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UMass Amherst Celebrates The Pats Win With Pepperballs

3K views 13 replies 10 participants last post by  Killjoy 
#1 ·
Me and MT1 just got in from riot control duty over in the lovely town of Amherst...600-800 students thought it would be fun to celebrate the Pats well-deserved win by setting things on fire, throwing bottles and setting off fireworks. Well, the MSP and the UMass Amherst police begged to differ with the student body. After things got out of hand in the quad, B-Troopers, SERT, STOP, K-9, UMass mounted unit, UMass Amherst Officers, and UMass Amherst Riot Control decided to take control of the situation. We formed a skirmish line and pushed the obnoxious students back into their ratholes, while the STOP Team and Amherst Riot Control pelted the troublemakers with pepperballs. We had the quad back under control in under thirty minutes, with no injuries to the police. I have to hand to the UMass Amherst Police, they are professionals all the way, and I was proud to stand the line with them at my side. Everyone did a great job, and it probably saved the University a lot of money in property damage and injuries. This is the definition of State and Local cooperation. Its nice to see when the chips are down we all stand on the same side of the thin blue line!! Kudos to all the units involve, everyone did great work!!
 
#7 ·
Gotta love those "adult" learners at some of the universities in Boston!
If I remember correctly this was the same sh*t that went on two years ago right? Too bad the City of Boston can't fine the schools for this crap!
:shock:
Unfortunately it's too late to expect that these young "adults" would have a sense of responsibility.
 
#8 ·
mpd61 said:
Gotta love those "adult" learners at some of the universities in Boston!
If I remember correctly this was the same sh*t that went on two years ago right? Too bad the City of Boston can't fine the schools for this crap!
:shock:
Unfortunately it's too late to expect that these young "adults" would have a sense of responsibility.
Correct, I uploaded the movie to a website but it was blocked recently because of the content... (too big to email too).

Also, BPD was doing a lot, and then again, many say that they should have done more, including myself. I, one with no authority to direct traffic on the streets of Boston, having no reflective gear, wearing a dark brown jacket, was diverting traffic that was coming from Huntington Ave (Rt 9) to stay off of Forsyth St. When within 50 yrds were 6 BPD officers with orange jackets standing in the middle of the street with a crusier blocking Hemenway (Forsyth ends at the intersection of Hemenway). Now was that safe? BPD ordered the blocking of where I was and when all of our PO's were helping at other area's I was standing there alone almost getting hit once or twice from people. Personally I feel all the area Dept's are at fault for poor tactics. They should have known something was going to happen and held meetings on how they were going to handle it and done it togethcer, not just about juristiction bullsh*t. But that's my :2c:
 
#9 ·
Finding Nemo said:
K J,
how effective were those pepperballs?

I have not had the opportunity to "play" with them, I know that LASO
(los angeles county sheriff) utilizes them, I didnt know the pepperballs were here in massachusetts.

sounds like a successful tactical deployment!

=D>
They are plenty effective, even without the pepper! I had hands on with the PCSD SRT Team during the academy, the welts on my hands and back took about a week to disappear. I can only imagine what it would have been like had they been pelting my class with live ammo.

Thanks again DeGutis and McDonough! :evil:
 
#10 ·
I originally thought this article was from the Superbowl Riot, but I guess it's from last May. It's some pretty good reading material so I figured I'd post it anyway...

'Hobart Hoedown' connected to melee
By Morris Singer, Collegian Staff
May 05, 2003

Intense rioting between students and police officers broke out late Saturday night on N. Pleasant Street near Puffton Village and Hobart Lane, resulting in fires, 45 arrests and severe property damage.

At about 11:15 p.m., a large police presence which had developed along the street attempted to break up a crowd of several hundred people, many of which gathered on the west side of North Pleasant Street near Puffton Village. Thirty Amherst Police Department (APD) officers, 12 UMass police officers and four State Police officers patrolled the streets, using shields, nightsticks and pepper spray.

Of those arrested, 28 were arrested for disorderly conduct, 11 for inciting a riot, 4 for having open containers of alcohol, 1 for driving under the influence of alcohol and 1 for assault and battery on a police officer.

The riots were connected to a large party of between 1,000 and 1,500 college-aged people that the police dispersed at about 4 p.m. According to the APD several arrests were made, but most of the people at the party followed the officers' orders. Students said that crowds began to form later in the evening in response to the arrests.

Many students protesting police action threw glass bottles, rocks and lawn chairs at the officers, injuring 15 of them. The police countered with clubs and pepper spray. The incident remained a constant struggle between the police and the rioters for three hours with the police moving up and down the street several times.

The police used pepper spray on those on the street and sidewalks. People ran to take cover behind houses and in the bushes.

"Spray the f---ers," commanded one police officer, referring to a small group of people who would not back up after repeated requests.

The police charged at people in the street on numerous occasions. Some were thrown on the ground, others pushed and beaten with clubs. Some of those whom the police pushed to the were sprayed in the face with pepper spray and could not see well enough to move without the help of friends.

During one such incident, some students fled to 107 Puffton Village Drive to avoid police action. Those remaining outside of the apartment were sprayed with pepper spray by officers.

According to Eric Hamlin, who was in the apartment at the time, police took advantage of a brief moment when the front door was open to use pepper spray on those inside the apartment. Several left the building saying they felt the air outside the house was less harsh than the air inside.

Pablo Roskell, a junior management major who was in the house, said that the police caused the violence. He said that before the police showed up, the parties were peaceful.

"Everything was cool until the riot police came," he said. "The riot started when the riot police showed up."

A few police vehicles were damaged by the rioters who threw projectiles. Large stones smashed cruiser windows and dented the sides of the cars. A number of people who drove past the area on North Pleasant Street had their cars severely vandalized as well.

As forces patrolled the street, they frequently ran after people with their nightsticks. At times they shouted threats at the crowds of people.

"The beatings are going to start," yelled one officer. "You're next gentlemen."

A police officer wearing a helmet with the number 66 yelled at a man who was walking up the street toward UMass. The man said that he was struck across the left shoulder with a nightstick.

"I'm going to f---ing smash you," the officer shouted at him as he attempted to walk away.

Many people said they were trapped in the middle of the violence, with the police actually preventing them from leaving.

"Honestly, how are we supposed to leave?" asked Melissa Harkavy, a junior sports management major. "When we do leave, they [the police] harass us."

An officer wearing a helmet with the number 28 on it stopped one woman, who appeared to be going inside a house. He lunged at her feet, bringing her to the ground. Within minutes she was arrested and taken away, all the while shouting her innocence.

A man nearby was also taken away while attempting to protest his arrest.

"I didn't do anything, sir," he said repeatedly.

His plea was ineffective.


APD reported that an unidentified college-aged male sustained a stab wound to his arm while the disturbance took place, although they said they are unsure if it is related. The matter is under investigation.

Dana Sanford, a senior political science major, was hit in the back of the head with an aluminum baseball bat during the riot, according to friends carrying him from the scene. He was brought to 1057 N. Pleasant St., where he remained until an ambulance arrived. Sanford's friends moved him to the house shortly after 12 a.m. and were protected by a police officer in the middle of the street, who put his club away after seeing the severity of the injury.

Puffton Village endured heavy property damage. The crowd set many small fires and also flipped over a car. A bus stop burned to the ground.

Keith Hoyle, chief of the Amherst Fire Department (AFD), said that around 12:30 a.m., AFD received a call that a large pine tree was on fire at the entrance to Puffton. Rioters used a flaming couch to help build the fire.

"I received a phone call ... from one of our captains on duty advising me that things were getting out of hand," Hoyle said.

According to Hoyle, the AFD prepared for potential problems with bringing their trucks onto the scene by placing them into a designated staging area nearby. It only took a minute to respond to the flaming pine, Hoyle said. The fire was put out within the next few minutes by five firefighters.

Hoyle said the fire department had trouble moving away from N. Pleasant Street to respond to other fires because of people in the street.

"We couldn't really get off of N. Pleasant Street at all," he said. "We had one firefighter hit by a bottle."

Hoyle said the fire department responded to numerous emergencies Saturday night, both for fire and medical reasons. More than half of them were related to the riots.

Hoyle said that between 6 p.m. Saturday night and 8 a.m. Sunday morning, the AFD made 27 ambulance and fire runs.

"Seventeen of them were directly related to the Hobart Lane and Puffton situation," he said.

Shortly after 2 a.m., police had cleared the area of nearly all crowd activity and were lined across the street, allowing people to slowly return home. Smoke was still in the air, but most of the violence had stopped.
Now that's some unbiased reporting...

Nick
 
#13 ·
You gotta love how innocent these kids are, and how bent on evil the cops are at these "events". I wish I had seen the Campus Riot scheduled in the entertainment section of the newspaper. Why get upset because fires are set, cars are smashed, and people assaulted by others just trying to have "fun" or "celebrate"?

Cops are so bad nowadays Yikes! I'm sure my kids wish they were at Kent State 30 years ago! Then again, maybe Kent State wishes it was Cops, not Guardsmen who were in attendance
:shock:
 
#14 ·
Nemo - Sorry, haven't checked the board in a while - The pepperballs were plenty effective on the rioters. Nothing like a little pain and a choking cloud of pepperdust to alter someone's attitude. Another tactic I noticed the STOP guys using was hitting the ground in front of a line of students we wanted to move. The dust flying up provided very good incentive to leave.
 
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