Eyewitness Accounts of Valentines's Day Dead Prez Event

author : Tony Zaragoza topic : Dead Prez | Police Misconduct | The Evergreen State College

by Tony Zaragoza

I was at the Dead Prez show on the night of Thursday, Feb. 14, and have been a fan of rap/hip-hop since the mid ’80s. I arrived at Thursday night’s show around 10 pm. Through the night I saw nothing happen at the concert that was out of the ordinary. I didn’t see any of the scuffles that are mentioned in the accounts below. I left at 12:40 am, and as I was exiting the CRC I saw a female officer standing and talking with a white man who was seated on the ground. At that moment I wondered what was going on, but I couldn’t imagine what would happen later, and was quite surprised to hear the unfortunate news on npr Friday morning.

As I followed the coverage and heard rumor pile on rumor, and watched as various conversations grew that were built on speculations and one-sided accounts, I became more determined to find out what actually happened. Over the weekend following the incident, I began talking with as many people as I could to find out what happened, how it happened, and why.

Through this process, I was able to get three written statements from people who watched the events unfold. Each person has given me permission to share their eyewitness account, but none of them has given me permission to identify the writer. [editor’s note: The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office has threatened to subpoena witnesses for a criminal investigation.] I gathered the statements independently from each person and trust that they have written the truth as they saw it. Below you will find the three statements. I think it is very important that these eyewitness accounts be taken into consideration in all further discussions of the Feb. 14 incident.

Eyewitness account #1

I am an Evergreen alum and a big Dead Prez fan. I went to the show on Thursday night with the intention of enjoying a good concert and nothing else. I saw the development of the entire situation unfold probably better than any other witness, and I feel like the truth is being distorted and lied about. So here is my account:

While “Umi”, Dead Prez’s main opening act, was finishing one of his last songs, some people a couple rows in front of me were smoking what looked to be a joint. A man not wearing any kind of security credentials, who I will call security volunteer A, lunged at the man smoking and tried to grab the joint. Another man was pushed when the security volunteer A attempted to grab the joint, that man told him not to push him. Security volunteer A immediately got in the man’s face and identified himself as security and told the fan to calm down. The fan chanted back something to the effect of “smoke that weed, smoke that weed.”

Another man, a friend of security guard A, wearing a gray sweatshirt, stepped in and aggressively got in the fan’s face too. A fight broke out with 4 or 5 people involved, and it was over quickly. After the fight ended, I saw a young girl standing there holding her head. I asked her if she was ok and she said she was fine. I then turned around and saw the same group of people fighting again towards the back of the concert.

After Umi finished, I decided to get bottled water before Dead Prez came on. I walked to the front of the gym (CRC building) with a friend. I looked outside and noticed the fan who had been in the first altercation surrounded by security volunteer A, the man in the gray sweatshirt, a blonde girl, a brown haired girl, a white man with dreads and a blazer jacket, and a slender white male with brown hair. I walked outside to see what was happening. The blonde girl was yelling at the fan when all of a sudden, security volunteer A blindside punched the fan in the face. Then the man in the gray sweatshirt tackled the fan to the ground while the other five people kicked him and punched him. My friend stopped the man with dreads from hitting the fan on the ground and I pulled the man in the gray sweatshirt off the fan. Another person stood in front of the two girls and one guy to stop them from beating the fan. The fan stood up and walked off. Some people yelled back and forth and it was over. I got a good look at everyone involved in the fight and no one had a mark on their face; no blood, no swollen parts, nothing, so I assumed the nonsense was over, and I walked back into the concert with my friend.

Towards the end of the Dead Prez set I turned around and saw security volunteer A and his blonde girlfriend come into the concert with campus police and point out my friend who had helped break up the 6-on-1 fight outside. The police officer handcuffed my friend and walked him to the front of the CRC and then outside the main entrance where she put him in the back of her car. I followed trying to explain to the police officer that my friend did nothing wrong but she said three people had already told her that he had punched some people. I told her that was completely false and there was much more to the story, but she had already made up her mind he was guilty. When we arrived outside in the front of the CRC three students were yelling at the man with dreads for his role in the fight. They yelled at him for going out of his way to get the police involved, and for doing what he did to “get this man arrested.” The man with dreads claimed that he was the person who “put the show on” and that he was trying to keep the concert under control. It turned into a heated exchange between the Dead Prez fans against this alleged concert organizer and his “security volunteers.” The fans were angry about how the man with dreads and his security volunteers had handled the situation; the fans were calling them “snitches” and not real Dead Prez fans.

The security volunteers were extremely proud of the way they handled the situation. I can recall the blonde woman saying, “I ain’t scared of any of you motherfuckers,” and asking if anyone wanted “a piece of me.” Her boyfriend, security volunteer A, yelled, “This is my job, this is what I do and I love it!”

After that the man in the gray sweatshirt came up to me and said the situation shouldn’t have gone that far and admitted he didn’t think my friend deserved to be arrested. I told him he should tell it to the arresting officer, and he walked over to the officer and had a conversation with her.

The arresting officer continued with the arrest and attempted to drive off when some fans decided to block her vehicle. At this point, there were about 15 fans actively and peacefully participating in either questioning or trying to stop the arrest.

Fifteen minutes later, 3 or 4 Thurston County sheriffs arrived. The sheriffs were very professional. They listened to what the people were saying; they were very calm and appeared to be trying to resolve the problem. I explained to one of the sheriffs that there had been a fight and the arrested man was merely trying to break up the fight where one person was being beaten up by six, and that he did not deserve to be arrested. That sheriff went to talk to the arresting officer but she was intent on arresting the individual. He came back and said there was nothing he could do because it was her arrest. I told him it would be safer if she just took his name and released him because the crowd was growing bigger and more agitated. He agreed but said it wasn’t his call.

At this point the concert was over and fans just getting outside were starting to join in. People were chanting, “let him go, let him go,” and had the police car surrounded. Then the Olympia Police Department (OPD) arrived. OPD immediately started hitting people who had surrounded the car with batons. This caused the fans to start throwing bottles and rocks and sticks and garbage cans back at the police. The police then used pepper spray. The crowd’s anger was obviously growing so the police decided to release the arrested man. The situation calmed down a little bit, even though some fans were still throwing things but the situation seemed to be ending. The officers left and left one car behind. About 10 or 15 of the angriest fans, most of whom were wearing masks, kicked in the windows, then flipped over the car and the rest is history.

I wrote this because the truth about the events leading up to the destruction of the car is important. The security guards who are allegedly under the employ of the hip hop congress were unprofessional and provocative. In my life, I have been around some terrible security but I can honestly say without hesitation that these were the most power tripping, violent, disruptive, antagonistic and dysfunctional security I have ever witnessed; and Evergreen would be wise to never hire them again. I want to point out that in a fight involving several white people, the one African American, who was breaking up the fight, was the only one arrested. In addition, the TESC police officer listened to only one side of the fight and then walked into the middle of the concert and arrested someone. She seemed to have no interest in trying to hear the entire story nor did she stop to think that her handcuffing a fan in the middle of a show and then putting him in a cop car at the only entrance for everyone to see might upset the crowd. If she had just taken my friend’s information and released him the evolving situation would have been avoided. She used no common sense whatsoever. She kept saying that it was just misdemeanor assault and that it wasn’t that big of a deal. If that was the case, then why all the effort to arrest him in the first place? Finally, I want to point out that the second back up police team, the Olympia Police, came in swinging batons and using pepper spray. I know little about police procedure but it seemed they had no reservation or thought before they used violence. There is no doubt some fans were acting inappropriately but the cops should have anticipated that if they attacked the crowd, there was a good chance the crowd was going to fight back.

I write this because the Olympian, the local TV news, and reaction from the community, have all been negative towards Dead Prez, their fans, and The Evergreen State College, in general. I think Olympia should be proud that Evergreen produces the kind of people who are not scared to stand up against injustice. I do not agree with the cop cruiser being destroyed, but I saw that as a reaction to idiotic “security volunteers” and violent police officers, neither of whom used any common sense.

—February 17, 2008

Eyewitness account #2

This is a detailed view of the events that unfolded after the Dead Prez concert outside of the College Recreation Center (CRC) at The Evergreen State College (TESC) on February 14, 2008.

My positions during these events were on top of the hill overlooking the entrance to the CRC, and then to the right of the events that unfolded, to the right of the entrance to the lobby on the way down to the path that leads to the Children’s Center. So my view encompassed the whole area where the events of the night took place during the first part of the event and then down to the right of the last of what happened.

The Dead Prez show was almost over when I went out of the back bay, walking toward the lobby, to use the restroom. While exiting the gym area, coming into the lobby, I was confronted by a friend who told me that a person, who had nothing to do with the fight, was put into the back of an Evergreen State College Police car. I asked for more information, and I was told that the show promoter pointed out the person, in the back of the squad car, as being involved with the fight that took place at the show. My friend told me that, the person in the squad car was only trying to break up the fight and was not a part of the main altercation.

I proceeded from the lobby walking outside where I watched around 15 to 20 people talking to the officer. I walked up the stairs, to the top of the hill, and looked back to see more and more people starting to come out. I went to my car and grabbed my cell phone to call my cousin who was back at the show. In a span of 20 minutes, I walked to my car in B lot and as I was walking back to the CRC I saw 5 Olympia Police squad cars, in B lot, trying to find a way to get to the CRC. They could not find a way and a police officer got out of his squad car and said “Hey, where’s the party at?” Before I answered he jumped back into the car to follow the other cars as they exited B lot. Thinking something bad was going to happen, I rushed back to the CRC to find my cousin. I spotted her on her way out, next to the COM Building, and I asked what was going on back at the CRC. She didn’t reply because all we could hear were the words, “let him go,” coming from the CRC. I decided to go back to the CRC to see what was taking place.

I came to the edge of the hill to see a sea of people surrounding the Evergreen Police Squad car. It was clear that the people were demanding that the person, inside of the squad car, be let go. From my point of view, to the right of me, where the pathway goes to the children’s center, Olympia Police and Thurston County Sheriffs were entering as everyone was saying, “let him go!” I saw the lone Evergreen Police officer beside her car being overwhelmed by the massiveness of the people chanting in unison. As the chants were getting louder, Thurston County and Olympia police were taking positions around one third of the crowd. There were only about 4 to 6 officers that approached the scene. Only 2 out of the 6 police officers had pepper spray and, without warning, they discharged pepper spray to the back of the crowd, around the back end of the squad car, and the other to the side of the car that was facing the CRC. This broke apart the crowd but it only did for a short time. As people were regrouping I saw people being taken out of the crowd, in what looked like an altercation to the side of the car facing the CRC. What took place was unclear because it was out of my view, but I saw people gathering around the altercation.

As people were regrouping at the back of the car, I heard garbage cans being knocked over and the sounds of bottles hitting the ground as the garbage was spread out over the ground. There were 2 officers pepper spraying the crowd and another pulling people away from the car near the front end, as the car started to lurch forward. The 4 to 6 officers created a pathway for the car to leave. The squad car was leaving and as it was leaving, people started throwing trash at the car. Out of all the trash thrown, only one glass bottle was thrown that I saw, and it landed on the car without breaking.

The Evergreen Squad Car left the entrance area and the group of people followed as Thurston County and Olympia police sprayed the people in the front who were blocking the way. The Evergreen Squad Car left, and 2 officers were standing by another car trying to break the crowd apart with pepper spray. Two police officers were hit by trash and plastic bottles, causing them to back up. This forced them to exit the scene. One officer got into the car and the other backed up to the line of Olympia and Thurston County officers. They abandoned one car at the scene because they could not get back to it as they retreated. I saw no attempt to start the car as the police were being overwhelmed by the massiveness of the crowd. They left, abandoning a Thurston County Sheriff’s squad car. I cannot pinpoint when and how the destruction of the car happened because I was moving around trying to talk to as many people as possible about the events that had just taken place.

As I was walking around, all I could hear was the car being beaten on and glass breaking. I went to see what was taking place and as I came up to the group of people, I saw the car being flipped over by 20 or so people. At this moment, I was afraid because I knew the police would be back. I decided to leave, knowing the police would be back with more people.

—Signed, “An innocent bystander February 17, 2008”

Eyewitness account #3

As I was standing near an organization’s tabling display I witnessed a young black man being escorted by a female officer out of the left side of the CRC gym. The last act of performers, Dead Prez, was on the stage. A crowd of 10 or more people proceeded to follow the officers as she escorted the man in handcuffs out the front doors. Moments later a friend came out from the performance. I asked what had happened and she said that there had been a fight, which resulted in a woman calling the cops and identifying the aggressor as a young black male. Another witness stated that when the officer entered the show she did not attempt to question the young man but instantly put him under arrest.

As the crowd continued to disperse from the show and exit out the front of the building, people were stating that the officer had the wrong man and made accusations of racial profiling and racism.

I proceeded to go back into the show for the remaining three songs. Afterwards I walked across the gym to acknowledge the performers. People who helped organize the show and one of the members of Dead Prez, among other community members, were having a conversation by the back door to the stage. While talking about the show someone came up and announced that the crowd of people outside was surrounding the police car. I decided to make my way out of the building. As I walked out the doors I saw a crowd of people in a circle and heard them chanting ‘Let Him Go!!’ I noticed everyone was gathered in a peaceful manner, simply chanting their request. I continued up the stairs and stopped where I could get a full view. I saw a line of 5 or more police cars sitting idle with their lights off. As the people chanted a few were rapping their fists on the police car.

At one point the officers exited their cars and in formation approached the circle of people. In riot gear they marched toward the civilians and proceeded to divide the crowd, pushing and shoving people out of the way. The man who was detained in the back of the cop car was released. As the cops approached the left rear of the police car, one officer took the first act of violence by pepper spraying the civilians, point blank. Once one officer began pepper spraying, other officers followed. This caused people to disperse.

Individuals began reacting by throwing bottles. I saw a garbage can thrown. Someone opened up a door on the side of the CRC and individuals were grabbing objects and throwing them. At this point, I began to feel the effects of the pepper spray that was lingering in the air and a lack of safety due to the level of violence and aggression that I was witnessing, so I left the scene.

—February 17, 2008

There have been calls for accountability from the Friday morning after the “riot.” The principle of accountability is of utmost importance here. A major worry is that the official response to the Feb. 14 debacle will apply the principle of accountability selectively and narrowly.

From the beginning the focus has been on the overturning of the police vehicle. This is obviously important, but by no means can it be the only focus. If we get caught up in the media’s spin or the stories provided or guided by public relations, we will not get to the bottom of what happened. I think most people in this community want to understand fully—not partially—what happened, how it happened and why.

It was for this reason I began to investigate and seek out eyewitness accounts. If we are to take accountability seriously we need to look at the debacle throughout the whole series of events—not just at the end. Examining the whole process through the lenses of accountability would require us to examine some key points in the series of events that are not being fully included in official circles. These include 1) how the security reacted during the show, 2) how the Evergreen officer handled pulling someone out of a concert and arresting him, 3) when the police violence began in the form of clubs and pepper spray, 4) whether police violence may have increased the tension and further provoked emotions on the scene, and 5) why the officers would abandon their vehicle. Of course there are others. Further study of the edited footage that has been released by The Evergreen State College Geoduck Union as of February 21 will be necessary to fully understand these key points.

It will be too easy to finger those who turned over the car, and try to say that the problem is solved. It will be much harder to examine the actions of all parties and subject them to the process of community accountability. If we really want to heal some of the wounds that have been exposed and renew some sense of community, we will have to choose the more difficult road. Or, I fear, we’ll merely be covering over some key issues to satisfy a simplistic urge to punish whoever possible and put it all behind us.

Footage of the Feb. 14 incident is available at http://www.youtube.com/user/geoduckunion and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_74VEfgsXA