The fallout from this past weekend’s “Carnival Against Capital” rally in downtown Eugene took a more administrative spin Wednesday as city officials worked to inform the public on how to file official complaints against police officers.
That action, led by City Manager Jim Johnson, followed a Tuesday press conference at the Lane County Jail where about a dozen people claimed police made random arrests of innocent bystanders and used excessive force against some of those arrested or witnessing the action. Although Eugene Police Chief Jim Hill said he did not attend Tuesday’s event, he denied the charges.
“I’m not aware of anything like that having occurred,” he said, adding that each police officer involved in any weekend confrontation has written a police report. “If [people] were arrested indiscriminately, that would have popped up [in the reports], and I haven’t seen anything like that.”
One speaker at Tuesday’s meeting, Eugene resident Darrell Olson, said he repeatedly expressed his non-violent views to a police officer during a confrontation and was eventually “violently wrestled to the ground.”
“I am very disgusted about what can happen to innocent people,” Olson said.
Various news reports from Saturday and Sunday’s confrontations between police and protesters referred to some members of the media who were caught in the conflict. KLCC reporter Monika Hausmann was at Tuesday’s press conference at the jail, and although she didn’t speak to the entire crowd, she did offer her side of a situation that took place Sunday night at Eighth Avenue and Oak Street.
Hausmann was recording the protest sounds with an extended microphone, while wearing her headphones, after police in riot gear moved in to stop protesters from playing a game of Red Rover in the middle of the street. A small skirmish had broken out about five to 10 feet away from her, she said, when she felt a police baton ram into the back of her head.
“It seemed like a double-hand [grip], like a baseball bunting [motion],” Hausmann said. “The blow was full-force. I feel like he hit me as hard as he could.
“I think I was clearly identifiable as a media person.”
Hausmann said she immediately asked the officer standing directly behind her to identify himself, but he didn’t respond. Hausmann said she is planning to file a complaint against EPD via the Human Rights Commission.
Johnson said that as of Wednesday afternoon he had not heard of any citizen filing complaints or commendations via the EPD’s “Tell Us About It” program, which is set up to handle such public comments. Forms can be found on the city’s Web site or at several local social service agency locations. Citizens who feel uncomfortable or intimidated to file complaints through EPD can contact the HRC, and that group will help explore all of their options, including a face-to-face meeting with the alleged offending officer.
When asked what avenues a citizen in Hausmann’s case has — with no officer name — Johnson said he recommends that the person make the complaint anyway. There’s a possibility that the officer can be identified through videotape footage, if it is available for that specific incident.
Johnson pointed out that the city reports twice a year to the HRC with numbers and results from the “Tell Us About It” program. In 1999, Johnson said that there were 42 allegations against police officers, with 19 of those sustained or upheld. Of that number, one officer was terminated, three were suspended and one was demoted.
“For those who say nothing happens, I want to say there are facts to the contrary,” he said.
In another development relating to the weekend, Greg Rikhoff from the HRC has orchestrated a public forum involving the commission’s neutral observers and citizens who want to comment on the weekend’s events. The forum is scheduled for June 26 at 5:30 p.m., but the location has not yet been determined.
“It’s really a response to so many different people requesting the observers’ notes and the observers’ observations,” Rikhoff said. “With people from all over the spectrum wanting the information, we thought it would be easiest to just get it out in one fell swoop. There’s also been some question on the part of the activist community, a mistrust for the program and a mistrust of the observers.
“This is a way for those people who doubt them, that think the message is getting mixed, [to] actually have a chance to hear for themselves,” he said.
Rikhoff said that in his opinion the observer program is working and listed several facts to back up his belief.
“In terms of seriousness of the injuries, the property crime, the amount of tear gas used, the amount of pepper spray used … I think we are absolutely making progress,” he said. “If nothing else, there are more people talking about it and more people willing to come out to these events and not just these formal observers.”
Citizens who spoke out at the county jail in disagreement with police tactics certainly made their voices heard. Susan Summerford, an independent filmmaker, said she was arrested while filming Saturday night’s protest outside of the jail and said a police officer hit her in the head with a flashlight before confiscating her camera.
“I’m a registered Republican, and I just want to say that I think [the police response] sucks,” Summerford yelled before leaving the podium.
Hill said his officers were put into a tough situation, one with few alternatives to what happened.
“I think overall we made the best of a bad situation,” he said.