What caused the need for the use of pepper spray and tear gas?

The use of pepper spray and tear gas.

Students who were on Welch Avenue around 12:30 a.m. on Sunday morning had not committed any sort of act of violence, and the riot police came in and began pushing them out of the intersection by Kum and Go.

Yelling such things as “Get the hell out of here” and “Go home,” students began to pick a direction and left. I personally was in the Kum and Go parking lot and was walking away, when I, along with many other people were continuously sprayed with pepper spay. And the reason for us being sprayed with pepper spray at 12:30 a.m. before any of the major acts of crime had even started — we were there.

How can the cops say they handled the situation perfectly when they were the ones who escalated the situation? Using pepper spray on students who were not disobeying their requests to leave just pissed all the rest of the students off, hence the reason things got more out of hand.

Then there was a reason to use pepper spray and tear gas. Were the students wrong for what they did into the morning hours of Sunday? Without a doubt. But, did the cops panic and escalate the situation faster and to worse circumstances than were needed?

Once again, without a doubt.

Steven Pinkston

Freshman

Marketing