Ohio State University Students Maced For Non-Violent Street Party

Many Ohio State students who were at the party, dubbed Woodfest '11, said Columbus police's use of pepper spray was unnecessary. But based on published directives from the Columbus Police Department, it was not the use of pepper spray, but rather the way it was used that did not explicitly follow police procedure.

This was just ridiculous.
These kids were just partying, which, anyone familiar with the OSU campus, will know happens every d*mn time they win a football game.
Hell, everytime the Buckeyes (their football team, for those who dont know) win a game against the Michigan Wolverines, cars get flipped, couches set ablaze in the street, people get beat within an inch of their lifes.

But on this particular night, no real problems, just college students partying.
If kids cant even get out and have a good time without getting pepper sprayed, I would hate to see how they treat an actual protest. I imagine they would have no qualms about shooting someone on sight.







Link

I think the chillens must have not complied to the request to stay off the roadway.

Cause enough for the police to respond.

Blocking a roadway is pretty much a "good-to-go" for the Cops to get involved.

Now, if you really want to defend some of those peoples actions (like the big white guy jumping onto of that car) then go ahead. Just don't stand too close to the person who's doing such action when the cops come along.

reply to post by cheddartoes


I'm an Ohio State student, and I was at Woodfest.

There have been problems with Columbus police before; in a celebration on 12th avenue last year for Halloween, Columbus police entered my home (I lived with 7 other guys) without permission. Their reasoning for this was that we were ensuing a riot, as there were over 800 people on our lawn ( this included the neighbors to the left and right of us, as it was a joint party). We were not blocking the roadway and we were not throwing beer cans at police officers (however, we were chanting "f*&^k the police). What happened last Halloween was a damn travesty, and they knew it. In fact, they did not bother arresting a single one of us.

However, Woodfest was a different story. I love supporting my fellow Buckeyes, but many of them (including myself) got out of hand. We were absolutely blocking the roadway, and numerous students were indeed throwing beer cans at officers while committing various acts of vandalism. Unfortunately, in this instance, the police were justified in using pepper spray on students. From what I heard the day after the event, more than a few officers were struck with flying beer cans and debris. Also, I believe there were only a few arrests, which is unbelievable in retrospect.

I'm a young college student, and I harbor the same "anti-law enforcement" mentality as many of my peers. On more than one occasion, I have seen officers firsthand abusing their powers. However, it pains me to admit that on this particular occasion, they were entirely justified in their actions.

reply to post by Judge_Holden


Thanks for the inside scoop! Judging from your info, it does unfortunately sound like the police were completely justified.

Oh no, Im not saying they're were issues, but I actually had a friend of mine present at the party.
He said he didnt hear the warnings, or anything of the sort, and by law, they are supposed to make a clear annoucement to disperse the street.
Infact, try reading the article other than watching the videos, it explains the situation alittle more thoroughly.

However, dont you think pepper spraying is...just a tad excessive when there was a clear lack of violence?
You could have just as easily marched 20 officers in with shields and helmets and not had to use any major force with the majority. These police were just spraying at random into the crowds.

I graduated from Ohio University last spring (not OSU) but we've had similar problems with spring street fests the last few years. Palmerfest 2009 was one particularly out of control "near-riot" with a huge bonfire in the middle of Palmer St...

That's the year it started for the Athens, Ohio campus and now it seems police in riot gear are expected to show up at some point in the night no matter what. It sucks cause big block parties are fun but not when wasted idiots are throwing beer bottles at police horses

reply to post by Judge_Holden


Ahhh. I see. Yeah, I wasnt actually present. My friend had stated that, compared to most other events, that it wasnt that bad violence wise.
But then again, not that bad to one Ohioan to another can mean two entirely different things.

I just still think pepper spray was excessive.
Ive been pepper sprayed before, and that, in all honesty, is worse than being tased.

reply to post by Hawking


I was at Palmerfest '09.
That sh*t was wild. Like, from being at Palmerfest, and viewing these videos of Woodfest, Id easily say that Palmerfest, if anything, needed to more police interaction.

We Ohioans sure do like to party. Haha.

reply to post by Judge_Holden


Thank you for you input and apparently honesty.

These things take place at a small, unknown college near where I grew up and live. PENN STATE UNIVERSITY.

But, the kids got out of hand during a summer Arts event (not even targeted towards the students but the whole community) and ended up with a Massive Riot.

The cops are dammed if they do and dammed if they don't/ The one thing for sure is if they don't get invovled, things tend to get a lot worse (people hurt and property destruction etc).

The "party" was NOT "non-violent." Students set at least two couches ablaze in the middle of Palmer Street. They threw full bottles and cans of beer at police and injured several horses.

A few years back a student lost her eye from a rubber bullet at OSU. I was at a riot in around '02 or so we got shot at with rubber bullets and pepper spray. Just before it started someone was jumping on a car. I didn't know about agent provocateurs in the past but now I kind of wonder.

Originally posted by cheddartoes
reply to post by Hawking

 

I was at Palmerfest '09.
That sh*t was wild. Like, from being at Palmerfest, and viewing these videos of Woodfest, Id easily say that Palmerfest, if anything, needed to more police interaction.

We Ohioans sure do like to party. Haha.

Hey small world! Yeah 2008 was the best palmer I went to during my (five) years of college there. Everyone partied hard and had a good time and no one got maced or beaten at the end of the night. Which should be the goal, right?

2009 was much different and videos like this just give the city and college more reason to threaten and regulate:

www.youtube.com...

It's important to remember this is the middle of a city street that hasn't been closed off

reply to post by cheddartoes


Come on, man, you go to tOSU. You know firsthand that there are no parties on campus (at least big ones) that don't have at least some violence. In all honesty, isn't that part of the experience?

I witnessed three fights at Woodfest, one of them including numerous members within my own group of friends. That's just how it gets sometimes. I also saw people punching mirrors off of parked cars, throwing empty glass bottles into the air towards large groups of people, etc. Again, that's just how it is. Nobody should expect to go out to one of these "super parties" and expect only peace and solidarity (unless it's the Mirror Lake jump, of course). It got a bit out of hand once I saw people throwing half-empty beer cans at the cops, though. That's when I knew something would happen. And--surprise, surprise--it did.

Oh well. Not that big of a deal. If you haven't had a run-in with the cops during your college experience, chances are, you didn't go to college in the first place.

reply to post by schuyler


Yeah, I was refering to Woodfest. Palmerfest got wayyyy to out of hand.

reply to post by Judge_Holden


Haha. Actually, Im not enrolled there.
But I am fully aware of what goes on at these parties, but for OSU kids, I just didnt see Woodfest as being that bad in the videos, but I guess theres alot more going on there that Im just not seeing.

You were there, so as an eye-witness (Which, actual eye-witnesses to most events posted on ATS are fairly rare), Im gonna take your word on this one.
Granted, my buddy was there, but...his drunken word isnt...the most reliable. Haha.

In your honest opinion, was it worth the pepper spray, or do you think that they could have handled it even slightly different?
Doesnt Columbus have a water cannon or something?

Originally posted by Judge_Holden
reply to post by cheddartoes

 

Come on, man, you go to tOSU. You know firsthand that there are no parties on campus (at least big ones) that don't have at least some violence. In all honesty, isn't that part of the experience?

I witnessed three fights at Woodfest, one of them including numerous members within my own group of friends. That's just how it gets sometimes. I also saw people punching mirrors off of parked cars, throwing empty glass bottles into the air towards large groups of people, etc. Again, that's just how it is. Nobody should expect to go out to one of these "super parties" and expect only peace and solidarity (unless it's the Mirror Lake jump, of course). It got a bit out of hand once I saw people throwing half-empty beer cans at the cops, though. That's when I knew something would happen. And--surprise, surprise--it did.

Oh well. Not that big of a deal. If you haven't had a run-in with the cops during your college experience, chances are, you didn't go to college in the first place.

Your whole post here just completely explained why the police responded the way they did.
And the last part is completely moronic. To imply that breaking the law is part of the college experience is absurd. The college experience is going to school preparing yourself for a sound job in the real world. NOT inducing chaos and screaming "f*&k the police".

reply to post by MustangDesigns


The difficult thing about posting on message boards on the Internet is displaying a sense of sarcasm; my comment regarding students getting in trouble with law enforcement as being a part of the college experience was sarcastic. I probably should have stressed that, however I thought I successfully illustrated that (obviously, I did not).

Try not to take such offense with the way someone posts on an anonymous, Internet message board. Believe me, it is truly not worth it. You're obviously new to this board, and I made the same mistake early on. After a while, you will see that you should direct most of your frustration towards birthers and 9/11 conspiracy theorists; not college kids making posts in threads about college.

I am fully aware of what college is all about.

Relax.

reply to post by cheddartoes

In your honest opinion, was it worth the pepper spray, or do you think that they could have handled it even slightly different?

In my honest opinion, it probably was not worth the pepper spray. However, I am not a police officer, and I do not know what officers have to go through on a daily basis, especially when dealing with hundreds and hundreds of belligerent, intoxicated college students. All I am saying is that a course of action needed to be taken in order to quell the situation, and I cannot totally fault the police officers for ultimately deciding to use pepper spray.

To my knowledge, the CPD does have water cannons, but speaking from experience (as I have been to more than one event that got out of hand), they never have them. I probably would have preferred a water cannon, though... It was pretty warm that night, and there were plenty of attractive females in tight fitting white shirts (JOKE/SARCASM/DONT TAKE SERIOUSLY).