The Eugene police were out to send a message on Sept. 24. They sent it, just like they do every year the first weekend before classes begin, typically nicknamed, “MIP weekend.”
This year, they decided to send the message out in a more dramatic fashion, using tear gas and rubber bullets.
But since when does the Eugene Police Department have to send a message?
I was under the impression their duty was to protect and serve — to be an ally when the community needs protection. The night before the incident, I was at a large party at the intersection of 14th Avenue and Ferry Street that spilled outside. The police observed, but never made any attempt to break it up. On Sept. 24, the action was on that block once again. Ian Holmes, 19, was out on the street and remembers a rowdy scene.
“I just went to my friend’s house who happened to be having a party, but then we all kind of just spilled out into the street. Some people had even broken some bottles on the street, but that was before the police got there,” Holmes said.
After seeing the police, Holmes made his way to other parties happening that evening. As he walked, Holmes noticed a man moving toward the blocked-off area with his skateboard in his hand. Holmes could not believe what happened next.
“He was just walking, posing no threat, I don’t know definitively if it was a paintball or a rubber bullet, but they shot him in the leg with it. He kept hobbling, and then they shot him with one again, in his upper body. Then they did the standard takedown and cuffed him,” Holmes said.
ASUO President Amelie Rousseau was spot-on when she said the police response was “crude and disproportionate.”
Is this the message the EPD wants to send?
I know that being a police officer is a tough job. I respect what the police are supposed to stand for. However, when they bring out the riot gear, launch tear gas at a party and shoot a guy with rubber bullets for holding his skateboard, it is downright wrong.
I know many of the people in that crowd were rowdy. I know obscenities were being yelled the police’s way.
However, these aren’t good enough reasons to launch tear gas at unarmed college students. Sure they were drinking, and sure they were loud, but it wasn’t anything a good ol’ MIP threat wouldn’t have fixed.
“We were just hanging out over there, and there were a lot of people over there, but it just seemed like everyone was having a good time,” Chase Dearman said.
When Dearman got home later and heard the police brought out the riot gear, he was confused.
“I just thought that they couldn’t be serious. I assumed the party patrol was just rolling the party, but then these three girls walked up our alley, crying, saying, ‘They shot tear gas at us,’” Dearman said.
Eugene does have serious problems, but college kids partying on a Friday night is not one of those serious problems. Though parties sometimes lead to fights and other dangerous situations, things like methamphetamine, bicycle theft and general theft rate are much bigger concerns.
Viyda Schatz, 20, was also in the area when the riot police came.
“While walking to my car after the tear gas was thrown, I was approached from behind by a bicycle cop. Instead of asking if I was all right, me being by myself, he proceeded to ask how much I had to drink” Schatz said.
During the 30 minutes she was there, Schatz never heard any warning before the police deployed the tear gas.
“Police officers are not hired onto the force to harass, attack or intimidate civilians. Regardless of the fact that we are college students, we still deserve respect,” Schatz said.
If I had to put money on when the next time the EPD puts on another show like this, the odds-on favorite would be Halloween night.
In the campus Eugene Police station on 13th Avenue and Alder Street, there is a small piece of paper on a bulletin board in the front office that reads, “Just because I have a right to do a thing, is it the right thing to do?”
EPD should start asking that question, before breaking out the riot gear on a party again.
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