Uncategorized | 12:42 pm | October 2, 2010 | By Yale Daily News

VIDEO: NHPD raid Elevate

This video was submitted by a reader. E-mail your own photos or videos of the raid to crosscampus@yaledailynews.com

Comments

wtf

Video doesn’t work?
wtf

“Anybody else? Who’s next?”

This is not only inappropriate, but completely unwarranted. This is not the language of a police force trying “to keep New Haven safe” but power-hungry cops venting their rage and frustration on YALE STUDENTS who were not out shooting people but attending a Yale-sponsored event. Why are the police wasting their time on this when real violence was probably occurring elsewhere?

It’s a shame that Yale students cannot interact with the city of New Haven without being treated like petty criminals.
basho

I’ve submitted this video to all the major news networks and newspapers in the State of Connecticut. I tried to send a copy to Chief Limon, but I think it’d be better if he saw it on the news first. May these jerks never work again.
sigh

too
funny
MC13

This is absolutely disgusting.
Yale12

A cop, having just beaten and tasered a sophomore, shouting “Anybody else? Who’s next?” This is absolutely disgusting. That man needs to be held accountable.

When was the last time a Yale student shot somebody? Or even beat somebody up? Why are the NHPD even bothering with a bunch of underage drinkers–don’t they have bigger things to worry about?
TaylorJ

Disgusting.
yalie13

aside from the fact that this caused way more trouble than it solved, is going to cost the city tremendously in lawsuits, and these pointless raids actually cost taxpayers $15,000 every time its done, this does absolutely nothing to solve the shooting issues and other violence problems that operation nightlife was funded and set up to resolve

You really got to ask, what was the point of this $15,000 fiasco? To find underaged drinking at a tightly-regulated Yale party? To go pick fights with drunk party-goers who obviously aren’t going to comply completely with belligerent, verbally abusive, automatic-weapon bearing, tasering officers? Or was this an attempt at a justification of the increased funding and resources taxpayers have allocated to solving real issues?
Prof3

Obviously a class of cultures. The police are used to getting cooperation from people. Yale students (as any faculty member can attest) think the rules apply to someone else. Unfortunately, the students are probably right.
36HighStreet

Inappropriate use of force + more than 100 witnesses + videotape + angry parents with money and influence? Smells like lawsuits to me. Brace yourselves, officers. You would be lucky to avoid federal prosecution.
pablum

“To go pick fights with drunk party-goers who obviously aren’t going to comply completely with belligerent, verbally abusive, automatic-weapon bearing, tasering officers?”

I don’t know where you come from, but where I come from it takes an immense, cocksure sense of privilege to refuse to comply with the orders of a rifle-wielding police officer busting an underage drinking party. That hardly seems like an “obvious” assumption to me.

I do agree that these cops bit off more than they can chew. They’re going to be fielding calls from a lot of angry lawyer-parents for the next two weeks.
dc12

That’s an extremely generalized and unfair statement to make, Prof3. Not all Yalies are from “privileged” backgrounds; some come from families poorer than many in New Haven. This sense of entitlement among students that you seem to think “any faculty member can attest” to is certainly not widespread, let alone universal, so do not snidely group us all under one label.
In this specific instance, most students were in fact cooperating with the police. The arbitrary brutality exercised by the officers, including handcuffing students who were using their cellphones, is not excusable under any circumstance. As a more general note, it is highly disappointing that someone with your close-mindedness and disdain for the student population possesses the title of a professor at Yale University.
Madas

@ Prof3

Well… someone didn’t get tenure.
Prof3

Actually, I do have tenure. Every semester I deal with 1-2 Yale students who are convinced that they are above any kind of rules or expectations that apply to other people. And their deans back them up. It is unfortunate that in this case, they ignored people who have the power to put them in jail.
jmarks07

Prof3, seems like a very professional way of venting your frustrations with Yale students on the YDN comments board. You may want to perhaps consider acting in a more proactive and constructive manner, after all… aren’t you supposed to be setting an example?
yalie13

@pablum

The point I was just trying to make that if you took any given party where there are likely drunk, tipsy people who don’t have the most solid judgement and you raid it with SWAT teams, automatic weapons, attack dogs, profanity, and physical aggression, chances are people who otherwise would be civil and cause no trouble if the party was broken up humanely are going to talk back and not take the bullsh*t.

In other words, the officers were asking for trouble. If their intentions were to break up the party, all they had to do was get the music shut off and ask people to leave like how it’s normally done.
Archit Sheth-Shah

Actually, Prof3, I don’t even think you’re a professor at Yale; every faculty member I’ve ever interacted with has always been friendly, open, and agreeable to all student requests within reason. If faculty members were as jaded with the “Yale student” as you claim they are, why would they constantly go out of their way to help us? And if you’re so jaded with Yale students, why do you continue to work and teach at this university? Furthermore, no self-respecting faculty member would ever hide behind a username such as “Prof3.” I’m calling bullsh*t on your claim that you’re a tenured faculty member.

As for the events of the night as a whole, don’t make presumptions on the actions of Yale students or police officers if you don’t know the facts and/or weren’t present at the event.
SY10

Prof3, I believe you – I met plenty of entitled jerks during my time at Yale. But why generalize from the 1-2 students you meet per semester who behave unreasonably to statements like “Yale students (as any faculty member can attest) think the rules apply to someone else”? If it’s a minority of Yale students, as your later comment implies, why direct your frustration at the entire student body? It might be worth remembering that Yale students aren’t really that different in background on average from Yale professors, except, of course, that the student body is far more racially diverse and has greater gender parity. I’d venture to say that a large percentage of your colleagues have degrees from Yale and schools like it.
pablum

Judging from the majority of comments that I’ve read related to this incident, I can understand prof3′s sentiments. The idea that Yale students are above the law simply because New Haven has “worse crime” to deal with is absurd. The police raid was part of a response to a gunfight that occurred in the same neighborhood just a week ago — in which 30 bullets were fired, and a couple people were injured. The response on these boards has largely been “You can’t do that to us, we’re YALE STUDENTS!” or “Yale is the only thing that New Haven has going for it” bely a level of ignorance and entitlement that *should* be astounding, but which sadly isn’t.
silliwin01

Pablum, let’s restrain ourselves from extremes here, no? I don’t feel like writing a cogent response because its late and I should be doing a paper so instead I’ll just pick apart your post (which is the lazy way of rebutal incase that wasn’t already clear):

“The police raid was part of a response to a gunfight that occurred in the same neighborhood just a week ago — in which 30 bullets were fired, and a couple people were injured. ”

30 bullets were fired between members of NHPD and townies. NoYale students were involved. Yale students, unlike New Haven townies, have no history of crime. Why raid a party they knew was going to be solely Yale students?

“The response on these boards has largely been “You can’t do that to us, we’re YALE STUDENTS!”"

As said, Yale students were not responsible for the violence, and so the response was entirely unjustified, as it would be unless they were expecting armed people. YOu can see the logic here, and how your post lacks it.

“”Yale is the only thing that New Haven has going for it”"

It’s arrogant a bit but also true. Yale students are douchebags alot and honestly i hate a lot of people here because they are douchey, straight jerks, dishonest f|_|ckwits, or wannabe cool or unintellectual f|_|cks (read: athletes and moneygrubbing assh0les), but that doesn’t change the fact that the statement is true. even though the nhpd obviously hates yale, abusing their power isn’t the proper way to deal with it.

Please note I also neglected to properly punctuate the post, again due to laziness.
silliwin01

Apparently my classy attempt to circumvent the swear filter resulted in italics; please disregard them.
TD10

Well, this is something new. How many times do you get to read a tenured Yale professor defend police brutality? Why someone who wasn’t there and who probably couldn’t locate Elevate on a map should feel so eminently qualified to judge the students’ actions is beyond me, but then again they don’t give tenure to just anybody. The fact of the matter is that the police had no reason to show up in the first place. The “Operation Nightlife” unit was formed to prevent violent crime, yet by the NHPD’s own admission, they only raided the club in response to receiving an anonymous tip about underage drinking. In fact, the police allowed multiple violent fights to go on in the street while they checked IDs. After all this, exactly *1* student was arrested for underage drinking, hence the increasingly bizarre justifications for the raid coming from the NHPD spokesmen (I hear that now they are saying something about “overcrowding” and a risk of a stampede). Once in the bar, the police generally acted like a bunch of goons, going so far as to taser a student. Several eyewitnesses have said that the student never raised his hands, and that his only offense consisted of sending some text messages from his phone. We’d know for sure, except that the police forbade anybody from recording the raid (another rights violation). All in all, a pretty sorry performance from New Haven’s finest. Is it elite snobbery to demand basic civil rights?
YaleMom

What’s a taser?
Hieronymus’ Bosh

Actually, certain professors (and I can think of a few) in the more liberal arts are nigh on titillated by police brutality (well, police-*state* brutality anyway), and the idea of it directed at what they perceive as the over-privileged snot-progeny of the ruling class sends them into orgiastic paroxysms. (Compare, e.g., the full Brodhead-induced, [faculty-driven witch hunt][1] that was the Duke LaX scandal! But I digress…)

Seriously: You’ve never met a professor like that?

That said, and in his/her (I am betting “her”) defense: Oh, yes, there are *always* students such as the ones prof3 described. Pains. In. The. Azz.

Oh, and why on *earth* would anyone wish away faculty observations? Per*spective*, people!

Other random thoughts: Someone noted the 50% of the student body on financial aid as evidence of less-than-over-privileged status. Um… no. Yale (and most elite U.S. universities) engage in [active wealth redistribution][2]. Being on financial aid is no longer a marker of under-privilege (unless you side with conservatives in realizing that $120k – $200k–incomes which qualify for ivy league aid–just ain’t what it used to be…).

Now, as for this particular incident: brutality? Maybe. But I will point out that Andy Meyer of ["Don't tase me, bro!"][3] fame never even got an apology (much less a settlement); on the other hand Mostafa Tabatabainejad scored a nice “cha-CHING!” on his [racial profiling/bipolar disorder/Americans with Disabilities defense...][4]. But y’all who were NOT tased? Good luck with your lawsuits and TBTN rallies. Something to occupy the junior activists for a bit…

Lastly: Why would NHPD target Yalies out clubbin’?
Duh: ***cuz w’all ain’t got da guns, cos!*** You got THAT right!

[1]: http://johnsville.blogspot.com/2007/02/group-of-88-screwing-truth-justice-and.html
[2]: http://www.admissionsconsultants.com/college/ivy_league_financial_aid.asp
[3]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Florida_Taser_incident#Legal_action
[4]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UCLA_Taser_incident#Lawsuit
non_yalie

I have been employed at this club for a couple years and have worked several yale parties so I thought I’d throw in my 2 cents on this. I wasn’t there on friday but I heard from co-workers all about it.

I do not believe they received any tip about this yale party. It is my opinion that they were raiding the club with the expectation AND INTENTION to terrorize our normal friday night clientele and not a room full of yale students with the education and wherewithal to unite and take action against these tyrannical police. It was only when they discovered the blunder they had made raiding this yale party that they started to hide behind these flimsy excuses of “anonymous tip” and “over crowding” , honestly who would care enough to call the police about this yale party…i don’t buy that at all. Plus the fact this is the 3rd time in 2 weeks that they have ran up in the club trying to nail us for anything they could and they were upset because they last 2 times they came up empty handed. Looks like this time they thought they had a sure thing but really bit off more than they could chew.

This increasingly cavalier attitude the police have is disgusting. My colleague described this as the most brutal police beating he has seen downtown in the 2 years he has worked here. I know from experience yale students are the most polite and non-confrontation clientel that we serve at the club and cannot imagine anything to justify the police action that night.

NHPD are not doing anything about the problem because the stabbings/shootings and the like are not by yale or any other college students and law abiding folks.

I sincerely hope yale and the students individually hang this Mayor, police chief and the city of new haven out to dry for this. Lawyer up!
dwscmt

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0Bzw6RLBkLgdeY2UzMTdlNWUtOGNkMy00YTgzLWIyM2YtN2M4ZGJhMDU5NmNi&hl=en

Dear Downtown Partners,

Please save the date and join us this Tuesday evening at 6pm at the Omni
Hotel in New Haven for a Downtown New Haven Quality of Life and Security
Summit.
Tuesday
October 5th
6-7:30pm

The panel will consist of:

Bitsie Clark – Alderperson, Ward 7

Lt. Rebecca Sweeney – District Manager, NHPD

Rena Leddy – Executive Director, Town Green Special Services District

Rub Smuts – Chief Administrative Officer, City of New Haven
Kelly Murphy – Economic Development Administrator, City of New Haven

The discussion wil be moderated by the Downtown-Wooster Square Community
Management Team. Please join your neighbors and discuss the recent issues
affecting our downtown.

If you have any questions, please feel free to the DWSCMT executive board at
dws…@gmail.com or 203-936-9643

Best,

Doug Hausladen
Chairman
Downtown-Wooster Square CMT

–
Welcome to the Downtown-Wooster Square Community Management
Team< http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/Police/Districts/Downtown.asp>
For more options, visit our google group:
http://groups.google.com/group/dwscmt
Find us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=56113805469
Follow us on twitter: http://twitter/dwscmt
Email us: dws…@gmail.com
As a public meeting, it is alright and expected that members of the public
cannot stay or arrive for the complete discussion. Please feel free to email
our board with any questions with regards to your city.
Prof3

Mr. Bosch (great detective series, by the way): I am so conservative I make Sarah Palin look like a communist. Brodhead indeed acted like a fool. My view is that you cooperate with the police. If they do something they should not, then there is time and a way to complain when the matter is settled. Most of the student complaints here are about the consequences of not following directions. I feel the policemen’s pain.

Try a little empathy. These guys work a hard, dangerous job and get little thanks. They were sent to a place where there had recently been shootings. Even in a room full of Yale students, they are badly outnumbered and have no way of knowing whether someone has a gun or a knife. So when they tell people to sit down and shut up, it’s for their safety (and the safety of everyone else there). The safety of policemen is not only a smart things for the police, it helps people work out situations that otherwise get out of hand. The wise policy then is to do what the guy with the badge and gun requests. It’s not a time to ask a million questions or complain that you should be treated differently because of whatever it is that makes you think you are special. Save that for your professors.

By the way, I don’t know the law on sending texts or taking photos of a police operation. I do know that forbidding it is not *brutality*. Get a grip.

I also suggest close attention to the claims made here. Assume they are all true. One student got in trouble because she did not bring ID to a place that serves booze. *Huh?* Like most states, Connecticut has a law requiring anyone in a place serving alcohol to have official ID with them. *Law*: the basic idea is that it applies to everyone, without exception, full stop. No exceptions for people who think they have a reason to ignore the law. Inside Yale, it’s true, that you can do virtually anything you want and there are no consequences. But outside the Yale bubble there are things called laws, and if you don’t obey them, there are indeed consequences.
justayalemom

I agree with you Prof3….this is one of those things where everything that can go wrong…did. While I agree that when a police officer says to do something, you do it. I also think they abused the honor of their uniform and authority.

@Yalemom…..are you for real? In this day in age you are not familiar with what a taser is?

I too am a mom but do know what a taser is…..ha ha.
YaleMom

I just looked up tasers on google. This is horrible. Rodney King would be ashamed.
yalie13

@non_yalie
yea there is almost no doubt that this was intentional and that an “anonymous tip” was just an excuse. I mean, they got the tip around 9:30-10PM and didn’t show up until 12:50, right about when the party was about to end. If they had the intention of stopping underage drinking for misconduct, why’d they wait until the party was going to disband?

This excuse of an anonymous tip that there might be underaged drinking at a college party is really despicable and insulting to our intelligence.

It’d be really funny if every Wednesday and Saturday night for the rest of the year people just got together to send hundreds of “anonymous tips” that there might be underaged drinking at Toads just to give them a taste of their own medicine. If they didn’t show up every single time, it would mean that the anonymous tip thing was bogus and they haven’t been fundamentally interested in stopping underaged drinking. If they did show up every time, they would just embarrass themselves for showing up every single night Toads has a party just because there is a possibility that there may be underaged drinkers at a party.

I can just imagine how Spring Fling will be, when they get an anonymous tip from the Yale College calendar that there is an event where there might be underaged drinking. It’d sad, but funny if they came to Old Campus with automatic weapons, attack dogs, and tasers all ready to stop crime in new haven….
Skeptic

Yalie or Townie.. ***all*** deserve to be treated fairly by our police… Townie kids have been killed by cops as well as beaten, too.. **this has to stop for *everyone***.. Let’s use this “high visibility” event to get together and get some real police reform in New Haven.. if the outcome is good for all, it is of lesser concern what event initiated it..
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