Citizen Police Review Board hears G-20 arrest complaints, stories

Pitt students and community members gathered last night in Lawrenceville to speak out against… Pitt students and community members gathered last night in Lawrenceville to speak out against police behavior during last month’s G-20 Summit.

At the gathering, organized by the Citizen Police Review Board, residents from around the Pittsburgh area took turns sharing experiences and complaints related to G-20 police activity.

Speakers were given three minutes each to describe what they experienced in various neighborhoods during the nights of Sept. 24 and 25.

Some complaints took to the microphone timidly, relating their stories with downturned eyes. Others, like Point Breeze resident Mel Packer, expressed their feelings with outrage.

“Our pedestrian-friendly city was turned into a military base,” Packer said. “This was not the city I love.”

As Packer spoke, others attending the meeting loudly grumbled “hear-hear” and “amen,” occasionally stomping their feet for emphasis.

Most of the approximately 75 people in attendance seemed to share Packer’s opinion, claiming that police overreacted in many situations both on Pitt’s campus and throughout the city.

Of the nearly 30 speakers, only one or two expressed positive sentiments about the behavior of the police.

“The corner where I live was gassed, and the [Long Range Acoustic Device] happened right outside my window,” said Carleton Gholz, a graduate student studying communications at Pitt. “That night and the next night, I received reports of my own students being arrested and tear gassed.”

Like many of those who spoke out, Gholz worried that police behavior during the Summit could negatively affect Pittsburgh’s national image.

“The police behavior politicized my view of this city. The police behavior made me want to start doing the things that responsible citizens must do — like attend these meetings.”

The meeting took place in the Stephen Foster Community Center on Main Street. Community members sat in long rows of orange and brown plastic chairs. They listened respectfully to their friends and neighbors tell stories from Schenley Plaza and other areas where Pitt students were caught in the crossfire between protesters and the police.

“The students at Pitt had no idea what was coming at them,” said Paradise Gray, who spoke about his experience in Oakland Sept. 25. “It was just a bunch of college kids on a Friday night, at the same place where they always are on Friday nights.”

Gray went on to describe being arrested in front of the Cathedral of Learning. Like many of those complaining to the board, he felt many people who were arrested did nothing wrong — they were just trying to get home or to watch. The end of his short speech was met with loud applause.

The board invited those in attendance to file formal citizen complaints of police conduct. Board chair Marsha Hinton is trying to organize a similar meeting for the Oakland community.

“We want to strike while the iron is still hot,” she said.