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JMU "Springfest" Riot

Dan T.

By Dan T.
in The Tailgate

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Dan T.

Dan T.

Posted
Posted

The Springfest party at JMU Saturday attracted some 8,000 people at housing off of Port Republic Road, way more than in years past. Facebook helped bump the crowd size. Things got out of hand - some bottles got thrown, the police were called, and then things got ugly... bottles thrown at cops, pepper spray, tear gas, dumpsters set on fire, 30 people arrested.

[Edit: some NSFW language in some of the clips.]

Quick view of the crowd before:

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Some of the craziness that resulted in the calls to cops:

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Tear gas from "Civil Disorder" Units:

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Pepper spray, bottles tossed, drunk guy gets arrested:

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Dumpster fires:

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This Harrisonburg TV station article has a video link showing a student get a faceful of pepper spray. Not sure why this kid got sprayed:

http://www.whsv.com/news/headlines/90544214.html?ref=214

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Dan T.

Dan T.

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A lot of my friends were there this weekend and said the cops were just ridiculous...then again so are drunk college kids.

Kinda reminds me of the riot in College Park this year after beating duke...

In the clip at the TV news station article

http://www.whsv.com/news/headlines/9...4.html?ref=214

the cop that pepper sprayed the kid seemed out of line. The kid was just standing there talking to another cop... nothing disruptive or threatening. Of course we don't know what led up to the spraying, or what the kid was saying. But from that clip, the cop looked out of line on that one.

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iXiBrianiXi

iXiBrianiXi

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I get some of the cops actions, but a lot of times its just excessive. Like in that second video, the guys just sitting there with the camera and though the drunk dude (I'm assuming is drunk) was talking to him, the cops jumped him and then shot pepper spray at the guy with the Camera.

Then the 3 guys in the middle of the road? I knew a lot of people their and it was pretty stupid, to be honest.

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nuposse87

nuposse87

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im a senior at JMU, it was a **** show yesterday. I was at my friends place and I left for a bit to go see some friends, when i got back ****in swat was there. I had to go through the back of his house to get back in because they were not letting people go past certain points. Most the kids started this prolly weren't even JMU students. It was a fun day though haha.

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Destino

Destino

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When a riot breaks out, or at least the police percieve it as such, the smart money is on leaving the area as fast as you can. They are going to over react as they are trained to do. We've seen cops attack news crews, spray people doing nothing, and night stick just about anyone.

Just get the hell out of there. Adrenaline goes through the roof and people get hurt.

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Mickalino

Mickalino

Posted
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What a blast !!

Beer bottles thrown at me, tear gas sprayed at me, deafening noise, half-naked smelly college dudes puking around me, tripping on me, dodging their puddles of piss, trash everywhere, my car has scratches and dents on it......so tell me, where do I sign up for this ?? :laugh:

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skinfan133

skinfan133

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well, is anyone surprised that the first year the Harrisonburg PD get riot gear that there is a riot? Not especially, although I agree that the thing got out of hand (wasn't there personally [broke lol], but a ton of cadets were). The police were wrong to tear gas people inside homes though. Apparently they were breaking windows and launching teargas into homes, which I'm pretty sure is illegal on their part.

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DarrellsMyHero28

DarrellsMyHero28

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Insane.

Springfest itself was alot of fun, and at the time in my state of drunkenness I thought the riot was awesome, but it got really out of hand.

The people in the crowd were ****ing retarded. Throwing bottles at cops with riot shields is really not effective.

Tear gas sucks, in case anyone was wondering.

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Prosperity

Prosperity

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well, is anyone surprised that the first year the Harrisonburg PD get riot gear that there is a riot? Not especially, although I agree that the thing got out of hand (wasn't there personally [broke lol], but a ton of cadets were). The police were wrong to tear gas people inside homes though. Apparently they were breaking windows and launching teargas into homes, which I'm pretty sure is illegal on their part.

This whole event deserves a double face palm

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mmzznnxx

mmzznnxx

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Had a bunch of friends go to this, heard it was pretty crazy, almost went to it myself but just wasn't feeling right and wanted to catch up on homework. By some accounts, I've heard of kids acting belligerently yesterday and acting very deserving of riot gear (throwing bottles at random people, starting fights, etc.) but I've also heard accounts of it being very peaceful before police showing up treating kids who like to drink like terrorists. What bugs me is the videos where the police go a little (in my opinion) overboard, such as pepper spraying the kid just talking to an officer, or the other one where he is talking with his back turned to the police and gets grabbed into a chokehold by an officer.

From accounts of friends who went to there, apparently there was no real violence or "riot-esque" behavior other than some social drinking, until police started showing up in shields and boxing kids in and waiting for something to happen. Who I believe (if anyone) is a bit murky in this, however having been to numerous parties and been a kid in this day and age I'd say there's a bit of truth to my friends' accounts. In any case, the current dilemma of whether "underage drinking" is a crime and how it is handled could be handled much better by both kids and police, in my opinion.

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Dan T.

Dan T.

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I've heard that many of the agitators who started throwing bottles and doing stupid things were not JMU students but kids from elsewhere. That will get lost in the publicity over this. Still it's clear alot of the knuckleheads were JMU students. Too bad for JMU.

The school president sent an email to all the students that was essentially a tongue-lashing for the stupid behavior, and how people should be ashamed of tarnishing the school's good name.

If someone has it, it would be worth posting here...

Edit: here's the president's letter:

Letter to students from JMU President Linwood Rose:

Dear Students:

Let me first acknowledge that many of you did not attend springfest on Saturday. To those of you who were involved, your collective behavior was an embarrassment to your university and a discredit to our reputation. No one is opposed to some fun on a beautiful spring weekend, but public drunkenness, destruction of property, and threats to personal safety are unacceptable outcomes. Yesterday's events reflect poorly on your character and were demonstrable evidence of less than sound judgment.

As a university community, we care about our neighbors. Unfortunately, the events of this weekend do not demonstrate that concern.

To mitigate the negative consequences of these types of situations in the future, we will be conferring with students, property owners, law enforcement, including the Virginia State Police, government officials and others.

Linwood H. Rose

President

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