Anti-War Protesters Victimized By Police

Theresa M. Duncan

phone: 719-237-6764 (Colorado Springs)

barbieQ101@yahoo.com

Please consider the following as a truthful, personal account of the events in Colorado Springs, Colorado on February 15, 2003. I would like to release this as my individual reprisal to local, biased media coverage. I hope you will consider the following in its entirety or as a catalyst to cover the story from the angle of the protesters who feel the Colorado Springs Police Department violated our civil rights by irrationally using tear gas, rubber bullets, mace, and pepper spray, as well as an even more destructive weapon, intimidation against a peaceful protest. I would be thrilled to offer more information, quotes, photographs, and other contacts in the event you wish to cover this story more thoroughly. I appreciate you taking the time to read the following statement.

I am aware that it is in the best interest of police officers to use a slanted perspective to describe the events of February 15 to justify their actions and to avoid retribution. My goal is to make as many people aware of my story as possible, which is similar, if not less horrific than that of many of the peaceful anti-war protesters on the frontlines at the protest against war on Iraq in Colorado Springs, Colorado that day. I aim to prove that in this case the actions of the police were not justified and in fact amount to excessive use of force.

The demonstrations held February 15, 2003 were nothing less than completely peaceful. At least 3000 people showed up to deliver a message of peace, listen to speakers, music, and to enjoy the presence of like-minded citizens. Many of the protesters (reported by the Colorado Springs Gazette as approximately 30, but as an eye witness, I am positive there were more than 100 people) did march in the middle of the street, closing down several blocks of Academy Blvd., a major thoroughfare in Colorado Springs. However, the police officers secured the front, back, and sides of the pack giving the protesters the illusion of their support. We marched in the streets from Maizeland Rd., southbound on Academy, stopping to protest in front of Lockheed Martin, a key player in the war industry, and down to the corner of Constitution and Academy, a distance of approximately one mile. We turned and marched back up northbound Academy Blvd, turned again and came to rest back at the corner of Maizeland and Academy. Many of the protesters spread out, and we once again lined the side of the Academy Blvd from Maizeland to Constitution with messages of peace.

By this time, the Colorado Springs Police Department had suited up in their riot gear and called in the S.W.A.T. team. The police requested that we get out of the street, so everyone backed up and stood in the grass between the sidewalk and the curb. A group of approximately 10 protesters remained in the street, but were standing in the shoulder against the curb. Then, a woman lurched from the crowd, shoving my friend and I, and proceeded to grab one of the young men that was standing in the street, pulling him to the ground and knocking down another young man in the scuffle. The woman put herself on top of the young man and started grabbing at his face. The police rushed up, arrested the two men and let the woman go. This was the only act of violence by any of the protesters during the rally, and apparently in the eyes of the Colorado Springs Police standing in the street is more of a severe crime than assault.

We began to yell at the officers, pointing out that they had arrested two innocent men and allowed their attacker to go free. The police left one of the young men lying facedown, handcuffed, in the middle of the street for about twenty minutes. Then one of the officers pointed a rubber bullet gun at us, and another yelled that our protest had been deemed an unlawful assembly and we needed to leave or they would use force. The protesters remained peaceful, and backed up onto the sidewalk, but we refused to leave, and exercised our right to be there. The police yelled at us to leave several more times, and held up their shields and began to advance towards us. Just as the majority of the protesters turned to leave and had their backs to the police, the officers shot tear gas at us.

I later heard several of the officers make the statement to the media that a group of protesters had lunged forward toward the police, justifying their use of tear gas. However, several of the newscasts I watched that evening proved otherwise. The film footage clearly showed the officers launching tear gas, and it is obvious that not one person was within several yards of any of the officers. Also, if it is true that someone lunged had lunged at the police, does this justify using tear gas on everyone from the corner of Maizeland and Academy down to the corner of Constitution and Academy? I find it difficult to believe the group of protesters that allegedly moved toward the police would have been one mile long and not visible in any video footage.

Of course after the police hurled the tear gas, the protesters began running in the opposite direction. I ran to a safe spot and called the non-emergency number to the local police department and requested to speak to the highest-ranking officer on duty. The operator put him on the phone, and I politely asked him exactly what line the protesters had crossed to give the police the right to use force. Instead of answering me, or justifying the actions of his fellow officers, he hung up on me.

My vehicle was parked on a Sussex, a side street that intersects Maizeland. A friend and I tried to walk up Sussex, but were met by a group of about 15 policemen in riot gear. They told us we needed to leave, and I explained that we were trying to, and pointed to them were my car was parked. They yelled at us again to leave, and my friend repeated that we were trying to leave, but there was no other way for us to get to our car. Without any warning, one of the officers sprayed her with pepper spray. As she turned her head to avoid the blast, the same officer kicked her picket sign, knocking the pole into the side of her head. We took of running from the police, but my friend collapsed in a driveway not far from where the confrontation had occurred. A medic that was with the Peace Rally ran to her, giving her water and a rag soaked with vinegar to neutralize the burning sensation she was experiencing. Two police officers came up to my friend, and began rubbing her back and trying to pick her up by her jacket to take her to get medical attention. The medic informed the officers that everything was under control, but they continued touching my friend, and the advances were unwanted. I told the officers “Thank you, but your presence is not welcome. Please stop touching my friend”. They continued, so I made the point “If I were to touch you in that manner, as gentle as it may be, you would consider that assault. Please stop touching my friend.” I made the aforementioned comments as sweetly and professionally as possible, because I was terrified to speak to the officers after what had just happened. During the time I was speaking, a third officer had walked up and was standing behind the other two officers who were still molesting my young, female friend after they had been asked twice by me and once by her to stop. No sooner than I finished talking, I looked up and the officer that was standing behind the other two sprayed me in the face with pepper spray, again without any warning. I turned my head, and luckily missed most of the blast. I asked all three of the officers to see their nametags and not one conceded. The officer that had sprayed me just left the can of pepper spray aimed at my face as the other two officers took our personal belongings that we had set on the ground next to us, including our water and vinegar soaked rags, the two most important things to someone who has just been attacked with pepper spray, and left.

As I mentioned before, I am certain that my story is mild compared to many who attended the rally. I will never forget the innocent young girl with the orange, swollen, blistered face and hands being carried away by her friends, or the parents running from a cloud of tear gas clutching small children in their arms.

There is no doubt in my mind that the Colorado Springs Police Department was ill-prepared to handle this situation, and hid behind excessive, unnecessary force instead of using their most powerful weapon: patience. I hope that the city of Colorado Springs, along with the rest of the nation will face and scorn this injustice instead of sweeping it under the rug as many local agencies have already done.


(Please contact me if you decide to pursue this story further or quote any portion of this submission. Thank You.)

(719) 685-4314 (Manitou Springs)

On Feb. 15, I was participating in the PEACE rally at Palmer Park. When the Police closed off Academy, my fellow protestors and I took to the streets. I felt this was a just thing to do, because our message could not get to the people driving by in their cars. We proceded to march from about the beginning of Palmer Park to a large road which will remain nameless due to stupidity. On the way back, I was marching with a group of people from Boulder behind a banner. Out of nowhere comes this cop who is pulling the banner away from a larger guy, and the next thing i know, this guy has been peppersprayed, which i caught the tailend of. The cop had this guy on the ground and was beating him, I think, though I wasn't sure, I was crying a bit because pepper spray stings just a bit, eh? The guys friends ran over to him and pulled him away, yelling UNARREST! This is just one case of Police brutality I witnessed that day, and my eyes still hurt from the Fascist cop spraying pepper spray into a crowd. I hope he learned his lesson.