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Police crash flash street party By Josh Brandstadter Assistant News A “flash” dance party blocking the intersection of High Street and Lawn Avenue early Sunday morning was broken up by a team of officers from Public Safety and the Middletown Police Department (MPD), with backup from the Cromwell, Portland, and Meriden police departments and the Connecticut State Troopers. Over eight police cars responded to the incident and broke up the party at approximately 12:25 a.m., as students, many of whom were invited to the ten-minute party by e-mail, fenced off the area with caution tape and congregated in the middle of the street. The throng of students at the dance party quickly grew to almost 200 people, overlapping with another large crowd at the nearby Beta Theta Pi fraternity house. During the course of the night’s events, Daniel Belinkie ’04 was arrested and charged with reckless use of a highway by a pedestrian, breach of the peace, and interfering with a police officer. He was released on bond within hours of his arrest. His first court date is set for October 3. According to Sgt. Amy Pear of the MPD Records Division, Belinkie was arrested because he remained in the street after several requests were made for him to leave. Belinkie said he could not comment due to the impending legal action against him. The MPD said that the students created a dangerous environment by blocking traffic and possibly preventing any emergency vehicles from getting through. Pear explained that officers used ten rounds of pepper-balls to disperse the crowd. The balls, consisting of a white powder substance surrounded by red plastic casing, are fired into the ground with a pressurized gun similar to a paint ball gun, releasing a vapor intended push the partygoers back. “[The pepper-balls] make it a conducive environment for you to want to leave,” Pear said. “It is a shield to encourage people to leave the area.” She said that the pepper-balls are water-based and not harmful. Many students have expressed anger at the amount of force used and the lack of warning from the police. Some said that the pepper-balls, which many mistook for tear gas, had caused them to cough. Jordan Goldman ’04 said he vomited because of the gas. No emergency vehicles were called to the scene, however, and no students were transported to the Health Center. Other partygoers said they were caught off guard by the use of pepper-balls because police frequently break-up campus parties without resorting to such measures. “The presence of all the police, who didn’t ask anyone to leave, gave me the impression that they weren’t treating us any differently than an average party,” said Jacob Levin ’06, who attended the flash party. Levin said that, before coming to the flash party, he and many others had attended a party that was broken up by Public Safety without incident. “[Public Safety] Officers were standing on the sidewalk talking to students and kind of milling around,” he said. Amanda Thieroff ’06 was similarly baffled by the apparent lack of warning offered before the use of force. “They didn’t make an announcement over a loudspeaker, which would have been courteous if nothing else,” she said. Thieroff later discussed the issue with police officers on the scene, and was told that several vocal warnings were issued before any pepper-balls were fired. Pear confirmed this statement after reviewing the incident report. “Verbal requests were made for the crowd to disperse,” she said. Pear was unsure as to whether or not a loudspeaker was used, but said that it was certainly possible. “All of our vehicles are equipped with [PA systems],” she said. “So that was an option available to us.” Pear said that officers responded to the scene after two noise complaints were received in response to the party. She said that by blocking traffic, students were creating an unsafe situation for neighborhood residents and any emergency vehicles needing to pass. Justin Harmon, director of University Communications, expressed similar concerns about student safety in crowd settings. “It is important to remember that in crowd situations it is not always clear to participants about what’s happening,” Harmon said. “Students need to try to think through the events from the standpoint of people who were there to try and break it up.” Dean of the College Freddye Hill sent out an all-campus e-mail Monday night, establishing the sequence of events and outlining the administration’s position regarding the incident. “While I know that the social aspect of students’ lives is important, we also must remember that the safety of our community is essential,” Dean Hill wrote. Many students took issue with what they perceived to be an overly severe response to the situation, and said the crowd seemed contained until the police arrived. “They were treating us as if it was some sort of riot when it wasn’t anything like that,” said Levin. “The crowd really wasn’t out of control.” “They had every right to ask us to leave, but what they did was ridiculous,” said Ingrid Aravena ’06. Sgt. Sebastian Timbro, the supervising officer in the station at the time of the incident, disagreed. “There was a bunch of students blocking the roadway and we responded accordingly,” Timbro said. Officer David Beauchemin, MPD liaison for Wesleyan, was on the scene but not in uniform. He assisted in arresting Belinkie and had a few heated exchanges with several upset students, including Thieroff and Aravena. Several students, who asked to remain anonymous because of their roles in organizing the illegal event, said that the flash party idea was based on “flash mobs” organized in New York and Boston. Flash mobs are coordinated through mass e-mails and result in large numbers of people congregating in one place for a short period of time. Levin said that at least one alumnus was involved in the organization of the Wesleyan flash party. |
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