We had a riot the other night. Literally. What started as a routine check on a person matching the description of a known murder suspect turned into chaos. Once the suspect’s friends and family knew the police were closing in on him, they tried to distract the police (to probably make it easier for the suspect to escape). In so doing, they agitated a few more people, who agitated even more…yeah, and so on, and so on, and so on. When I first heard my former sergeant say that rocks were being thrown and police cars were being damaged, I couldn’t get to the scene fast enough. Then there were reports of shots fired. Everything that was previously "routine" about that night changed in an instant. And in many ways, so did the consciousness of Tulsa.
Admittedly, it’s tough to articulate what runs through your mind as you standing beside your friends and fellow officers staring down an angry crowd of more than a hundred. They were so angry they even began fighting among themselves. But it was euphoric to watch the collective group stop dead in their tracks as a long line of dozens of police cars arrived lights flashing and sirens blaring. As police car after police car swarmed on the scene, you could hear the collective mind of mob stop and think to itself…"We better get the @#$* outta here…" And luckily, the crowd more or less dispersed without much incident.
I was then assigned by a supervisor to check on a group of people near a fence, who seemingly appeared to be trying to get back inside the complex and around the police perimeter. We checked on one group. And as I approached another, I could hear someone talking on a cell phone. It seemed they were telling someone (the suspect) what the police were doing and where they were. I caused some disruptions of my own to frustrate their plans. Luckily, the group included members of the suspect’s family. So we brought them to the Special Operations command post. They were enraged, furious, and even more angry that they met me outside the fence. But luckily, the negotiation team prevailed and ultimately persuaded the family to help make contact with the suspect. He ultimately surrendered to own up to his consequences.
Although a lot of things happened—rocks hurled, news reporters jostled, shots fired, a mob dispersed—there was a lot that didn’t happen. Every one there in a uniform knew it, but much wasn’t said about it: we were all glad to see each other. We were all glad to be on the same side looking after each other. And we were all glad that everyone went home safe that night. At the least, I certainly was…
Off. Jay Chiarito-Mazzarella
Related information
http://209.200.89.94/blog/readblog.cfm?blogid=155
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=070416_1_A12_hPoli50405
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=070415_1_A15_NGTON24808
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/15/tulsa.standoff.ap/index.html
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