The Wheeler Street Riot
This past Saturday, police in full riot gear, armed with chemical irritants, pepper spray, batons, and a sound cannon, confronted hundreds of students at a block party on Wheeler Street near Western Illinois University. Gathered near their large, white van, officers from several different police forces around the state (who were formed into the “West Central Illinois Mobile Field Force”) waited as loudspeakers ordered the students to leave. “We are ordering you to disperse,” it said in an electronic tone. “Leave now or chemical munitions may be used.” The warning was followed by a piercing siren that reverberated across the garbage-strewn sidewalks and lawns.
Riot Police Crack Down on Student Block Party
Then, between 5:30 and 6pm, riot police formed a line and began spraying chemical agents into the crowd and into at least one nearby home, where students were tightly packed onto the porch and in their living room. Anyone with a camera was warned that they were breaking the law by filming the actions of the police. Anyone who stepped close to the advancing line of black-clad officers was quickly Maced and brought to the ground. Some students jeered and booed from their porches. “You would have thought it was a third world country,” one student told the Western Courier.
What justified this extreme action on the part of police? According to authorities, the level of behavior at the block party had become “too egregious” and “would have continued to escalate without intervention.” But what are the facts? It is true that property damage had occurred. A little after 5pm, 3 to 4 students set fire to some empty boxes at the corner of Wheeler and Albert Streets, but the police did nothing to stop it. Then those same students threw a bicycle on top a stop sign at that intersection, but the police did nothing to stop it. Finally, those students took down the stop sign and threw it into the fire. That is when the police took action.
Oddly, however, eyewitnesses said that local Macomb police, who had been patrolling the street all afternoon, had disappeared shortly before 5pm, only to return with the “Mobile Field Force.” This led some students to believe that the police were prepared to clear the street with or without provocation.
“I don’t know if it was because of the fire, I don’t think it was,” a student named Zak Krause told reporters. “I think they were just going to come out and probably just stop everything. I think that was the plan from the beginning. If the police didn’t leave the streets to get this whole plan to make everyone to leave, I don’t think it would’ve been this crazy and the fire wouldn’t have happened if the police stayed on the streets.”
The situation quickly escalated, with some students throwing beer bottles while others fled into their homes to get away from the smoke, pepper spray, and the advancing line of black-clad riot police.
Al Goldfarb, president of Western Illinois University, claimed that the actions of the police were necessary to “ensure the safety of our students and our community.” Again, in a letter released after the fact, he said the Mobile Field Force had been called in “for crowd control to ensure the safety of all present.” However, it is hard to imagine how indiscriminately using chemical agents, pepper spray, and physical intimidation against unarmed, inebriated students ensured the safety of anyone. It was reported in the Western Courier that a girl had to be taken to an ambulance because a police officer sprayed her in the mouth and she had difficulty breathing. Another student claimed, “When [the police] were marching down the street, they were hitting people standing on the side of the street… they just clubbed people.”
Considering the statements of local officials before and after the event, coupled with the actions of the police and the fact that simply arresting the students who damaged the stop sign would have been cheaper than using riot police to clear the street, it can be discerned that protecting private property and public safety was not the goal of this operation. In a letter published prior to the event, WIU President Goldfarb repeatedly claimed that previous Wheeler Street parties had “created a disturbance” and “tarnished the reputation” of Western Illinois University. In the past, David Letterman had called nearby Adams Street one of the top party streets in America, and Maxim Magazine dubbed WIU the “Best Kept Secret in Illinois.” In this context, it is clear that police were called in because WIU administrators felt that they needed to “do something” to protect the reputation of the university.
Using the police to clear students off a street in order to protect the reputation of a public institution is a fraudulent use of force by anyone’s definition. More alarming still is the application of tactics and weapons designed to deal with full-scale riots against unarmed students, many of whom were, at most, guilty of nothing more than public intoxication.
The Wheeler Street Riot illustrates the consequences of the growing militarization of police, the targeting of groups rather than individuals, and the need for justification of increased spending on law enforcement agencies. By treating all students at the block party as though they were complicit in the handful of criminal acts, the police crossed a line from protecting public safety and private property to committing open and unjustifiable aggression against a crowd. Aggression is wrong, whether it is carried out by a civilian or an officer of the law. Unfortunately, these abuses have become increasingly frequent in the past decade, and every effort should be made to scale back and restrain the institutions that lead to such abuses of power, as well as educate the public on their constitutional rights.
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Michael Kleen is an author, Editor-in-Chief of Untimely Meditations, publisher of Black Oak Presents, and proprietor of Black Oak Media. He holds a M.A. in History and M.S. in Education, and is the author of (among other things) The Britney Spears Culture, a collection of short articles about contemporary American politics and culture.
Short URL: http://www.disclosurenewsonline.com/?p=7798
Posted by Michael Kleen
on May 4 2011. Filed under Illinois.
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This is my personal opinion and of course I will catch Hell for it as usual but I have actually been in the middle of large crowds in various situations, block parties, organized events, and some get-togethers that simply got bigger than anyone expected. Our department often backed off to see if it appeared as if it was going to calm down by itself, which it sometimes would but more likely it was going to expand and grow more violent.
While many believe that the police are looking forward to an opportunity to get in a little “stick-time” and beating someone senseless, that isn’t the case most of the time. If you are in the middle of one of these scenes you will find that the party goers are usually the aggressors, of course the film footage will only show what happens when the police finally get their fill of having beer bottles chucked at them and they get pissed off and start kicking ass.
I wasn’t at this scene in the article, maybe the police should have let it get further out of hand before they took action. Maybe a couple of houses burned down and cars over-turned would have made their action more palatable but whoever was in charge made the decision to stop it before it got more out of hand.
The need for education on “Constitutional Rights” point being made by the writer sort of struck me as strange. Were these folks protesting something? Were they exercising their Freedom of Speech? Were they lawfully assembling for a real cause? What it looks like to me is that they were having a beer party and whoever was in charge was letting it get out of hand to the point that they were destroying public property and setting fires, is that a Constitutionally guaranteed right, to tear the place up?
When a bunch of college age kids get together for a party, there will be a few that will perform for the others who cheer them on and things generally accelerate until some real damage is done or someone is hurt if left unabated. In this case, the police nipped that in the bud.
Okay, let the flaming begin!!!
No flames here Dennis, your comment is a well written counterpoint to the article. I thought the LEO’s seemed rather tentative and uncertain as they began their advance. If that were LA it would have been a total cranium cracking contest. Tons of video on youtube btw.
I replaced Meat, who joined the Peace Corps.
I applaud Meat for joining the Peace Corps, an honorable endeavor.
I applaud Meat for joining the Peace Corps, an honorable endeavor.
No flames here Dennis, your comment is a well written counterpoint to the article. I thought the LEO’s seemed rather tentative and uncertain as they began their advance. If that were LA it would have been a total cranium cracking contest. Tons of video on youtube btw.
I replaced Meat, who joined the Peace Corps.
The fact is, none of this violence (bottle throwing, etc) would have occurred if the riot police weren’t there. All the eyewitnesses said that the local police stood aside as the worst acts of vandalism took place. It seemed as though they were just looking for an excuse to clear the street.
Oh really? The riot police provoked the violence by their presence? I wonder why “the local police stood aside while the worst acts of vandalism took place”? Would it have anything to do with being outnumbered about 100 to 1, untrained and not prepared to handle a crowd of this size (no riot gear, helmets, shields, etc)?
It would seem that they really didn’t have to look too far if “they were just looking for an excuse to clear the street.” since there were fires being set, public property being destroyed, and from the look of things, several other offenses taking place.
Please correct me if I am missing something here.
D, I’m….boggled. I figured you would recognize that if the local police were on the scene earlier, and spotted a handful of troublemakers, they should have just arrested those few and let the others go on about their way…but instead, they let it get crazy, so they would have an excuse to drag out the local ILEAS/SWAT knockoff. You know they’re always looking for something “to do” since this isn’t the rampart division of L.A….even in Macomb.
Jack, I have no idea of what the situation was, how big their department is, what the crowd was like, etc so I have no idea why they didn’t get the troublemakers early on unless they were concerned that they were outnumbered severely.
Obviously the crowd was somewhat emboldened if they were starting fires, tearing up personal and public property with the police looking on in plain view. Sounds to me like there was more to this than meets the eye.
You know me, if I see the police doing something wrong, I will call them out on it but from what I have seen on this situation, the local cops felt they were not going to be able to control the crowd and called in the reinforcements.
I am all for people being able to have a good time but if having fun means creating a possibly dangerous situation, then this is not a civil right, you are violating someone else’s rights.
I am not 100% sure that the writer of this article was completely unbiased. He writes about the how the police “clubbed people” but only mentions someone being treated for getting pepper spray in their mouth. Surely if this was a “police riot” like the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, there would have been several treated at the local hospital. He keeps mentioning that the police are black-clad, is that supposed to conjure up visons of SS troops? Many SWAT or SORT units wear black, what should they wear, mauve? lol!
I think that I have shown in my deeds in life that I do not uphold police misconduct. You know that my statements made to the FBI about police misconduct that I had witnessed cost me in many ways but I wouldn’t have it any other way. If I felt that the police were obviously in the wrong here, I would say so but I simply do not see it with what is presented here. I try to look at both sides of the situation. Unless there is something else presented to show that the police acted maliciously here, I must side with them on this one. I simply do not see where they were the bullies here.
Of course I may be a bit biased myself having had several bottles chucked at me from some anonymous person from the back of the crowd.
You’re perfectly entitled to your opinion and I won’t begrudge you for that, but doesn’t it concern you a little bit that police are now dressing up like storm troopers in a sci fi movie? Is that really necessary? Let’s compare… SS dress uniform: http://tinyurl.com/3hqltbf Riot police: http://tinyurl.com/4y3fgul I say we’ve gone way beyond the SS
Actually, that first uniform is not a Nazi SS uniform, that is fairly modern. The Kevlar helmets didn’t come out until long after WWII. That looks like a mix of East & West German uniform parts, is that from a movie? The tunic appeared to be West German while the belt buckle looked to be East German. Anyway, the photo of the police in full riot gear does look intimidating but every bit of it is functional and is for protection with the exception of the baton, which can actually be used for protection also but it is an offensive weapon.
As I said before, black is often the color used by many SWAT or SORT units, why, I don’t know, maybe maybe mauve shows blood too bad?
I really think you’re missing the point
I guess I am missing the point. As I said, I am all for holding the police to a higher standard and taking them to task when they have done something out of line but in this case it appears that the local police called this group in because the local police felt that they could not handle the situation themselves.
As I said before, I am not familiar with the size of their department and how many people were in the crowd.
Since the only reported injury was a woman who got pepper spray in her mouth, it doesn’t appear that the police group that was called in went on a “feeding frenzy” as far as bashing heads. Personally, I think there are much more and better examples of police misconduct than this to make a big deal of. I simply cannot see where, in this particular case, that the law enforcement agency that was called in did anything so wrong. If anyone (besides the students) were to blame, I would say the local police for not stepping in earlier but as I don’t know what all took place before they called for help, I cannot say that for sure.
Dennis, your points are exceptionally sane and reasonable. Clearly it would help everyone if we knew more details and facts about what happened, but if you have to make assumptions based on what we do know, your assumptions make a lot of sense, and your personal experiences count for a lot.
Dennis, holy cats, man….did I go to sleep yesterday and I haven’t woke up yet? this is a classic example of how the paramilitary police goons are proceeding and taking the “policing” part out of paramilitary police! This is the same business that Masterson and Ash got involved in back in 2007 and we railed against it so hard. Remember all the stories we did of that “SWAT” team (ILEAS) running all over the southern two-thirds of the state LOOKING for some heads to bust??
omg…if this is really Dennis….will we see you at the Tea Party Saturday, or has the militarized police state got you? wtf?
Herein lies the problem. It was not “the crowd” vs the police until the police attacked the crowd. The worst act of vandalism (the fire) was the only act of vandalism that anyone was aware of. That fire was started by a handful of students who the police could have dealt with immediately. The fact is, they chose not to, even though they had been patrolling all day. The problem here is that the actions of a couple of students were used as an excuse to treat all the students as though they were also guilty of those acts. The fact that they had riot police standing by with a sound cannon should tell you what they were planning to do from the very beginning. With or without the fire, they would have stormed the street and violence would have erupted. I spoke with students who were sprayed with chemical agents in the house next door to the one where the kids lit the fire, but nothing was sprayed at the kids who started the fire. So who were they really going after? The guilty parties, or all the students?
Makleen, you use the term “fact” quite a bit, were you there and did you interview people from both sides of this incident?
Maybe you should start petitioning your law makers to do away with laws such as Arson, Theft of Public Property, any ordinances against being intoxicated in public, the underage drinking laws, and any laws against Mob Action so the police can sit at the doughnut shop and say “Sorry, nothing we can do” when someone calls them to report that hundreds of drunken college kids are tearing up their neighborhood.
You cite the fact that the police brought a “sound cannon” (which I have never heard of but I suppose must be a loud speaker device) means that they came with the intentions of having a conflict. I am sure that their equipment vehicle had all sorts of various devices to cope with various situations. Obviously the “sound cannon” didn’t work if that was what was used to tell the students to disperse or chemical agents may be used against them.
I must ask, what would you have the police do in this case? They first tried backing away from the problem like the LAPD did at the beginning of the Rodney King Riots in the mid-90s, they allowed the students some leeway to get things out of their system, they were not confrontational, this didn’t work, the crowd grew progressively more aggressive with more property damage.
For safety sake they called in an agency prepared to deal with large crowds, this group of better trained and equiped officers approach, give a warning which goes unheeded apparently as the crowd failed to disperse. As the police attempt to disperse the crowd they are met with jeering and booing, the photo shows many students facing the police, not leaving as told to do. The girl that got pepper spray in her mouth, how close did she have to be for that to happen? She obviously didn’t pay any attention to the warning to leave. I have to suspect that she was there shouting at the police to have her mouth open to be sprayed in.
You say what you feel the police did wrong, do you feel that the students bear no responsibility in this? Should being students grant them a pass on violating laws and exempt them from obeying a order to disperse from the police?
I would suggest that you go interview the Chief of Police or someone from the law enforcement side and get their take on what took place. Ask why the original troublemakers were not extracted early on. Remember, there are always two sides to every story.
I think the police made a tactical mistake. They were clearly outnumbered and advanced into a situation where the students could have successfully swarmed them if they wished. I’m not real sweet on the militarization of police out here where the soybeans grow, but it really looked to me like neither side wanted this to get bloody. As long as the police don’t show up with rubber bullets and water cannons, and the kids don’t invite Rage Against The Machine, it’ll be okay. Keep an eye on the Macomb cop cars though, if that slogan on the side changes from “to protect and serve” to “we’ll treat you like a King” it could be a sign of problems to come.
I went to YouTube and reviewed some film footage of this incident. I also looked at articles written in other papers. In my estimation, the report of there being hundreds of party goers is somewhat misleading. In some of the films you can see great numbers of people, probably in excess of one thousand although in an area of a few blocks.
The crowd was not a peaceful crowd as described. They were chanting, taunting and directing vulgar language towards the police. They were ignoring requests from the police to disperse and leave the area. The entire area was covered with trash, fires were being set, as well as beer bottles were pelting police and EMS personnel.
There were many people that were obviously intoxicated and many that appeared to be drinking that were underage. This had all of the appearances of a large, loud, drunken party where the streets were blocked to traffic by the partiers, the partiers were behaving in a very rowdy manner.
I somehow do not see this as a Constitutional Rights thing. We were breaking up drunken parties like this over 30 years ago on the beaches of Galveston Texas so this isn’t something new. Is it a Constitutional Right to trash an entire neighborhood, stagger around drunk, shouting obscenities at people, starting fires, tearing down stop signs, throwing beer bottles at the police and ambulance people who are there to answer a call of an alcohol overdose by one of your fellow party-goers, all while underage? I guess that could fall under the Pursuit of Happiness to some folks.
Anyway, I suppose I am still missing the point so I will back on out of here since I don’t think we are going to agree on this but I do want to thank you for the cordial discussion. So often people resort to name-calling on here with folks that do not see things the same way that they do. I appreciate your time.
I think it’s important to remain respectful in a discussion. We may disagree about this incident, but I’m sure we do agree about other things. In no way do I condone the property damage done by a few of the students at this block party, they should have been arrested immediately. Also, I realize it was a mistake on my part to try and estimate the crowd. One article put the number at 2,000, but I thought that was probably an exaggeration based on the videos, so I thought “hundreds” would be generic enough that it could mean “over a thousand” but left a lot of room for interpretation.
I went to YouTube and reviewed some film footage of this incident. I also looked at articles written in other papers. In my estimation, the report of there being hundreds of party goers is somewhat misleading. In some of the films you can see great numbers of people, probably in excess of one thousand although in an area of a few blocks.
The crowd was not a peaceful crowd as described. They were chanting, taunting and directing vulgar language towards the police. They were ignoring requests from the police to disperse and leave the area. The entire area was covered with trash, fires were being set, as well as beer bottles were pelting police and EMS personnel.
There were many people that were obviously intoxicated and many that appeared to be drinking that were underage. This had all of the appearances of a large, loud, drunken party where the streets were blocked to traffic by the partiers, the partiers were behaving in a very rowdy manner.
I somehow do not see this as a Constitutional Rights thing. We were breaking up drunken parties like this over 30 years ago on the beaches of Galveston Texas so this isn’t something new. Is it a Constitutional Right to trash an entire neighborhood, stagger around drunk, shouting obscenities at people, starting fires, tearing down stop signs, throwing beer bottles at the police and ambulance people who are there to answer a call of an alcohol overdose by one of your fellow party-goers, all while underage? I guess that could fall under the Pursuit of Happiness to some folks.
Anyway, I suppose I am still missing the point so I will back on out of here since I don’t think we are going to agree on this but I do want to thank you for the cordial discussion. So often people resort to name-calling on here with folks that do not see things the same way that they do. I appreciate your time.
I went to YouTube and reviewed some film footage of this incident. I also looked at articles written in other papers. In my estimation, the report of there being hundreds of party goers is somewhat misleading. In some of the films you can see great numbers of people, probably in excess of one thousand although in an area of a few blocks.
The crowd was not a peaceful crowd as described. They were chanting, taunting and directing vulgar language towards the police. They were ignoring requests from the police to disperse and leave the area. The entire area was covered with trash, fires were being set, as well as beer bottles were pelting police and EMS personnel.
There were many people that were obviously intoxicated and many that appeared to be drinking that were underage. This had all of the appearances of a large, loud, drunken party where the streets were blocked to traffic by the partiers, the partiers were behaving in a very rowdy manner.
I somehow do not see this as a Constitutional Rights thing. We were breaking up drunken parties like this over 30 years ago on the beaches of Galveston Texas so this isn’t something new. Is it a Constitutional Right to trash an entire neighborhood, stagger around drunk, shouting obscenities at people, starting fires, tearing down stop signs, throwing beer bottles at the police and ambulance people who are there to answer a call of an alcohol overdose by one of your fellow party-goers, all while underage? I guess that could fall under the Pursuit of Happiness to some folks.
Anyway, I suppose I am still missing the point so I will back on out of here since I don’t think we are going to agree on this but I do want to thank you for the cordial discussion. So often people resort to name-calling on here with folks that do not see things the same way that they do. I appreciate your time.
…overall, a fine display of your tax and tuition dollars at work…lol
This is what we need in all the state capitols and in washington dc now im not sayin burn the place down but the government on all levels, needs a wake up call. A peaceful protest doesn’t seem to get you anywhere these days so if and when a protest does occur I hope the protestors are ready for these scenes because our good ole protect and serve donut eaters will be there to swarm you with whatever means they decide to use just as was in this instance where more force was used than necessary…just because someone calls u a vulgar name doesn’t give u authority to tear gas, shoot, taze or beat anyone else…it just makes u want to!!! If I had done to someone else what these bozos did to this crowd I would be in jail awaiting trial on felony counts of aggrevated battery and possibly attempted murder if I bailed out on the aggrevated battery charge…have to throw more charges so em states attys get a plea deal ya kno…this is utterly ridiculous and im strongly sayin these idiots all need a wake up call we are havin way to much of a leadership position turning into a its my place to boss your ass around attitude with the people they where elected and hired to serve and protect.
LOL! Did you even look at the YouTube videoes of this incident? This wasn’t a peaceful protest of a cause, a informational event, or anything of the such. It was a huge beer party with a bunch of young folks, many underage, many that were there to party and were not even students getting drunk, tearing up public and private property, setting fires and raising Hell. Now if it was a protest against the current administration, I would be with them but drunken, violent beer parties are not covered under the Constitution that I know of, especially when you try to tear the neighborhood up. These kids started out pelting the ambulance people when they arrived to check on a partier that was supposed to be overdosing on alcohol, then they pelted the police with beer bottles too.
So what would you have “these bozos” do when a thousand kids converge on your neighborhood and start tearing the place up? Please tell me. You want them to back off and let the little darlings burn your neighborhood down? Oh, then they would be “doughnut-eaters” that don’t do anything, wouldn’t they?
These young people involved in this incident had ample opportunities to leave but they decided to stay and watch the festivities. So they got some pepper spray in their eyes, that is part of the night’s entertainment. I don’t feel sorry for the little spoiled brats but then I am prejudiced because I went to college taking evening classes on the G.I. Bill and worked as a manual laborer during the day to get my degree, my parents didn’t finance me so I had the luxury of drinking a ton of beer and raising Hell.
Pick your battles, make sure that you are in the right before you take up some banner. I have suffered probably more than most for taking a stand against police misconduct but I do not see it here. These officers stood around for a long time taking plenty of abuse before taking any action themselves. Those young folks were spoiling for some action and they finally got some and then want to play the “I am a victim!” card.
I could write plenty more but this thing is printing out what I write so slow, it is driving me nuts. I type for 2 minutes and it takes 15 minutes to print it out so I can see what I wrote, lol!
Well dennis I do agree that action could have been required but was it entirely necessary for them to use pepper spray and batons…was the spoiled brats coming at them with torches and pitchforks? what was in this video besides some vulgar language? Just because there was a large number of spoiled brats doesn’t mean force was needed…but again I don’t know what actually happened but I do know how certain members of law enforcement happen around here and they destroy innocient people and their families…I wont mention names but one is a state boy and the other two I kno of r deputies all three of these guys are crooked as a dogs hind leg! There are others in the local and state levels that are just as crooked…look at the one over here in fairfield that got off with murder and you can twist that around into whatever you wish but that was murder…just because the police officer didn’t like him…I will try to find these videos and watch them if you could so graciously provide a link to them im sure others would like to see it to, but browsin on you tube is difficult on my device.
You won’t get an arguement from me when you say there are some bad cops in this region, I know a bunch of them that shouldn’t be allowed to wear a badge or a gun but all I am saying is that in this particular incident, I didn’t see anything that is not standard and accepted police procedure, taught in academies all over the country and upheld in many court cases.