Professional Documents
Culture Documents
At approximately 2:30 PM on Nov. 19th, I joined a group of students blocking one of the Covel parking
exits. These students were gathered peacefully, some on the sides doing homework, some in the center
chanting, some toward the back playing drums and other instruments. Highway patrol officers were
standing behind a barricade, and students were both standing and seated in front of the barricade. (See
figure 1)
Figure 1
A nearby group had dwindled in size, and some students were asked to go to this other location to help,
and I went. Here, police officers were standing loosely together inside the parking structure, behind the
mechanical arm that allows vehicles to enter and exit. (See figure 2)
Figure 2
When I arrived, there were a few cars with drivers asking to be let through, and students were in the midst
of determining whether or not one woman in particular should be allowed to leave the parking structure
with her child. It was decided that she should be allowed to drive out, but that the students would resume
their positions immediately after her departure.
For some minutes after she left, the students were mostly engaged in their own conversations or watching
a group of modern dancers that were performing material they had learned in class. Other dancers in the
crowd joined them. The students closest to the police officers were mostly seated; those farther away
were standing or dancing.
At some point I noticed the police officers beginning to tighten their formation, buckle their helmets, and
otherwise prepare themselves. (See figure 3)
Figure 3
I had been facing the officers, but I turned around, knowing that if I continued to face the officers and we
began moving down the inclined driveway, I was likely to trip on a student who remained seated, thereby
harming myself or others. I therefore decided to face the crowd and the direction of movement rather than
the officers. Soon the officers began moving forward shoulder to shoulder with their batons held in front
of them. As I was among those sitting in the driveway closest to the officers, I was literally the first point
of contact.
Although I was seated with my back to the officers, I could feel them approaching. One of the officers
began repeatedly jabbing me with the end of his baton, shouting “You need to move!” He did not strike or
hit me, but the jab was insistent. Slowly but compliantly, I moved forward as requested. Again he jabbed
and shouted; again I moved forward. I remained seated. I do not consider the officer’s use of his baton to
be excessive, nor was any more force necessary, as anyone could see that I was in fact moving and that
the line of police was advancing. Because I was complying, because I was not provoking or antagonizing
the officers, because I was not shouting or even facing the officers, and because nothing in the behavior
of the gathered students in any way communicated any sort of violent intent, I was astonished by what
happened next.
I am told that documentation exists of these events as they transpired, but you will understand why I have
none myself for this particular duration. If nothing else, one officer present carried a video camera at all
times and was seemingly charged exclusively with videotaping the events.
One of the officers used his or her Taser on me. I am not sure if it was the male officer who was prodding
me with his baton or the female officer who stood next to him, but I do know that the baton was pressing
on the right side of my body and the Taser came slightly from the left. As I was already in a passive
position and complying with the orders to move forward as those orders came, I cannot fathom any
reason why an officer could possibly imagine it necessary, not to mention, given my very small stature, a
good idea, to use a Taser on me. The shock delivered was very intense, but of a fairly short duration.
Though I was unable to move because of the electrical current paralyzing my body, I tried to break
contact with the Taser.
This electrocution was a clear provocation. I had been demonstrating in a non-violent manner, and was
greeted with violence. It took a great deal of self-control not to respond to this violation of my bodily
integrity in-kind. Rather than ensuring a peaceful protest, the officers seemed committed to escalating
tension and encouraging violence. They seemed to want us to riot in order to justify their violence and
weaponry. Facing a line of police in riot gear, reaction of any sort seemed unwise. I do recall cursing at
them, yelling “Fuck! That hurt!” This was both an empirical observation and an indication to the officers
that they had in fact hurt me, that their violent intentions had met their target of physical pain. I took a
moment to recover from the sensation of electricity coursing through my body and to regain my cool-
headedness. I sat back down, I faced away from the officers, and began slowly moving forward once
again.
Once again, I was tased from behind. This time it lasted much longer, though how long I cannot say.
Again I tried to arch away from the source of pain, but again I was frozen in place, unable to move even
though the officers demanded that I do precisely this. I am commanded to move, and yet I am
immobilized. My heart stopped, time seemed to stand still, and I was barely aware of what was happening
around me. My consciousness concentrated on a smell, and as I stood there with time standing still and
my body unmoving, I thought at first that a hole was being burned in my clothes. Then I realized as the
electric shock bounced back and forth under, over, across my skin, it was not my clothes being burned,
but my flesh.
Finally the officer broke contact and, as he or she did so, profanities began pouring from my mouth, and I
believe I came to a standing position at that point. This officer purposefully and explicitly did me bodily
harm from a place of complete safety, and for that I was, and continue to be, deeply angered.
I don’t remember what I did next. I must have been disoriented for a moment as my body processed this
new trauma. I do remember seeing my colleague also being tased. In the face of such blatant provocation
by police—it only speaks to the commitment by this group of students to non-violence—that there was no
retaliation or aggression on the part of the demonstrators.
The police pushed us out of the driveway, and I don’t know how soon thereafter cars began leaving the
parking garage. But they did not stop once the driveway was cleared. Instead, they kept pushing us down
the street, and as the pathway narrowed—the street was barricaded on either side—the number and
density of students increased. Some students, including an African American woman near me, fell or
were pushed by officers who continued to drive the students backward even though there was nowhere
for them to go. The crowd was becoming denser because the police had confined the demonstrators, and
many students were crying and were quite afraid that the police were going unleash more violence—not
because the students were not complying with the police, but because they were unable to do so. (See
figures 4–7; I apologize for their blurry quality.)
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
At this point, we were joined by self-identified lawyers who stood in between the police and the students,
and a number of students who were wearing bandanas in case of tear gas placed themselves up front. I
believe it was at this time that the gathering was declared unlawful and the students were ordered to
disperse. At some point, one student was arrested, and another was allegedly pepper-sprayed.
As I had nothing with which to cover my face in the event of tear gas, I did not want to get arrested, and
because the initial “shock” had worn off from being tased and I was beginning to feel the pain of the
burns, I took the opportunity to move to the back of the crowd, and eventually joined those on the nearby
grassy area who had, in the meantime, disassembled the barricade so that students would have somewhere
to go if they needed to disperse quickly.
The police followed us onto the grass and began setting up a new barricade. A university sign was
damaged in the process, and a student whose bicycle was locked to the sign was almost beaten when a
police officer came through the barricade as the student tried to remove his bike. (See figure 8)
Figure 8
The majority of students on the grass were either bystanders or they were demonstrating to an audience of
cars on Sunset. They remained on the grass and/or the running path and did not spill over into the street
itself. For a time, police officers followed these students, but after pursuing them only a short distance
down the footpath, the officers returned. Where there was no barricade, Highway Patrol officers stood
along the grass. (See figure 9)
Figure 9
By this point, the crowd actually facing and being pushed back by the police had been severely
diminished. Many of the demonstrators were making their opposition known to the drivers on Sunset.
Many more were standing behind the re-erected barricades. This diminished size did not prevent the
police from bringing out the “big guns,” so to speak, wielding a weapon I cannot identify, but of which I
have a picture (See figures 10 and 11)
Figure 10
Figure 11
The students, meanwhile, resumed dancing near the police officers to show, once again, their
commitment to non-violence. Because of the commotion, I believe one student was struck by a police
officer. The student then made an impassioned plea for non-violence, suggesting that the officers would
not hit their own children, so why were they hitting the students, who were “just kids”? (See figure 12)
With his plea and the intervention of the police captain, who determined that there was no threat, the
stand-off was ended and the police left.
Figure 12
The students headed back toward Wilson Plaza, where I parted ways with them and caught a bus home. I
had a photo taken of my Taser burns taken later that night. (See figure 13)
Figure 13