Formal Complaint Final

FORMAL COMPLAINT TO THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY We, the undersigned, establish a formal complaint with the Department of Public Safety concerning campus police use of excessive force, intimidation and harassment of students and community members on the night of April 14th and in subsequent weeks. We believe that the actions of the campus police have been unwarranted, unnecessary and politically motivated with the intent of spreading a chill across campus to silence free speech and expression. These actions should be fully investigated and appropriate actions should be taken against the police officers involved. 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 so forcefully that she slid across the hallway into a wall. She was bruised for several days as a result 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, even students who were not directly sprayed by police officers got particles in their eyes, noses and mouths, causing them to cough, gag and experience other adverse effects. Passersby also were sprayed and affected. Because of the small space, students could not escape the pepper spray despite trying. Several students were in severe pain and had to be attended to by medics to rinse out their eyes, noses and mouths, even though police reports to media stated that no students were. “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 to the 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 and chased them out of the hall. These actions were taken even though students were already attempting 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 in the U.S. since 2001) was an extremely risky action as police easily could have harmed a student even 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 in attendance. They then accused her of lying about her whereabouts during the Tancredo demonstration and erroneously claimed they had footage of her there. The officers came and disrupted her during class even though she had already told them on the phone that she was not in attendance at the protest. “I had already told the police when they called me on the phone that I was not at the demonstration and was not involved in the organization of the protest. I also told them I would not speak to them without a lawyer present. But they cornered me outside of my class on Tuesday and tried to get me to answer their questions without my lawyer. Their behavior was very aggressive and confrontational, and I was nervous about coming to class today after being harassed in this way. It was very shocking to me that they would come to my class as I was trying 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 by Virgil Goode in the Union Auditorium. Many other people in the audience also vocally protested the content of Goode’s speech, but the police targeted specific individuals for arrest and banned the protesters from campus for two years. It should also be noted that since the six community members did not struggle when confronted by the police, escorting them out of the auditorium would 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 student Haley Koch was arrested for disrupting an educational event, “holding a banner, chanting and singing loudly.” She was confronted by a police officer outside her class, handcuffed and led across campus.

“Another student and I were having a conversation after class with Haley just before she was arrested 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 to stand 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 force designed to intimidate other students. No attempt was made to contact her and request that she appear at the police station to have the warrant served. Instead, she was visibly and publicly humiliated 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 disrupt Virgil Goode’s lecture, there have been several other, more serious disruptive events that produced significant property damage and endangerment of student life. The NCAA Championship rush to Franklin St sent ten people to UNC hospitals and there were also reports of 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 the library 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 by and watched, and did not attempt to dispel the crowd for disrupting other students’ studies, or to take recourse for the damage done to university property. It is clear that campus police are selectively targeting student activists, while allowing actual destructive student behavior to go by the wayside without investigation. False information: Police reports to the media contained two statements that were patently false. First, police stated that 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 were attended to by medics. In reality, several students were so adversely affected by the pepper spray that 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 violence they used against students. Summary of police activity inconsistent with arrest:

The DPS website maintains a log of daily police activity. On April 14th, the day of the Tancredo protest, all that was recorded was the broken window. There is no record of disrupting an event or disorderly conduct. Damage to Property/window 04-14Bingham Hall. University property Hoernke, 1837 2009001023 2009 involved; total estimated damage - Strohm. $50.

Not cleared 1400 Criminal n/a n/a / Not Damage To Property required (vandalism)

In contrast, the log for April 22nd, the day of the Goode protest, shows that police cited disorderly conduct. Disorderly Conduct - Graham Student Union. Subjects disrupted Exum, 04-222000 2009001085 lecture in progress; subjects were Blackburn, 2009 arrested and taken before a Crisp. Magistrate. Arrest for Disorderly Conduct Graham Student Union. Subject Exum, 04-22disrupted lecture in progress; subject 1655 2009001085A Blackburn, 2009 was arrested and taken before a Crisp. Magistrate where a Written Promise to Appear was issued. Arrest for Disorderly Conduct Graham Student Union. Subject Exum, 04-22disrupted lecture in progress; subject 1655 2009001085B Blackburn, 2009 was arrested and taken before a Crisp. Magistrate where a Written Promise to Appear was issued. Arrest for Disorderly Conduct Graham Student Union. Subject was Exum, 04-22arrested for Disorderly conduct; 1655 2009001085C Blackburn, 2009 subject was taken before a Crisp. Magistrate and issued a Written Promise to Appear.

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2410 Closed / Cleared Disorderly Cleared by arrest Conduct

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2410 Closed / Cleared Disorderly Cleared by arrest Conduct

2410 Closed / Cleared n/a Disorderly Cleared by arrest Conduct

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2410 Closed / Cleared Disorderly Cleared by arrest Conduct

These records are inconsistent. While the records for the Goode protest cite disorderly conduct which could potentially lead to arrest, there is no such citation on the day of the Tancredo protest. Yet, an arrest was made based on an incident that was never entered into the police log. No one was arrested for the broken window, which was listed, but a student was arrested for disorderly conduct, which is not in the log for April 14th. Analysis:

We believe that the arrests of the Goode protesters and the arrest of Haley Koch nine days after the fact were politically motivated. The administration is trying to save face in the wake of the backlash by right-wing alumni, and the arrests of these activists serves to placate those who were calling for student arrests. We imagine that if any of the six protesters at the Goode event had been students, then the administration would have been satisfied with the response and not felt the need to have Haley Koch arrested the very next morning. Although the DPS claims that its mission is to serve the University Community, it is prioritizing the interests of right-wing politicians over the safety and just treatment of its students. This suppression of student activism by both the administration and the DPS has created a chilling effect on the community which has limited freedom of speech and freedom of expression. Students are nervous about going to their classes and exams for fear of police interrogation and harassment, and no longer feel safe on campus. Students and community members feel that they are unable to speak out for fear of further police suppression. This suppression of student activism on campus is unacceptable. Such action by the DPS against student activists has not been without adverse affects to those students. Students have received hate mail and threats. There have been several instances of libel against both individual students and student groups, even students groups that were not involved in the protest. The DPS and the administration have been noticeably silent on the issue of protecting university students from this. We demand a proportional and appropriate response to this police harassment and suppression of student activists. The following responses are necessary: -Investigation of the police actions: we demand that the aforementioned actions by the campus police are thoroughly investigated and any officers determined to take part in these actions are responded to. -The establishment of an independent review board: Especially because the DPS is small, an internal investigation is not sufficient to objectively determine the appropriateness of police actions in response to these events. We demand that an independent community review board be established in order to investigate these events and ensure that police harassment does not occur in the future. There is strong precedence for the establishment of such a board on college campuses such as Evergreen State University, in addition to citywide review boards in places such as Greensboro and Charlotte. -Drop the charges against Haley Koch and other protestors: Since these activists were singled out of a group of many for arrest, and other measures would have been sufficient to stop them from protesting, we demand that the charges against these seven people be dropped. They are excessive and unnecessary.

-Transparency: we demand that the DPS are transparent about their internal investigation. We demand that they release the results of their investigation, updates on their progress in the investigation and reveal what role Lt. Twiddy plays in the DPS. -No more arrests: we demand that the police stop any ongoing investigations into making further arrests and stop intimidating students with the threat of doing so. -Apologize for their actions: we demand an apology from the police for use of excessive force, violence and tactics of intimidation against the very students that they promise to protect. Signed, Carlyn Cowen, class of ‘09 Kosta Harlan Ben Carroll, class of ‘10 Steve Milder, Grad student and TA, History Anne Louise Fink Jamie Snow Maya Waite-Jones Tamara Tal, PhD ‘08 Cathey Stanley, class of ‘10 David Cowen Anthony Maglione, class of ‘09 Steven Hutton Larissa Kaul, class of ‘10 Scott Williams, class of ‘10 Altha Cravey. Associate Professor, Geography Department Daniel Gunnell Lauren Traugott-Campbell, class of ‘11 Rakhee Devasthali, class of ‘10 Hannah Simmons, class of ‘09