By Joseph Wambaugh
November 27, 2011: In light of the terrible financial crisis at our California universities, I feel the need to rescue UC Davis, whose administrators are, according to The Times, negotiating a price with the Kroll security firm in New York for none other than former LAPD Chief Bill Bratton to fly West and tell us what went wrong on the day that students were pepper sprayed. I can save the university a hefty Kroll consulting fee by suggesting that the administrators carefully peruse a few of the newspaper articles of the past week and all will be revealed to them.
They might start with Wednesday’s hilarious Times photo of a student in a porkpie hat and bandanna mask mau-mauing the earnest but obviously flummoxed UC Davis chancellor, Linda Katehi, who actually seems to be recording the lad’s rant. The bandanna mask suggests he’s in full-on guerrilla mode and fears being seized and waterboarded by hooded men in a dank police station basement.
An assistant professor of English at UC Davis was quoted in The Times as saying that the pepper-spray incident was simply the latest example of “the systematic use of police brutality by UC chancellors” to suppress protests. Well, when I was an LAPD cop, I majored in English at Cal State L.A., and I can affirm that assistant professors of English claim all sorts of weird things after having been driven loopy by too much Elizabethan poetry. The UC Davis campus cops as serial brutes? I thought they just wrote tickets and attached wheel locks to illegally parked cars.
The Times also quoted a 23-year-old student (who probably majored in English) excitedly recounting his battlefield skirmish and proclaiming that the action of the campus cops was an example of police brutality that is even more “rampant” against “minority groups and women” in the world outside of UC Davis. I think the kid must be experiencing Revolutionary Overload. Allegations of excessive force against minorities have long been an issue with law enforcement critics, but police brutality against women? When did that start? I know quite a bit about police officers, and I can tell you that most of the male cops I’ve met like women. Really like them. A lot.
So, my message to UC Davis is to forgo Bratton (whose every fantasy involves his face on Mt. Rushmore) and save the suffering taxpayers a hefty tab from Kroll. Here’s what I’m betting happened on the Day of the Gas: A campus cop — one of the 99% that the Occupy protesters are championing — looked at a bunch of envious kids who’d missed the great era of protests and Woodstock that their forebears experienced. All they’ve got at UC Davis is a pitiful little sit-in, but they’re arm-locked and caterwauling and making the most of it.
After watching the scene for several hours, something like this goes through the campus cop’s head: “I’m not busting my hump trying to untangle these entitled little twits and hauling their butts away for a few hours, which will only make their day and bring them back feistier tomorrow. My sciatica is killing me and I can already feel the arthritis in my hip and I don’t get paid enough for this kind of truss-busting crap, so I’m gonna give them a taste of Come-to-Jesus juice. And if that doesn’t make them go home, screw it.” Then he casually strolled along the seated row and let them have it.
The loyal boss of the campus cops, Chief Annette Spicuzza, tried to tactically defend the indefensible with a statement about her cops feeling “surrounded,” instead of doing what most chiefs routinely do (including Bratton) and issuing a pension-saving CYA statement throwing her cops under the bus. That loyalty will probably cost the chief her job. The campus cop who did the deed was placed on leave and will probably go the way of his boss.
The upside to all of this is that the kids now have a cherished memory that will be a hot topic at every rave and beer bash for the rest of their college lives and beyond:
“Where were you on the day we took poison gas?”
“I was writhing in pain, bro!”
“Like broken glass in my eyes!”
“My whole body was on fire, man!”
“Why oh why did I pick that day to go surfing?”
“You missed a blast, dude. It was awesome!”
Now that I’ve enlightened our UC leaders about what transpired that day, let’s prevail on them to save us taxpayers some bucks and cancel Bratton’s plane ticket. If they refuse, we should insist. Or, we could consider bringing the campus cop back from leave — and pepper spray them.
“After watching the scene for several hours, something like this goes through the campus cop’s head: “I’m not busting my hump trying to untangle these entitled little twits and hauling their butts away for a few hours, which will only make their day and bring them back feistier tomorrow. My sciatica is killing me and I can already feel the arthritis in my hip and I don’t get paid enough for this kind of truss-busting crap, so I’m gonna give them a taste of Come-to-Jesus juice. And if that doesn’t make them go home, screw it.” Then he casually strolled along the seated row and let them have it.”
So…you’re saying this guy really has no business being a cop, right? I mean, if you think this is his reaction to a peaceful sit-in, then imagine how he might react if he had any actual reason to believe he was in danger.
I’m a little unclear whether or not you think the officer’s actions were justified. For most of the article you seem more sympathetic to him then the students, but then you have that line about “defending the indefensible,” so I really can’t tell.
I had actually attempted to submit an article for publication on this issue last week, but it didn’t go through. By the time I realized that, the video of the incident was already all over the news, so I didn’t try again. Here it is though, in case anyone hasn’t seen it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmJmmnMkuEM&feature=youtu.be
I was personally shocked and outraged by this clear example of police brutality. But I was inspired by the reaction of the students. After hearing about some of the seediness going on in a lot of Occupy Wall Street protests, and after the insane riots at Penn State, I was beginning to get a little dismayed. But the commitment to nonviolent protest displayed by these students really made me feel better.
This officer could have escalated the protest into a riot with his needless attack. But the students didn’t let that happen. Instead, they forced the officers out with only the power of their voices. They were armed only with camera phones to document the incident. Unlike the officer, they did not use violence to accomplish their goals. But they still showed that they would not let themselves be pushed around just because the person doing the pushing happened to be in a more powerful position than them. And that, ultimately, is what Occupy Wall Street is all about. That is what all legitimate protest is about.
And as you all know, this is not the first instance of police brutality at an Occupy Wall Street event. We’ve all heard about the 84-year old woman and the young pregnant woman that received a face-full of pepper spray. Something tells me they posed no more danger than this group of sitting protesters. We’ve also heard the reports of Scott Olsen, the Iraq War veteran who was badly injured by police in Oakland. Whether you agree with the Occupy Wall Street movement or not, these instances should be unacceptable to all who value freedom and harbor a healthy skepticism toward government.
If this was just one officer, the problem would be different. But the others knew of his intent to spray the students beforehand, and the department defended his actions afterward. They claimed that he was acting out of concern for his own safety, a claim which is absurd on it’s face. Some officers have said that his decision to pepper spray a harmless group of sitting protesters was standard operating procedure. All this points to an institutional problem, not an individual one.
I have always respected police officers and the dangerous job they do, but that respect is based on a level of trust. We have to be able to trust that the officers are there to protect us and ensure our safety. The officers at UC Davis failed at this. They broke that trust, and that is why they were driven off campus by the students. That would not have happened were it not for Lt. John Pike’s sadistic actions.
Ann Coulter has a better idea of what to do with the protesters: just shoot the hippies, like that awesome time the cops executed those people at Kent State!
Coulter: “So at the moment anyway, I mean I don’t know what’s going to happen in New York today, but at the moment I’m not really worried of a movement like SDS which really swept a lot of the college campuses taking over. Of course if it does, just remember the lesson from my book: it just took a few shootings at Kent State to shut that down for good.”
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201111260001?frontpage
Kent State again? You’re really reaching to find one unfortunate incident where authorities allegedly did something wrong. Considering Kent State was but one event, among thousands of others where you little students caused mayhem, property damage or worse…however, that’s all forgotten, huh? But lets all remember Kent State, by all means! However, they were not even cops…, they were local national guard soldiers! As young as the students! Well never mind that, the important thing is you can convict them or whoever in the court of public opinion while skipping over the facts to make your case.
DAVIS WAS NOT KENT STATE! NOT EVEN CLOSE. DAVIS WAS A BUNCH OF OVER PRIVILEGED WHINERS THAT DESERVED TO GET A FIRE HOSE TURNED ON THEM! I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THEIR DUMB WET BUTTS SKIDDING ACROSS THE SIDEWALK AS THEY WERE HOSED OFF LIKE SO MUCH GARBAGE! But, no you gotta try to make hero’s out of these spoiled brats. That’s why this nation is so screwed….it’s lost to the dark side.
Chris, neither the article nor the video (link supplied by you) tell our readers much about what happened before the pepper spray incident. Do you have any information that would put what happened in a wider context? Were the students asked to leave or to move from the area? Were the cops ordered to remove the students or were they just there to keep the peace? There were plenty of students who seemd to be cooperating with the campus police…what were the students sitting doing that caused confrontation? I don’t buy the idea that they are completely innocent.
“But they still showed that they would not let themselves be pushed around just because the person doing the pushing happened to be in a more powerful position than them. And that, ultimately, is what Occupy Wall Street is all about.”
What about civil responsibilities, Chris? We have many ways to express our opinions, to petition our government, to get involved in politics, and to make our voices heard and we can do it without trampling all over the rights of others.
The expense that the occupy movement is creating for the various municipalities is quite significant as is the distraction from regular duties for the police. The inconvenience and cost to businesses in some of the occupied areas is significant and an affront to the freedoms and rights of those people and their customers.
I find it appalling that some OWSers have been tolerated and even applauded given the health and safety issues they defy. Businesses have all kinds of regulations and fees imposed upon them yet protesters don’t even have to adhere to basic codes of decency or manners. If that is what you mean by “not being pushed around” then I think I agree with the sentiment, if not the methods, of the cop using the pepper spray.
There’s a difference between a well executed argument or position and a temper tantrum. This looks more like an infantile tantrum to me.
Jack, was that irrational, screeching, nutso reply really from you? It doesn’t sound like you at all.
For one thing, how am I “reaching to find” anything? I did not compare Kent State to the Occupy movement. Ann Coulter did.
And the incident is settled history. It was wrong. I don’t know why you want to imply otherwise.
Tina:
“Do you have any information that would put what happened in a wider context? Were the students asked to leave or to move from the area?”
Yes, of course they were asked to move from the area. This is in all the news reports, of which there are many. I didn’t think I needed to mention that, because 1) everyone who knows anything about this story knows that already, and 2) it has no bearing on whether or not the pepper spraying was justified. An attack such as this, on peaceful protesters, is wrong.
The lieutenant also notified the protesters that he was going to pepper spray them before he did so, as you can see in this video, which shows the incident from multiple perspectives:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO4406KJQMc
The protesters refused to be intimidated by this threat of excessive force, and stayed locked in each other’s arms. That’s bravery, if you ask me.
“Were the cops ordered to remove the students or were they just there to keep the peace?”
They were ordered to remove the students.
“There were plenty of students who seemd to be cooperating with the campus police…”
The crowd that is chanting and marching against the police is enormous. They are not threatening the police in any way, but they don’t look like they’re exactly “cooperating” to my eyes.
“what were the students sitting doing that caused confrontation?”
I find this question ridiculous. How can a person cause a confrontation when they are sitting down on their own college campus?
“I don’t buy the idea that they are completely innocent.”
Of course you don’t. You claim to distrust the government, but that distrust completely dissolves in the presence of the enforcers of that government. You are always willing to give the police the benefit of the doubt no matter what your eyes tell you.
“What about civil responsibilities, Chris?”
Protest in the face of injustice sometimes is a civil responsibility. And hiking up tuition costs while giving raises to administrators is an injustice. This is not a conservative or liberal position, this is a common sense position.
“We have many ways to express our opinions, to petition our government, to get involved in politics, and to make our voices heard and we can do it without trampling all over the rights of others.”
Whose rights were these students trampling over? They were not blocking anyone from going anywhere on campus.
I find it amazing that you are so concerned about the possibility that the sitting protesters were violating people’s rights, when you have no evidence that they were doing so; yet you have nothing to say about the police officer who you clearly saw violating THEIR rights by employing excessive force on them, casually spraying them as if they were weeds.
This leads me to believe that the rights of others is not your actual concern.
“The expense that the occupy movement is creating for the various municipalities is quite significant as is the distraction from regular duties for the police. The inconvenience and cost to businesses in some of the occupied areas is significant and an affront to the freedoms and rights of those people and their customers.
I find it appalling that some OWSers have been tolerated and even applauded given the health and safety issues they defy. Businesses have all kinds of regulations and fees imposed upon them yet protesters don’t even have to adhere to basic codes of decency or manners. If that is what you mean by “not being pushed around” then I think I agree with the sentiment, if not the methods, of the cop using the pepper spray.”
Yet absolutely none of that occurred at UC Davis, so I don’t see how you can use those incidents to justify this cop’s actions.
“There’s a difference between a well executed argument or position and a temper tantrum. This looks more like an infantile tantrum to me.”
Tina, it’s pretty clear who behaved like the bigger people in this case. Who acted calmly and rationally, and who committed a random act of violence?
You see peaceful, legitimate protest as a “temper tantrum” but you have no harsh words whatsoever with a clear instance of police brutality?
Once again, your positions do not seem based on universal principles, but on partisanship. Conservatives don’t like Occupy Wall Street protesters, but they do like cops. That’s all you needed to know to make up your mind on this matter…
Chris: “Yes, of course they were asked to move from the area.”
Of course! Of course!
But just because they were asked or told to leave doesn’t mean they need to comply, right? They are above the rules that govern civil society. They are special.
“This is in all the news reports…”
Sorry, I’ve been out of the loop over the holiday and I assumed others might be also. I was only asking because you seemed to know what happened and the article was not written by me or by Jack (or I’d have asked him).
“…it has no bearing on whether or not the pepper spraying was justified.”
That’s a matter of opinion. Those who defy authority are inviting this type of trouble; they bring it on themselves for the express purpose of crying fowl. These students are not innocent and they do need to be responsible about what happened. Other students that were standing around moved when asked…had they been sprayed I might agree with you.
“The lieutenant also notified the protesters that he was going to pepper spray them before he did so…”
Giving them the choice to move their butts!
“The protesters refused to be intimidated by this threat of excessive force, and stayed locked in each other’s arms.”
Oh…the drama!
“That’s bravery, if you ask me.”
Oh please…that is bulls*#t.
“How can a person cause a confrontation when they are sitting down on their own college campus?”
You answered this yourself: “of course they were asked to move from the area” AND “The protesters refused to be intimidated…”
I know, when you are spoiled rotten you don’t think the rules apply to you but it’s a lesson that will soon be learned when these students join the rest of us in the real world. What we choose to do or say always has consequences and we are responsible for those consequences to one degree or another.
“You claim to distrust the government, but that distrust completely dissolves in the presence of the enforcers of that government.” You are always willing to give the police the benefit of the doubt no matter what your eyes tell you.”
Not true. But you are entitled to your opinion…as I am entitled to mine.
I disaggree with the direction our government has taken and I don’t believe we have reached a point where civil disobedience or anarchy or being a sloopy, inconsiderate pain in the a** disguised as peaceful protest is warranted. If I did it would certainly take a different form than OWS or this sit in on the Davis campus. What did they accomplish? What plan did they offer for reform? In fact what was their beef?
The remainder of my comments were directed at the overall OWS movement based on your statement: “And that, ultimately, is what Occupy Wall Street is all about.”
Unfortunately I either didn’t make it clear or you didn’t notice so the rest of your comments assume my comment are about the Davis protesters alone.
“Protest in the face of injustice sometimes is a civil responsibility. And hiking up tuition costs while giving raises to administrators is an injustice.:
Agreed! In fact I have written about this very thing on this blog in comments if not in my postings. I can report that not once have I been pepper sprayed or arrested for doing so.
“…yet you have nothing to say about the police officer who you clearly saw violating THEIR rights by employing excessive force on them, casually spraying them as if they were weeds.”
What I didn’t see was what happened before the police officer decided this course of action. Clearly the protesters, after being asked to leave on orders from school authorities, were “casually” acting weeds. They were told what would happen and they “casually” chose to defy the order. Zero respect for authority results in consequences…sometimes unexpected. They push the envelope and refuse to see, as do you, that when you do that you force the next level.
“This leads me to believe that the rights of others is not your actual concern.”
Oh really? What next?
“it’s pretty clear who behaved like the bigger people in this case. Who acted calmly and rationally, and who committed a random act of violence?
Once again…oh please! It’s the child that has no notion of civility, that pushes and pushes to discover the bounderies. These kids have plenty of ways to express their opinions and they choose instead throw a “peaceful” fit begging the “dads” to show them the boundaries. All this demonstration shows is that they have moved from two year old to teenager without noticing the bounderies.
I know that the college years are the years to assert authority in your own lives…I get it. But this sixties protest stuff accomplishes nothing but a lot of expense and waste of time and services. Protest all you want but also be repsonsible. March through campus with signs. Yell your slogans. But stop at becoming a public nuisance and you will gain a lot more support from the adults that are watching.
“You see peaceful, legitimate protest as a “temper tantrum” but you have no harsh words whatsoever with a clear instance of police brutality?”
The peaceful legitimate protest became a temper tantrum when the protesters refused to comply with the officers order. Protest is one thing, civil disobedience is another.
“Once again, your positions do not seem based on universal principles, but on partisanship.”
Partisanship? Attitude or opinion, maybe. I have an intolerant attitude toward this type of protest. I watched it in the sixties and it disgusted me then too. It’s a lazy, irresponsible way to object to the financial inequities that concerns you.
You, on the other hand, support the democrat party that created the conditions that brought about such inequities and is supported by the established hierarcy in the UC system…now that’s being partisan!
“Conservatives don’t like Occupy Wall Street protesters…”
Conservatives don’t like what OWS protesters do. You have been somewhat absent on OWS. You sure had a lot to say about the Tea Party, however.
The contrast between the methods and practices of the two couldn’t be more stark.
“…but they do like cops.”
Yes, we have a great deal of respect for most police officers. We give them the benefit of the doubt because we know they are well trained and have a very difficult job…dealing with people, sometimes mobs of people in volatile situations. We think they deserve respect and cooperation.
“That’s all you needed to know to make up your mind on this matter…”
And we’re back to the drama! I notice you pretty much avoid the subject of personal responsibility and civic responsibility.
This thread is hilarious. Joseph and Chris, you pretend that you know something about the US government and constitution, but what you really need to do is to look up “fascism” in the encyclopedia so you will know what you really are.
Tina: “The peaceful legitimate protest became a temper tantrum when the protesters refused to comply with the officers order. Protest is one thing, civil disobedience is another…I have an intolerant attitude toward this type of protest. I watched it in the sixties and it disgusted me then too.”
Seriously? Civil disobedience “disgusts” you?
Were you disgusted by Rosa Parks when she committed an act of civil disobedience by refusing to move to the back of the bus? Were you disgusted by the brave men and women who conducted peaceful sit-ins at segregated lunch counters? Were you disgusted by Gandhi and Martin Luther King, both of whom advocated and committed acts of civil disobedience?
Maybe that’s not what you meant. But it’s what you said.
If you don’t see the value in civil disobedience, then either you have no respect for the heroes I just mentioned, or you are simply ignorant of the very history you lived through.
Civil disobedience is one of the most effective and time-honored forms of protest there is. To characterize it as a “temper tantrum” is absurd and offensive. It’s incredibly disrespectful to the legacy of the Civil Rights movement and the brave men and women who made it possible.
Civil disobedience was legitimate in the sixties, and it was legitimate for the victims of police brutality at UC Davis. The police had NO RIGHT to order them to move. The sitting protesters were blocking nothing. They were a small line of people who anyone could have easily walked around. They had every right to sit where they were sitting, on their own campus. They were breaking no law, and violating no one else’s rights. So they ignored the unjust demands of the officer, and they did so peacefully. Lt. John Pike, on the other hand, did not act peacefully, and did violate the students’ rights.
Pepper spray is only to be used when an officer is posed with a physical threat:
“To Kamran Loghman, who helped develop pepper spray into a weapons-grade material with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the 1980s, the incident at Davis violated his original intent.
I have never seen such an inappropriate and improper use of chemical agents, Mr. Loghman said in an interview.
Mr. Loghman, who also helped develop guidelines for police departments using the spray, said that use-of-force manuals generally advise that pepper spray is appropriate only if a person is physically threatening a police officer or another person.
In New York, for example, a police commander who sprayed several women in an Occupy demonstration last month faced disciplinary proceedings. The New York Police Department says pepper spray should be used chiefly for self-defense or to control suspects who are resisting arrest.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/us/pepper-sprays-fallout-from-crowd-control-to-mocking-images.html
Check out the picture on that article of the 84-year old woman who just took a face full of pepper spray. Maybe it will actually make you feel some justifiable anger, for once.
Here are some UC Davis rules about the proper use of pepper spray:
“Pepper spray is a non-lethal device designed to subdue a person by projecting a specially formulated liquid onto the face. It is a defensive weapon intended to gain control of an unarmed attacker, or to overcome resistance likely to result in injury to either a suspect, a victim, or the officer…
When the situation is requires Pepper Spray to be used, it is to be sprayed in a one second burst. It is not meant to be used repeatedly on an individual, or for long periods of time.”
Pike clearly violated both of these rules: the sitting protesters were not attacking anybody, and posed no risk of injury. And as you can see in the video, Pike fired the pepper spray repeatedly, and for more than one second.
Tina, I eagerly await your condemnation of the officer for his defiance of authority and his violation of the rights of the students he was sworn to protect. That is, unless you believe that the officer is somehow above the rules.
Forgot to post the link to the UC Davis rules on pepper spray:
http://www.calstate.edu/EO/EO-756.pdf
Elvis Cole: “This thread is hilarious. Joseph and Chris, you pretend that you know something about the US government and constitution, but what you really need to do is to look up “fascism” in the encyclopedia so you will know what you really are.”
Hm. So now being against police brutality is an indicator of fascism?
I’ve gotta say, that’s a new one.