Controversy continues to surround the Nov. 17 arrest of University of Missouri-St. Louis student Brian K. Massey outside The U in the Millennium Student Center. The Facebook group UMSL Police Went Too Far!!! now boasts 90 members and is circulating an online petition.
The petition, titled Permanently Remove the Offending Officers from the UM-St. Louis Campus, currently has 11 signatures.
The group was created by the Facebook profile Ann Greestudent. The owner of the profile told The Current, “Things are in motion. The students are going to push and the more we are not heard the harder we are going to push. There isn’t one person on this campus whose job is not based on student enrollment, and those who choose to ignore us will be reminded of such. Everything we do will be legal, and they should know that there are MANY legal routes that we can, will and are taking.”
The Current reported on Massey’s arrest last week and since that time several students have contacted the paper saying they witnessed the incident and wanted to give their account of what happened.
The student witnesses take particular exception to Police Chief Forest Van Ness’ claim that Massey grabbed at the arresting officer when the officer was placing handcuffs on him.
“As he was being arrested he was just asking why and asked if he could just put his wallet back before being handcuffed,” Kendeh Isom, senior, biology, said.
It was after asking why he was being arrested, according to Isom, that Massey was thrown on the ground and dragged out of the MSC lobby and into the part of the building where The U is located as well as several other offices, including the Center for Student Success. While in this area of the MSC, Isom said that the door was open and she and several others could see two officers on top of Massey, one punching his legs and another hitting Massey’s head into the ground. She said Massey was making no attempt to resist or fight back while on the ground.
Dasma Hopkins, junior, media studies, who was also in the MSC at the time of the incident gave essentially an identical account of the events as Isom did. Both Hopkins and Isom’s accounts coincide by and large with what Justin Collins, senior, studio art, told The Current previously.
Isom also said that she felt that the UM-St. Louis Police were “nonchalant” when taking her statement and she feels as though they will not be taking what she or any of the other student witnesses say seriously.
“I am sorry to hear that some students felt our officers were ‘nonchalant,’” Van Ness said. “At no time did I ever want an officer to indicate that a student or staff member could not come forward and freely, without restraint provide a statement. Although I’ve attended to a lot of issues, I personally spent about 45 minutes with one student.”
In response to students’ complaints about the behavior of the arresting officers, Van Ness said, “I understand that there are students who have expressed concern. Their statements will be reported in a supplemental police report. We are following our policy regarding the use of force.” Van Ness said that the State Prosecuting Attorney will have access to this supplemental report.
The Nov. incident began when, according to Samples, “police received a call about a student in crisis at the radio station in the Millennium Student Center. Three officers responded.”
“I asked Brian to leave from in front of the radio station,” said John Edwards, sports director for The U. “Our goal was to remove the distraught student from inside the radio station and not have her be more upset by seeing Brian outside the radio station. When asked, Brian refused. When he refused I walked back into our offices and waited for campus police to arrive.”
When asked if an UM-St. Louis student would actually have to obey such a request from someone like a manager of The U, Curt Coonrod vice provost for Student Affairs cited the Student Code of Conduct.
“In most cases, a student would only be requested to vacate a classroom or building if their behavior was determined to be disruptive,” he said. “According to the Student Code of Conduct, Section 200.010 B.10, students must comply with the request of University officials acting in the performance of their duties. If the student feels that this request is unfair, they are still obligated to leave but can contact the appropriate office to report their concern.”
Thanks for reporting on this! You’re doing good work.
You’d get far more signatures if the petition wasn’t written by Ann Greestudent, and if it didn’t have as many typos, and if it was more specific about exactly what the petition is asking for and why. I’ll be ready to sign then. I’m diabetic, and I work at the radio station. I have also recently been abused similarly by the Overland Police Department.
John Edwards…is to blame for this ish! If head had not gone to the cops in such an agitated fit they wouldn’t have had a reason to approach Mr. Massey in such a hostile manner. That drunks ass woman could have easily walked out through the back hallway of the MSC out of site of everyone it was not necessary to involve the police John Edwards was just mad because Brian refused to leave which he had the right to refuse. John swore at Brian as he walked away during the talk with Mr. Massey. Brain never swore back and get mad he just said wow now you’re gonna curse at me indirectly and walk away. Hey John Black People are allowed to say no!…Last time I checked no laws against it. So basically this man was beaten just for being in the right place at the wrong time. John may have been trying to help but he totally overacted… anyone their could see that by the way he stood in the doorway talking to the cops pointing and looking distressed. Would this have happen if Brian was a white man Im just saying…? John was more upset than B. Massey and the woman he had words with. Brian was calm as usual and so was the drunk chick that locked her keys in the car with a child inside…
Here is the link to the online petition:
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/41147.html
Mark, what exactly is unclear about this:
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We, the undersigned, call on the administrators of the University of Missouri-St. Louis and the University of Missouri System to permanently remove from the UM-St. Louis campus the two officers who mercilessly beat Brian Massey on November 17, 2010 in the Millenium Student Center.
Due to overwhelming witness testimonies, we are confident that the officers were unprovoked by Massey and therefore are now considered a danger to student safety.
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There is one typo (“crows” instead of “crowd” which I’ve tried to change more than once). Are you going to sit there and say that you refuse to support Brian because of a typo? Are you honestly that petty?
Good job on the article! Thank you for your support!
It’s not surprising at all that Curt Coonrod would cite the Student Code of Conduct. No matter what, Student Affairs will do their best to stand behind the staff, attempting to convince everyone that the student is a liar and not to be trusted. Student advocacy is extremely limited, and Student Affairs is not above lying to silence students.
I want to apologize to Mr John Edward my statement about his involvement with the Brian Massey incident made him look like a racist. Out of anger for the whole demo that took place I threw a shot at John that was totally not the character I know of him to be. To the people running the current website could you please retract my last statement all else in that statement was what I saw and witnessed accept for John being racist. But ironically you can say that Brian must feel the same way being that he was innocent of the charges filed on him but no one is willing to take the blame for their actions…Sorry John
I find it especially ironic that they have charged him with tresspassing at the school he pays good money to attend.
Pigeons coming home to roost. Karma. Live it.
I think that Brian has done an admirable job of deflecting thoughts that race played a role in how this incident has played out. It doesn’t even seem like there’s an “anti-law enforcement” attitude here. Let’s all try to see that things are set right and that media sources like KMOX.COM are publicly chastised for refusing to present unbiased reports. Since they drastically edited their original “news” report by removing info regarding conflicting reports given by uninvolved witnesses they discredit the site in general. I can’t take it seriously as a source of news because they felt that it was alright to alter the original report overnight to meet some other agenda. My suggestion for an appropriate apology from KMOX.COM and any other news sources found blatantly editing in this style: Publish the name or names of all involved in the act and require that they take Ethics 101 at an area school in order to keep their jobs. Karma