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FORMAL COMPLAINT TO THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETYWe, the undersigned, establish a formal complaint with the Department of Public Safetyconcerning campus police use of excessive force, intimidation and harassment of students andcommunity members on the night of April 14

and in subsequent weeks. We believe that theactions of the campus police have been unwarranted, unnecessary and politically motivated withthe intent of spreading a chill across campus to silence free speech and expression. These actionsshould be fully investigated and appropriate actions should be taken against the police officersinvolved.Our complaint is substantiated on the following incidents:Throwing a student to the ground:A student was asked to leave the auditorium, and although she was cooperating fully with Lt.Twiddy and walked out of the room, Lt. Twiddy threw her to the floor. She was thrown soforcefully that she slid across the hallway into a wall. She was bruised for several days as aresult of the excessive force used by Lt. Twiddy.Pulling the hair of a student:As officers were pushing and shoving students out of the hallway, one officer grabbed a woman by her hair to forcibly remove her, as she was attempting to exit the building.Pepper spraying 8-10 students directly in the face:Without delivering any verbal warning, several police officers began to release pepper spray.They sprayed 8-10 students directly in the face, even though police reported to the media that the pepper spray was simply “broadcasted”. Because the space was small and enclosed, evenstudents who were not directly sprayed by police officers got particles in their eyes, noses andmouths, causing them to cough, gag and experience other adverse effects. Passersby also weresprayed and affected. Because of the small space, students could not escape the pepper spraydespite trying. Several students were in severe pain and had to be attended to by medics to rinseout their eyes, noses and mouths, even though police reports to media stated that no studentswere.“During the protest, I watched as some of my students were roughly pushed to the ground by police officers, sprayed with pepper spray, and threatened with a taser. I helped some students tothe bathroom on the second floor of Bingham Hall to rinse the spray from their noses, mouths,and eyes,” said Billie Murray, a Teaching Fellow and witness to the events.Officers brandishing and threatening students with tasers:

Again without delivering a verbal warning, officers sparked their tasers to threaten students andchased them out of the hall. These actions were taken even though students were alreadyattempting to leave and caused further chaos and confusion. Because of the large amount of people in a small enclosed space, using deadly weapons (tasers have killed over 150 people inthe U.S. since 2001) was an extremely risky action as police easily could have harmed a studenteven by accident.Intimidation of a student:On Tuesday, April 21st, Lt. Twiddy and another police officer came to a classroom where the primary contact of Students for a Democratic Society, UNC student Hannah Simmons, was inattendance. They then accused her of lying about her whereabouts during the Tancredodemonstration and erroneously claimed they had footage of her there. The officers came anddisrupted her during class even though she had already told them on the phone that she was notin attendance at the protest.“I had already told the police when they called me on the phone that I was not at thedemonstration and was not involved in the organization of the protest. I also told them I wouldnot speak to them without a lawyer present. But they cornered me outside of my class onTuesday and tried to get me to answer their questions without my lawyer. Their behavior wasvery aggressive and confrontational, and I was nervous about coming to class today after beingharassed in this way. It was very shocking to me that they would come to my class as I wastrying to finish my last week at school."Arrests of six community members at the Virgil Goode speech:On Wednesday, April 22, UNC Police arrested six people for allegedly speaking during a talk byVirgil Goode in the Union Auditorium. Many other people in the audience also vocally protestedthe content of Goode’s speech, but the police targeted specific individuals for arrest and bannedthe protesters from campus for two years. It should also be noted that since the six communitymembers did not struggle when confronted by the police, escorting them out of the auditoriumwould have been sufficient; to arrest them was an excessive measure.Arrest of a single student activist for attending the Tancredo speech:Although media reports suggest that over 100 people were in attendance at the Tancredo protest,campus police have targeted a single student for arrest. Morehead Scholar and Honors studentHaley Koch was arrested for disrupting an educational event, “holding a banner, chanting andsinging loudly.” She was confronted by a police officer outside her class, handcuffed and ledacross campus.

“Another student and I were having a conversation after class with Haley just before she wasarrested outside the Fred Brooks building. As soon as we walked away, a police officer who had been lurking near us approached and placed her under arrest. She was handcuffed and forced tostand there for several minutes before being walked away,” said classmate Fola Goke-Pariola.When Haley demanded to know why she was being arrested, the officer refused to inform her.She was humiliated; forced to stand in front of her class in handcuffs for several minutes before being taken away for questioning. This public handcuffing and arrest of a student 9 days after the event, while she was peacefully standing outside of class, was an unjustified show of forcedesigned to intimidate other students. No attempt was made to contact her and request that sheappear at the police station to have the warrant served. Instead, she was visibly and publiclyhumiliated to set an example that is designed to chill the speech and political activity of other students.Selective prosecution:Although a window was broken at the Trancredo protests and there were attempts to disruptVirgil Goode’s lecture, there have been several other, more serious disruptive events that produced significant property damage and endangerment of student life. The NCAAChampionship rush to Franklin St sent ten people to UNC hospitals and there were also reportsof sexual harassment and vandalism. Damages were estimated at over $100,000. Although two people were arrested after the NCAA championship, this token response does not compare to the police suppression after the Tancredo and Goode protests.A recent flash rave in Davis Library on UNC campus brought 3,000 students swarming into thelibrary lobby, playing loud music, and disrupting students who were studying for exams.Boisterous behavior resulted in a computer and a desk being damaged. Campus police stood byand watched, and did not attempt to dispel the crowd for disrupting other students’ studies, or totake recourse for the damage done to university property. It is clear that campus police areselectively targeting student activists, while allowing actual destructive student behavior to go bythe wayside without investigation.False information:Police reports to the media contained two statements that were patently false. First, police statedthat pepper spray was broadcast as a communication device. In reality, campus police sprayed pepper spray directly into the faces of 8-10 students. Second, police stated that no students wereattended to by medics. In reality, several students were so adversely affected by the pepper spraythat a medic had to assist them in rinsing out their eyes, noses and mouths. This falsification of information by the campus police is an attempt to mislead the public about the level of violencethey used against students.Summary of police activity inconsistent with arrest: