China Posted February 2, 2019 Share Posted February 2, 2019 Crowd Started Fire, Threw Glass Bottles At Officers In Riot Near WVU Campus MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (KDKA) — West Virginia University officials say a “playful time in the snow” Friday afternoon escalated when students threw glass bottles at officers. The incident started just before 3 p.m. on North Spruce Street in Morgantown near the WVU campus. According to Morgantown Police, a large crowd had gathered on the street and were consuming alcohol openly, sledding, snowboarding and blocking the roadway. Classes were canceled at the university for the day due to snow and frigid temperatures. School officials told the crowd to move so snow plows and salt trucks could get down the street, and Morgantown Police officers tried to escort a plow down the street in order to get pedestrians off the road. According to police, members of the crowd began throwing glass bottles, rocks and other items at the officers and Public Works crews. Officers went behind the snow plow so they wouldn’t be hit. Police say three officers deployed pepper ball munitions, targeting the building above the people throwing projectiles so the balls would disintegrate on the building and the powder would fall onto the crowd. They say the officers were trying to cover the retreat of other workers and officers in the area. According to police, the incident was declared a riot around 3:50 p.m. and officers ordered the crowd to disperse. When the crowd failed to do so, officers issued a second notice to disperse, but the crowd again refused. Police say officers then deployed a Long-Range Acoustic Device, which is a directional loud speaker that emits a “steady annoying noise.” At that time, some members of the crowd set a fire with debris in the middle of the street. Officers deployed the Long-Range Acoustic Device in a different direction and a large portion of the crowd began to disperse. Click on the link for the full article and video Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooked Crack Posted February 2, 2019 Share Posted February 2, 2019 Oldie but goodie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedskinsFan44 Posted February 2, 2019 Share Posted February 2, 2019 Saw a video of that and was seriously confused by the paint ball guns. Now I know (pepper balls). Throwing rocks and bottles really kills the fun of something like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renegade7 Posted February 2, 2019 Share Posted February 2, 2019 16 minutes ago, Cooked Crack said: Oldie but goodie "My prom date was very white, she used to ride horses." Fantastico 🤣 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreatBuzz Posted February 2, 2019 Share Posted February 2, 2019 1 hour ago, China said: loud speaker that emits a “steady annoying noise.” You'd really think our Press Secretary would be busy with other things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreatBuzz Posted February 3, 2019 Share Posted February 3, 2019 @PleaseBlitz can you explain what you meant by your comment "the cops attacked them" in the other thread? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 21 hours ago, TheGreatBuzz said: @PleaseBlitz can you explain what you meant by your comment "the cops attacked them" in the other thread? It was a group of students congregating outside on a snow day, not hurting anyone or anything. Was it imperative to plow Spruce Street at that exact time? No. It was pointless. Spruce street is like a 35 degree incline, and it's so uneven that you cannot plow it to make it driveable, the snow and ice just have to melt. I know, I walked up and down it twice a day for 2 years because I lived on Fife street at the top of it. They sent the plow in FOR THE PURPOSE OF having a pretext to disperse the crowd, and Morgantown police have a penchant for using pepper spray and tear gas at the drop of a hat... I also know that because I was on the receiving end 6 times in college, and none of them were a situation were there was any actual danger to people or property. They also have a penchant for overstating the actions by students, so "throwng rocks and bottles and other items" probably means snowballs. Calling this a riot by the police or a near-riot by the press is silly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreatBuzz Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 21 minutes ago, PleaseBlitz said: It was a group of students congregating outside on a snow day, not hurting anyone or anything. Was it imperative to plow Spruce Street at that exact time? No. It was pointless. Spruce street is like a 35 degree incline, and it's so uneven that you cannot plow it to make it driveable, the snow and ice just have to melt. I know, I walked up and down it twice a day for 2 years because I lived on Fife street at the top of it. They sent the plow in FOR THE PURPOSE OF having a pretext to disperse the crowd, and Morgantown police have a penchant for using pepper spray and tear gas at the drop of a hat... I also know that because I was on the receiving end 6 times in college, and none of them were a situation were there was any actual danger to people or property. They also have a penchant for overstating the actions by students, so "throwng rocks and bottles and other items" probably means snowballs. Calling this a riot by the police or a near-riot by the press is silly. It seems that much of your interpretation of these events is based on your prior personal experiences. You seem to always be a straight shooter here and not one to embelish to fit your own agenda. So I will give you a lot of benefit of doubt here. That said, it is important to remember neither one of us were actually there for this specific event. As far as plowing the street, I don't know why they picked that moment but the article says the school officials were told the crowd to move. So I'm assuming this happened on campus. I don't known the rules on consuming alcohol openly on school grounds but since it is reported this happened, I'm gonna assume there were definetly some drunk people there. And we all know what can happend in a mob mentality. Now maybe the school did specifically want the street plowed more to break up the crowd. If it was on school grounds then that is the schools right. No matter if they were throwing snowballs or rocks, a large group throwing things at the police is dumb and should expect to be met with the actions that were used here. It sounds like the crowd was told to disperse several times and I think the police used an appropriate level of force. No projectiles were aimed at the crowd that I can tell. No serious injuries reported. From what I can tell, this all happened in an appropriate manner. And that is surprising considering what we see in the news today with police and use of force. As for any actual danger to people or property, the article does say that at one point some members of the crowd set a fire with debris in the middle of the street. So yea, this was getting out of hand and I put that on the crowd. You are correct that calling this a riot is silly. But so is saying the police attacked the crowd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 28 minutes ago, TheGreatBuzz said: It seems that much of your interpretation of these events is based on your prior personal experiences. You seem to always be a straight shooter here and not one to embelish to fit your own agenda. So I will give you a lot of benefit of doubt here. That said, it is important to remember neither one of us were actually there for this specific event. As far as plowing the street, I don't know why they picked that moment but the article says the school officials were told the crowd to move. So I'm assuming this happened on campus. I don't known the rules on consuming alcohol openly on school grounds but since it is reported this happened, I'm gonna assume there were definetly some drunk people there. And we all know what can happend in a mob mentality. Now maybe the school did specifically want the street plowed more to break up the crowd. If it was on school grounds then that is the schools right. No matter if they were throwing snowballs or rocks, a large group throwing things at the police is dumb and should expect to be met with the actions that were used here. It sounds like the crowd was told to disperse several times and I think the police used an appropriate level of force. I'm pretty confident in my assessment, because I've been in very similar situations at WVU, multiple times, and there is plenty of video before and after the police arrived and escalated it from "block party" to "confrontation." Drinking outside on the street is not technically legal. Fine. WVU is a school that operates the "Drunk Bus" and serves breakfast between midnight and 3 on weekends to help the kids sober up (or keep drinking). From all the footage I've seen, it was just people drinking outside and sledding down the hill. Drinking outside and sledding is not an illegal act worthy of showing up, declaring a riot, and shooting at the crowd with dozens of pepper balls. That is definitely not an appropriate use of force. The appropriate use of force is to leave the up-to-that-point entirely peaceful gathering alone. There was no "mob mentality" until the plow and then the cops showed up, and even then it looks like the vast majority of students just stood there as the police shot at them with dozens of pepper balls. Spruce street is not on school grounds. Quote No projectiles were aimed at the crowd that I can tell. No serious injuries reported. From what I can tell, this all happened in an appropriate manner. And that is surprising considering what we see in the news today with police and use of force. The police released a statement afterwards that said they were aiming above the students, but that's probably an attempt at damage control. It certainly looked to me like they were firing at the crowd. I totally disagree that the police actions were justified. Quote As for any actual danger to people or property, the article does say that at one point some members of the crowd set a fire with debris in the middle of the street. So yea, this was getting out of hand and I put that on the crowd. You are correct that calling this a riot is silly. But so is saying the police attacked the crowd. The police certainly appear to fire directly into the crowd of students, it's on video. Whether they shot at them or near them with the pepper spray, they still attacked the crowd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreatBuzz Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 5 minutes ago, PleaseBlitz said: I totally disagree that the police actions were justified. I think we will just have to agree to disagree. Like I said I respect your opinion and trust your account of previous incidents. But based on what I have seen and read, I dont have much issue with what took place. Much less calling it an attack. To each their own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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