side is sure to fire back, this is the simple politics of Ames. You learn to accept the truth of it. The police are out to serve and protect...the local residents. The politicians are trying to make things better...for the local residents. The residents, in all their gloriously stupid hatred, want us gone.
There you have it; the stage is set for maybe the single greatest act of the war to date. Finally, the police have gone too far. If you didn't see it on CNN the small town of Ames had a riot Saturday night. Now, we aren't talking a riot such as LA has seen, but as much of a riot as you can have with a thousand participants. If you have seen/heard reports of this riot on the news you undoubtedly got the take that some drunken students got out of hand, caused some 40-80 thousand dollars of damage. If only this truly were the case.
Here is a timeline of the riot:
1:34 a.m. Police bust a party on Hunt Ave. This party had roughly 400 people, and I agree fully with dispersing such a large and perhaps unruly party. Unfortunately the police showed up a half dozen strong and instead of simply telling people to move on, they immediately pulled mace and began threats. Of course anyone under the age of 21 left immediately, but everyone else, especially the residents of this home, were doing nothing illegal, and they were doing their usual slow departure, calling friends, seeing if anything else was going on. At this point the police begin pushing those moving to slowly, and pouring everybody's beer out. Excessive, but fine, we get it, get moving.
1:40 Police have forced the party people from Hunt to Welch Avenue. Welch is the main strip in Ames; it has all the bars, tons of restaurants, and, during this weekend, the largest student run event in the nation, Veisha. Veisha is your average fair type event, funnel cakes, performers, etc.
1:45 Police once again try to disperse the now larger crowd, with all the people attending Veisha on hand, as well as everyone leaving the bars for home or food (in Ames you can't sell alcohol past 2 a.m.) This time they immediately start applying mace, no questions asked. This is a first hand account of an Ames resident:
"Even though I am legally of age, I was 100% sober when the first police action started. I was eating my funnel cake when I was surprised to see the guy standing next to me get tackled from behind by police and maced while he was on the ground protecting his face, not fighting. Another officer came running towards me and yelled "get the fuck out." I wasn't sure what was happening at the time but I of course started running. Wearing heels I apparently couldn't run fast enough and was shoved from behind and did a header to the ground. I was then maced for absolutely no reason. Unable to see, how could I flee? Some angel helped me down the street only to meet police at the other end too, gassing us. I experienced another wave of gagging. The police handled this in the worst way possible. Most students I saw at the beginning were cooperative and were still maced. The police incited the riots, not the students. Punishing innocent people will invoke anger and retaliation. I am saddened by the irresponsible acts of a few, but I too felt the injustice."
1:47 angry students knock 12 portable toilets over in protest of the police. Rocks begin being thrown at police. This is when much of the windows were broken.
1:55 police, now in full riot gear, begin using tear gas to push the crowd back, as the crowd tries to flip a police car.
2:00 crowd is driven out of Welch into Lincoln Way, directly in front of Friley Hall, the world's largest non military living quarters. Continued use of tear gas, combined with the 15 mph winds drives people inside of Friley out, as it enters through open windows.
2:19 a car on Welch is started on fire.
2:20 the crowd in front of Friley begins throwing the tear gas back at the police, likely disgruntled residents who don't appreciate waking to burning nostrils, throat, and eyes.
2:25 crowd in front of Friley is rushed by the police, and pepper sprayed into submission or retreat. Note that a large part of this crowd are people driven out of their residence.
2:32 trash can in front a bar is lit on fire, and is being pushed through traffic.
2:36 burning trash is dumped into the Lincoln Way - Hayward Avenue intersection.
2:40 street signs begin being pulled out of the ground, and thrown into the street.
2:43 lamp posts begin getting torn down.
3:25 fire hydrant gets busted open in front of Welch
5:00 scene calms down, 32 people are arrested.
Now, I am in no way defending the students who rioted against the police, but I will say that the Ames Police's excessive use of force is certainly what triggered it. As the timeline clearly shows the first riot act happened at 1:45, right after the police's aggression began. I will leave you with a quote from today's Iowa State Daily. Numerous other accounts can be found online at:
http://strangetalk.net/viewtopic.php?t=60523&start=0
"I watched a gentleman on Sunday just prior to the lights being cut off, who had been maced by an officer who was behind the line of officers who walked down Hayward Ave. towards Lincoln Way at about 3:00. The gentleman was by himself walking on the side of the road and was maced. A split second after being maced he began to yell at the officer, "What is your name and badge number." The officer responded by fingering the gentleman over indicating come here in a very unprofessional manner. The gentleman approached the officer and was obviously very upset. As the gentleman approached the officer, the officer became defensive and struck him with his shield four times, knocking him to the ground. At this point a few other officers approached the situation. While on the ground, the original officer decided it was necessary to mace the gentleman again as he was curled into the fetal position. Next, the worst part of all, the lights went out and I watched the poor guy get hit with the night stick five times until the two state officers who had approached the situation could say "what the hell are you doing" and pull them off. The three officers turned and walked away as if nothing had happened."
User Reviews
Submitted by Alan at 2004-04-28 19:20:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
This guy had a lot of quotes of false information from angry people who are good at making stuff up. He obviously wasn't there. Everything that the police did that may have been questionable, the students did right back. Also, sorry to say it, but the incident at the bar just didn't happen. It's a lie.
Submitted by woplover (user info) at 2004-04-20 23:24:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
No Comment
Submitted by mystiamoon (user info) at 2004-04-20 23:22:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by slowlyrotting (user info) at 2004-04-20 23:02:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
meh. i'd have just pulled out my glock and took out a few dozen students. fuck the mace.
Submitted by youarsoghey (user info) at 2004-04-20 22:47:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Pretty good. Not as bad as the Northeastern riots after the Patriots won the Super Bowl. A few of my friends watched three people die after they got hit by a car going 50 mph. Fucking police in Boston are a bunch of pricks. However, that riot was the students' fault.
Submitted by AlwaysAnEagle (user info) at 2004-04-20 22:45:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
There is no doubt in my mind that this is where the situation with the Worcester Police and Holy Cross is going. I grew up in Worcester, and I partied up there on the Hill occasionally in high school, only to wind up dating a guy from Holy Cross throughout my freshman year when I left for DC (long story). I went up to visit him during their spring weekend, the weekend right before exams, and it was a creepy feeling. You had cops up there ready to go for it, and all these college kids continuing on with their parties on the lawns of the student houses. If ANYONE stepped off the lawns with a drink in their hand, they would have been hauled off like murder suspects. It was a little bit like that last scene in "The Birds," when all the birds are just there staring the humans down as they leave the house.
I'm all for breaking up a party before it gets COMPLETELY out of control, but it takes responsibility from the cops to not go after college kids because they are, well, college kids.
Submitted by freebie (user info) at 2004-04-20 22:36:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
Damn boy. You should write for CNN, the allspin network. You innocent children are just victims of da maan. Spend some of your college fund hiring a lawyer and SUE somebody.
It is the American way.
Submitted by polyamorousaj (user info) at 2004-04-20 22:33:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Ignore DK.
Submitted by DraconianKing (user info) at 2004-04-20 22:31:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Asshole, I thought this was about the store Ames.
Submitted by DavyJones (user info) at 2004-04-20 22:30:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Appreciate the hold off Poly, altho you may have been able to do it a little better. It's really hard writing about things you know so well, I had to keep going back and explaining things, while at the same time trying to keep it short enough people would actually read it...I don't know how well I managed.
Submitted by DavyJones (user info) at 2004-04-20 22:25:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Sorry for the long length, had a lot to say. If anyone is concerned I wasn't actually in Ames, and am fine. Although a friend of mine is a bouncer at a bar on Welch, he was just doing as the owner had told him, getting everyone out of the bar, when police burst in and told everyone to go home. Everyone who did not work there left, but when he tried to explain that he worked there the cops began beating him with their clubs. He is in the hospital with broken ribs, as is the owner, a 300 pound man who went into respiratory arrest when they pepper sprayed him for trying to make them stop.
Submitted by polyamorousaj (user info) at 2004-04-20 22:25:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I thought about posting about VEISA, but I knew you probably would so I held off.