Racial Profiling in Middletown?
Eric Lach writes about something that should upset pretty much everyone at Wesleyan. Jose Chapa '07, perhaps having one of the worst years ever, was arrested over the weekend after police responded to a noise complaint on Home Ave. In what was a horrifying experience, the officer seemed to be targeting Chapa specifically and taking out his frustrations for the whole Wesleyan community out on him:
"They grabbed me, they handcuffed me, and slammed my face in the road," Chapa said. "I was yelling, 'please let me go.' Then they pulled out the mace."if you're upset about this, you can contact the Middletown Police Department.
Student witnesses report hearing the officers continually yelling and swearing at Chapa and other students.
"We give you a hundred breaks a year, and you just piss all over us," one of the police officers, who identified himself as Officer Clark, said to the milling students.
According to witnesses, he also said there would no longer be any discretion given by the MPD to University parties. He did give students his badge number, when pressed.
Some students, Chapa included, wondered why Chapa was singled out, among all the other students on the street.
"I felt that they were specifically focusing on him, targeting him as a person among many on that street," said Erin Moore '07, who was also with Chapa at the time. "I noticed a difference in the way the officers spoke to me and Rae [Kaplan] in comparison to how they talked to Jose."
You can contact Middletown Mayor Sebastian Giuliano at Mayor@cityofmiddletown.com.
Of course, if you have any opinion at all about the article, you can write a wespeak.
Or you could watch this again. Not really the same thing, but enough to scare pretty much anyone.
30 comments:
Didn't he try to run away from the cop who wrongly detained him by grabbing his arm? Was anyone else in the group breaking the law (drinking in public which has been enforced all year)? Was the officer merely trying to see if he was over 21 yet crossed the line by physical contact?
I heard he didn't empty out the bottle when the cop asked him to at the outset. And then things escalated. But I mean how stupid is stupid - a cop tell you to stand and you run from him/her ANYWHERE in this country and, if they catch you, you're going to eat some pavement. And guess what, if they cuff you and you freak, you're going to get the pepper spray or a knee in the back. Um - duh. Welcome to the real world.
Regardless of Jose's actions, the officer was completely out of line. If witnesses heard him say:
"We give you a hundred breaks a year, and you just piss all over us," one of the police officers, who identified himself as Officer Clark, said to the milling students.
According to witnesses, he also said there would no longer be any discretion given by the MPD to University parties. He did give students his badge number, when pressed.
This means the officer is carrying a chip on his shoulder. He should be removed from the beat of Wesleyan. These remarks, in my opinion, as shouted to the students, border on harassment.
I don't know where Jose is from, but in L.A., where I grew up, you run from a cop and then resist arrest after they slap the bracelets on, and you're going to take a beating. Either way stupid on Jose's part. Maybe he was too drunk to consider that, or maybe he thought that being a Wes student gave him some sort of magic dispensation. But a word of experience, a cop sees you resist AFTER you get cuffed, s/he's assuming you're on drugs or unbalanced.
Wait, cops actually want to stop people from breaking the law???
No, this isn't regardless of Jose's actions, it's because of them. He was either too drunk or too stupid or too arrogant - or all three - and actually ran from a cop. In the cop's mind, you're running, you have something to hide - drugs, a weapon or something else. Did the cop over- react? Probably. But from their perspective they asked someone to halt and instead that person ran. Major red flag. How does the cop know Jose is a student? Did it occur to anyone that most of the assaults and robberies this academic year have come from townies pretending to be students? What the cop to think? Jose should man up and take repsonsibility for his actions and the MPD should put that cop in another part of the city.
I defy anyone here of any race or ethnicity to mouth off drunkenly to a cop in any town in the USA this weekend anytime after midnight until the cop orders them to sto. And then run as soon as they try to detain you. As they are tackling your ass at a full sprint and grinding your lips into the sidewalk, ask yourself - is this profiling, or did I just do a really stupid thing?
After reading this, I'm really not happy with the MPD in regards to the unprofessional way they yelled at the students.
You wouldn't apologize for a police officer arresting someone in the north end yelling at onlookers, "We let you poor shits get away with everything, we're going to start cracking the fuck down on you."
Essentially that's what this guy did to innocent bystanders.
Also, the mace was completely inappropriate.
Of course it was racial profiling. Of course I believe Jose's account 100%. Of course he was only running from the cop because he was sure he was being racially profiled and would be wrestled to the ground and pepper-sprayed for just being drunk in public and mouthing off to a cop. Of course there were WMDs in Iraq.
If I remember correctly, 73 home is three houses down from 63.
I can hear the Wespeak now...
"Dear Middletown Police,
Fuck you ass bitches."
Officer Clark's "hundred breaks a year" line only came after he was heckled for fifteen minutes by students standing on the sidewalk of Home Ave. Also, his assessment is not entirely inaccurate. It's definitely true that Middletown PD is not appreciated by the student body in general.
I AM A WESLEYAN STUDENT.
PLEASE STOP TRYING TO SPEAK FOR ME BECAUSE I DO NOT AGREE WITH THIS ENTRY BY ANY MEANS. And I quote, "Eric Lach writes about something that should upset pretty much everyone at Wesleyan."
No, Mr. blogger, I do not agree with your accusations against the Middletown Police. What I am upset by is the fact that you and the Argus and other means of disseminating information in this school always inject their own political agenda or biases into an incident such as that. AND IN THE FIRST PLACE, I HIGHLY DOUBT WHETHER THE ARGUS IS AN OBJECTIVE NEWS SOURCE. YOU HAVE NO EVIDENCE THAT THIS WAS RACIAL PROFILING. YOU DON'T HAVE ALL THE FACTS. YET YOU MAKE ACCUSATIONS LIKE THAT? HOW DARE YOU? THESE POLICE OFFICERS RISK THEIR LIVES TO PROTECT US AND ALL YOU CAN DO IS CALL THEM RACIST?
I don't deny that there may be some mistakes on the part of the Middletown Police, as in any police department in the country but please let us look at the big picture, the good that they have done for the community, and the reality that the subject in question may have very well broken the law. It is your right to make sure the Middletown Police is accountable. But why was the individual in question not subjected to the same scrutiny by you and by the Argus? You always blame the police, and never hold the other individuals accountable.
THIS BLOG WHETHER IT INTENDS TO BE OR NOT IS REPRESENTATIVE OF WESLEYAN. SO PLEASE TRY TO BE MORE OBJECTIVE NEXT TIME.
Hmm, mr. blogger?
Anyway, aside from this, I'll make the argument pretty clearly and succinctly here and now that as a blogger on this, we are not at all in anyway obligated to uphold any standards of objectivity. We are not the Argus. We are not the New York Times. We are not CNN.
We are at Wesleying are very much so entitled (much like any commenter on this blog) to an opinion. Seeing as I am one of two founders of this blog, I can decisively declare that by design this blog was not created to be an objective news source.
You may, of course, disagree with whatever any of us has to say about anything. However, I will lay it down here that I for one don't care if you think we should uphold objective standards.
If you would like to post your own opinion, feel free to join on to Wesleying and write your own posts. We let anyone who wants to write here to write here. It's part of our design to create a fluid, free space for the campus. Email me at Hwood@wes and I'll send you an invite.
But if you feel so strongly that Wesleyan needs to have an objective news blog, consider making one yourself. I recommend blogspot.com. Go ahead. It's free and easy and best of all, no one is stopping you.
Thanks.
Re: "I AM A WESLEYAN STUDENT"
Wesleying doesn't have big meetings regarding stances on issues, we allow interested students to post interesting articles, and these students assume authorship and responsibility for content.
We take contributions and suggestions from our gmail, and occasionally point out interesting articles in our campus publications.
If you'd like to contribute and be a "REPRESENTATIVE OF WESLEYAN", wesleying at gmail is always accepting emails, be sure to include a name and class year to give yourself some credibility.
Judging by Mr. Chapa's attitude in his published Wespeaks, I find it easy to see why he might provoke the police to such action.
If his account of the situation is true, then perhaps this was a case of police overreaction. But I'm inclined to trust a police officer's judgment over an angry drunk's.
HOW DARE PEOPLE SAY THE SAME THINGS THAT OTHER PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SAYING ABOUT THINGS, ITS FUCKING HERESY AND NOT TRUE AND FAKE. ALSO, A SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF THE MIDDLETOWN POLICE DEPARTMENT IS NOT, I REPEAT, NOT IN CAHOOTS WITH ELEMENTS OF ORGANIZED CRIME IN THE AREA. ABSOLUTE NO ON THAT ONE, SO DON'T YOU REPEAT IT. ISN'T THE ABILITY OF ALL CAPITALS AND RIDICULOUS STATEMENTS TO PISS YOU OFF QUITE FUCKING UNCANNY?!??!?!?!?!
(OH AND FOR THE RECORD, IT DOESN'T MATTER IF JOSE CHAPA IS RESPONSIBLE. ITS STILL A FUCKED UP SITUATION HOWEVER YOU REGARD IT. YOU SEE, THEY ATE BACON THAT MORNING!!!! THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING!!!)
im only upset that he wasnt given a good beating after he was tackled. he is an idiot. if you run from a cop, what the fuck do you expect to happen? jose comprises the lower IQ range which hasn't quite yet grasped that its probably a good idea to listen to and comply with cops requests. its painful how stupid the editorializing around this posting was. but i guess we should be looking to stick it to the man in all instances! painfully stupid, just painful
Oh Dear God,
Stop complaining the wesleying is not objective. It's not supposed to be objective! It's created by students! I see Holly's anger, but only a BIG IDIOT would interpret Holly's post as a representation of the whole campus' sentiments.
Wesleying, do NOT stop posting what you feel. I may not agree sometimes but I respect your right as a blogger to convey information through YOUR point of view.
Get it? stop reading wesleying if you don't agree with them but don't stop them from trying to express themselves.
Objectivity is a myth. Reality is created by the news, but that doesn't mean news sources have any obligation to reality. And this has nothing to do with the B-3 bomber, because the B-3 bomber does not exist.
On the other hand, if you're running from the police, you should expect some kind of consequence, irregardless of any mitigating circumstances.
And no, there is no crisis is Albania.
WHAT ABOUT THE GOOD OL' SHOE?
btw, the "Oh dear God" entry is by me, Leana
There's a typo in the first sentence, "Stop complaining that Wesleying..." I apologize for that grammatical mistake. Oh, but I don't apologize for calling you a big idiot.
Leana
For fuck's sake. They were breaking up a party. There were clearly at least 100 people drinking in public. They single out a person of color and use blatently unneccesary force. How fucking stupid does a person have to be to not make the connections here?
the police does it job and all
but they can be real asses
so can students.
fuck wesleyan students
and fuck the police
fuck all the people who want police control on campus
fuck the administration
fuck me too
fuck shit fuck
Run Chapa Run!!!
He's an idiot. Sure, they picked him out maybe by race but why the fuck did he run. See I can argue using curse words as well. I'm sure little would have happened if he didn't run (or yell back at the cops/refuse to listen).
oh my god.
if people don't see the difference between an arguably ill-concieved action (running) and deserving to get beaten and pepper sprayed by cops, then they're idiots.
regardless of what you think of Jose, this shit is not okay.
have some fucking decency.
i've recieved police violence and don't wish it on anybody.
One more comment pls.. first of all I was in the area and witnessed the testosterone-driven dumb ass drunk Mr. Chapa try to "stand up" to the officer and refuse the cops request that Mr. Chapa "dump out the beer". Everyone here knows or should know that you can't drink in public, and if an officer asks you to dump the beer, you sure as hell should! If he did, I'm guessing it would have been over and Mr. Chapa could have gone on his merry way - (but then there would be no story to print), so he had to show off for his friends and give the cop a hard time. Was the beer that important? I seriously don't think race had anything to do with this, anyone stupid enough to mouth off to a cop more than once should expect that he just might get in trouble. We party with our friends, but also keep in mind that Middletown has laws, just like Mr. Chapa's hometown..would he prace around drunk and disorderly on his street? We're supposted to set an example while we're attending school here, and alot of us follow the rules. For u to accuse the cop of profiling is ridiculous! He didn't use any derogatory remarks towards u, didn't insult you and probably didn't know you were mexican-american (I sure didn't know you were). The cop asked you to empty your beer, quite a few times and each time you refused, the last thing we heard you say before you took off was that you were on your street and could drink where you lived... SO I guess that means that when u get home you can drink outside on your street corner and expect that any cop driving by would just wave and let u be on your merry way. Maybe we can start smoking pot outside too.. speaking of that, rumor is Mr. Chapa ran for another reason(trying to dump something you didn't want the cops to find?).. Anyway, there's usually 3 sides to every story, I don't think it was fair to blast the Police Dept. based on just Mr. Chapa's story.. Mr. Chapa and his friends are going to be mad and make themselves the victims, there were more people there that night, and we don't believe you should have printed what you did. The Police Dept. has been fair and understanding in most cases and do a hell of alot more that Wes. Security! Just remember this when you grow up Mr. Chapa.. you're not going to be able to party your whole life!
I heard Jose Chapa was crying like a little bitch while at MPD getting booked. I'm from a big city out west and if you run from the cops, they're bringing an ass whipping with them. He's lucky he only got sprayed. He should have been tasered. I heard the cop had a dog with him. I can only imagine if the dog chased Jose and bit him. I'm sick and tired of you losers making us look bad. If you fuck up then stand up and take the heat. Jose's a liar and a little bitch. Fuck Jose fuck fucker. I'm done bitching about Jose now. Oh and hey Jose, go have another beer on Home Ave. Bet you'll never do that again!
Great research and investigating skills by the argus once again..Did jose write that story or did they just interview him and his friends, lots of facts ive noticed...I hardly doubt that the officer wanted to make more work for himself and turn an ordinance violation into a chase and numerous other charges.. To be honest with you, im an African American student and Off. Clark made me pour my beer out on Fountain Ave before, i listened, and that was the end of it.... Jose must be a real asshole, good luck in court loser
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