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: Injustice in Seattle

The Evergreen College Incident

By David Packman

Again, not a Seattle story, but a reader sent in this link to a blog that put up the video footage of what occurred a few days ago down at Evergreen College. (Thank you, by the way!)

A few questions pop into my mind after watching the videos and reading the different accounts of what happened.

1. Why did the campus rely on untrained "volunteer" security staff for the event? (Some accounts say the initial disturbance was caused by these "volunteers" pushing their way through the crowd without identifying themselves)

2. Why did the OPD officers rush in aggressively, pepper-spray everyone, and get in over their heads instead of trying to talk the crowd down while waiting for sufficient backup? (The crowd seemed to be somewhat non-threatening until the police officers arrived and instigated the already agitated crowd by being so aggressive, they then had to beat a hasty retreat)

3. Since the police released the man they nabbed anyway, why didn't they release him earlier, before the crowd got so far out of control? (the reason for the crowd's response was reportedly that several concert-goers insisted the man arrested had nothing to do with the disturbance that the police responded to in the first place).

Full post as published by Injustice in Seattle on February 22, 2008 (boomark / email).