Because we all know it's good to have friends in a pinch.
Plus, this will be a great opportunity to learn about what PSafe and MPD do here on campus, discuss policy and enforcement issues, and hear about what a career in law enforcement is like, all in a relaxed, snack-and-coffee-filled setting.
Who: The Wesleyan community, including PSafe, MPD, and WSA members
What: Open Community Forum
Where: Daniel Family Commons, Usdan 3rd Floor
When: Thursday, 7pm
The WSA's Community Outreach Committee (COCo) has been working with Public Safety and the Middletown Police Department, and has set up a forum for students to sit down with P-Safe and the MPD and ask them questions. P-Safe and the MPD will also discuss their jobs, as well as policy and enforcement issues, which—as we all know after the Fountain debacle—are critically important to student life at Wesleyan.
Date: Thursday, Dec. 4
Time: 7:00 PM
Place: Daniel Family Commons
The Middletown Police Department's report on the Fountain incident has been released. An MPD press release announcing the completion of the department's investigation notes that it concluded that "the officers were faced with what they described as a large, unruly and hostile crowd," and, as a result, "the officer's [sic] use of force was 'objectively reasonable'...to effect these arrests, to prevent injury to themselves and others, and to prevent escape."
It also notes that the improvement of communication and development of a better relationship between Wesleyan and MPD is key to ensuring that this does not happen again. The full report is 66 pages long and contains a thorough summary of the night's events, the arrests, the call for assistance, and the written complaints.
MPD press release (PDF)
Complete MPD report (PDF)
[EDIT: I didn't notice this at first, but it looks like all student names have been removed from the MPD report. If you see a blank space whenever students are mentioned, it would appear, based on context, that it is a redacted student name. -Ben, 12:57]
The Hartford Courant ran another story on Friday's early-morning Fountain Ave. incident. Here are some details contained in that article, that I don't think have been highlighted on Wesleying yet:
Police claim it wasn't just beer bottles that were thrown:
Police said the students threw beer bottles and a lit firecracker at officers, and ignored orders to disperse given via loudspeaker multiple times over 30 to 40 minutes. Patrick McMahon, the department's deputy chief, said officers showed "great restraint."Police claim that normal procedures were followed:
McMahon said complaints the departments received from students would be reviewed. "Right now, it seems the officers followed policies and procedures in responding to a call for assistance," he said. "Because of the size of the crowd and the aggressiveness of the crowd, we had to call for help ourselves."Police claim that this is not the first party breakup situation that they've dealt with... though students refusing to disperse is unusual:
"Every year we get called out there for large parties, but they end up dispersing themselves without any major incidents," Sgt. Scott Aresco, a department spokesman, said.It was a P-Safe shift supervisor who contacted the MPD:
Wesleyan public safety officers asked the students to disperse, but they didn't. Around 1:30 a.m., the shift supervisor contacted Middletown police for assistance, police said.Verbal abuse apparently went both ways, and MPD waited 40 minutes to call in reinforcements. MPD claims that the pepper balls were fired at the feet of students:
Nine officers eventually arrived and, using a loudspeaker, ordered students to disperse, Aresco said. Aresco also said a beer bottle was thrown at the car of the first officer to arrive, that students were verbally abusive, and that a lit firecracker went off under a parked police car.Police claim that no tear gas was used:
When the students refused to disperse and continued to throw bottles and cans after 40 minutes, the officers requested support from state police and police in Cromwell and Portland, Aresco said.
Police then moved in to disperse the students, using non-lethal force that included firing at their feet with pepper ball guns, Aresco said. Police Tasered two students and arrested five students who allegedly attacked officers or interfered, Aresco said.
... said she then had trouble breathing because of what she thought was tear gas, though Aresco said no tear gas was used.
A Wesleyan student who would like to remain anonymous writes:
I have received information from a reliable source saying that four of the Middletown officers involved in Thursday night's incident have been on administrative leave since Friday morning, pending an internal investigation of the incident.Edit (Mad, 5/19): Several commenters have suggested that this information is NOT true. I'd recommend not trusting it.
Priya Ghosh '09 sends in footage from Thursday night. You can see the pepper-gas-ball gun in action at 1:52-2:10ish, firing in a semicircle. Also, the K9 Units are visible though their actions are somewhat obscured by the lighting. This all took place approx 35 minutes after the arrival of cruisers, and some time after the initial volley of teargas and pepper-gas-ball things.
Everyone keep in mind that there are still A LOT OF QUESTIONS ABOUT WHAT WENT ON.
