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UPDATE: VIDEO - Suspect in violent UWO arrest had barricaded himself inside an office
UWO campus police responded to a report of a 22-year-old male who had barricaded himself in an office on an upper floor of the Social Science building, shortly after 5 p.m. "Campus police officers attempted to apprehend the male, but he was combative and resistant and assistance was required by other campus police officers and members of the London Police Service," London police said in a media release issued Oct. 15. The male, who was also identified by campus police as being a fourth-year student at Western, was arrested and transported to University Hospital for assessment. He was later transported to the London Police Service headquarters detention unit. Police said he had injured himself after being handcuffed, and was showing signs of intoxication. Irnes Zeljkovic, of London, has been charged with mischief under $5,000, assaulting a peace officer, resisting arrest and escaping lawful custody. Zeljkovic is scheduled to appear in court later today (Oct. 15), police said. Violent arrest video 'doesn't tell the whole story' For approximately 90 seconds we watched as University of Western Ontario campus police attempted to arrest the suspect in the hallway of the campus's Social Sciences building, Wednesday afternoon, but from the perspective of some, the 90 second clip is not enough to on which to base judgement. According to University Student Council (USC) board members, Carolyn Hawthorn, communications officer, and USC president Emily Rowe, the YouTube video that has many students in an uproar is far from a complete picture of the situation. "The video doesn't tell the whole story, students are reacting to the video, most with concern, some without all the facts," Hawthorn said. "We (they) need to hear those facts before passing any judgment on the situation which is why the USC's door is always open to solutions to provide a safer campus community." Responding to the concerns of students, USC president Rowe said the council will be meeting with Elgin Austen, director of Campus Community Police, "to understand the context leading up to the officers' use of force." She said students "deeply value" the contributions of both campus and London police, but she too shares student concerns after watching the video. "Based on the facts released by the university this morning, it is clear that the video does not tell the whole story," Rowe said. Rowe said both the university and London police will be examining the officers' actions to determine if the use of force was appropriate, "and the USC will remain closely engaged with the university as that examination unfolds." For students who may be fearful of police as a result of this recent incident, Const. Jane Crosby with London police service said its best if students simply cooperate. "Cooperate. If someone is being questioned or arrested be compliant, polite and respectful," she said. RELATED STORY - VIDEO: Violent UWO campus arrest caught on video |
| Lets get the facts straight here, after listening to Elgin Austen - it is extremely obvious that the man is very inexperienced with law & use of force. Police are not permitted by law to hit or assault anyone under any conditions. The two officers seen throwing punches should be suspended without pay & severely reprimanded. 7 seven police officers to one person is extreme overkill. The police involved were not concentrating on protecting the people around the area as stated by elgin austin, they were intent on illegally apprehending & assaulting the individual on the floor. I for one do hope these keystone cops are severely reprimanded and removed from their jobs permanently, they are a threat to the students of uwo. |
| By: john on 10/15/2009 |
| I fully agree with John. What appeared to me was 3 campus police who seemed to have the person subdued and under control. Then we see the city police come in and do their best impression of a royal rumble. There were a considerate amount of shots given to this guy, for what appeared to be, him just getting mouthy. That's a heck of price to pay. What I find hypocritical is the fact that as a Separated man, I'm told to use restraint when dealing with my ex's antics and yet, I see these so-called professionals disregarding their own advice. I too hope that these vigilante's get severely reprimanded, but knowing Mr. Faulkner's Teflon shield....this will not happen and he'll likely be on the news tonight praising the efforts of his officers and throwing the UWO cops under the bus to take full blame. |
| By: Robert Hebblethwaite on 10/16/2009 |
| In response to john above: Elgin Austen has almost 40 years of experience as a police officer and was London's former Deputy Chief. I am guessing he knows a bit more about use of force than you do. Imagine if the suspect had harmed someone - then we would be pointing the finger at the police and saying "where were they?" |
| By: joe on 10/16/2009 |
| Why are people so quick to judge. I have a 8 year old son who weighs 50lbs and when he is in a rage it takes two adults to hold him down. In this situation you had a disturbed male weighing over 200lbs...that was not cooperating. The police have to deal with idiots like this, risk their safety for ours and then we are quick to be critical. We would not be discussing this if the person would have co-operated, followed the laws and respected social norms. |
| By: Andrew on 10/16/2009 |
| Why are you so quick to judge, other Andrew? You don't have all the fats and yet you come to the police's defense. Don't heap all this hero crap on the thugs called the police. I have witnessed many abuses first-hand. I can say just the same things as you - We have to deal with police idiots like this all the time, risking our safety. Listen, just because some cop tells you to cooperate doesn't make it a legal obligation. Police don't have carte-blanche to tell people what to do. How do you know this guy didn't follow the laws or social norms? All you have is the University's side, which the ever-useless USC called "facts". They aren't "facts" they are one side of the story from an institution worried about lawsuits. The facts come out in a court room, they aren't dictated by the police (who actually know very little about the law) and they aren't doled out by University reps who weren't there. Let me also point out that the police have very often been the ones not respecting social norms or the law and this is borne by many stories or corruption. |
| By: Andrew (Not the police suck-up above) on 10/16/2009 |
| I personally think it was an over kill by the officers. The kicks and punches went over board as far as I am concerned.I am surprised that they didn,t decide to use a tazer . And that seems to be used more than needed. I have personally watched officers use excessive force. I think there should be an intensive investigation done . |
| By: unbelievable on 10/16/2009 |
| Lets get it str8 here. Elgin Austen use to be the Chief of Police for London Police Service. He retired and took the job with Western. If police services actually had people with degrees running them, the face of policing might be different. Same thing if there was actually a psychological exam required, (designed by experts, not cops themselves), there would be much fewer bullies and cowards in policing. |
| By: ben on 10/16/2009 |
| Excessive force occurred after suspect was on floor and detained. This is assault. Officers are charged with upholding the laws and therefore must be held to a higher standard. Adrenaline is no excuse. With authority comes responsibility ... the responsibilty not to become corupted by power. Until police (campus cops) police themselves they have no right to be in the position to police others. |
| By: Mike on 10/16/2009 |
| How can anyone properly comment on the video? The quality is so poor you cannot even tell how many people are trying to subdue the suspect. I have seen other videos of "police brutality" and they were far worse than this one. We can argue till the cows come home about this one, but honestly I feel the police need to use more force. There are a lot of people out there who won't respond to anything else. |
| By: Greg Lawrence on 10/16/2009 |
| In response to: In response to john above: Elgin Austen has almost 40 years of experience as a police officer and was London's former Deputy Chief. I am guessing he knows a bit more about use of force than you do. Ya - I'll bet he does....lots more. from experience - as you say... |
| By: Xos on 10/16/2009 |
| I think the police acted in the best interest of students given the situation. Heres why: People don't generally barricade themselves in rooms. If I was told "There's some guy, and he barricaded himself in an office", my response would be "did somebody call the police?" There was something about the suspect and his behavior that made the police stop doing whatever it was they were doing and arrive at this location. Whatever that something was, it couldn't have been good. What we are seeing in the video is only the last few seconds of what was undoubtedly a prolonged encounter. What we see clearly is that this dude was RESISTING ARREST. When you resist arrest, you get F***ED UP. Thats just the way shit works. The cops in this video arent some hit squad sent in by the G-20 to annihilate your freedoms, some buzzkill terror squad that loves to clamp down on students and 'harsh the party'...These cops are the people you call when people BARRICADE THEMSELVES IN OFFICES. Until science invents some kind of pillow-soft nature friendly way of restraining human beings when they act like spoiled little rejects, then I guess a few well placed non-leathal blows to meaty parts of the body will have to do. Or we can just taze them instead. It's your choice, citizen. |
| By: Bill Phelps on 10/16/2009 |
| Regardless of what you feel actually happened at UWO yesterday. Police Chief Faulkner and members of the London Police are defendants in a lawsuit over the altercation in front of Jim BobRay`s earliar this year. With plenty of other similar incidents like it and lawsuits. If we had more accountable Police then we wouldn`t have them constantly covering up the lawsuits launched against them. Similar to the Negligence case with them and the Children`s Aid Society of London this week. Which your tax dollars paid out the hefty settlement. If the honest members of the media and general public didn`t push for the truth then we all suffer in a free society as a result. |
| By: Baphomet on 10/16/2009 |
| Kind of funny. Passing judgment on but a mere snapshot of an incident is a fallacy. Considering what it sounds like he did, police were well within their rights and responsibilities. |
| By: Bob on 10/16/2009 |
| This is a clear case when a taser should have been used. But with all the public pressure the police are afraid to use it. |
| By: Dick on 10/16/2009 |
| This is disgraceful. Was the suspect armed? It sure looks like with the amount of force these clowns were using on the suspect , he had to been armed. As far a I know he was not armed. The repeated times this man was hit with the police officers nightstick was ridiculous. Obvious the University is going to take the police side, but shouldn't the university's main concern be the protect of their students? I would love to hear the definition of Police Brutality from a London police officer because this is exactly it. |
| By: Josh on 10/16/2009 |
| Whatever happened to the public doing as they are told by the police? I was brought up to do as I was told by police officers. If I was told to stop, I stopped. It was not intended to be a discussion. If there was any disagreement that could be sorted out later. |
| By: richard kidd on 10/16/2009 |
| I don\'t know anything about this except what I\'ve just read in the news but I will raise two questions to consider: 1) Wouldn't you continue to resist if you had punches being thrown at you from a gang of police officers? (Is that really an effective means of trying to apprehend someone or cops getting mad?) 2) Why did the student barricade himself inside the office? |
| By: Ash on 10/16/2009 |
| This is a clear case when a taser should have been used. But with all the public pressure the police are afraid to use it. |
| By: Dick on 10/16/2009 |
| Your all looking through blind eyes. These are security guards beating a man for whatever reason!! Parents and students pay large sums of money to have an education in science, medicine, finance, agriculture etc not pugilism. There appears to be no bodies laying around riddled with bullets, it seems to me a man was in a room and locked the door, lets beat the hell out of him.....sounds like the 1950's south to me....not a university. The person above who stated that the ex Deputy Chief would know more about excessive violence is right, he has had more years to practice it...... |
| By: Wayne on 10/16/2009 |
| Dick this is for you. Do you really know what a tazer can do to a body. Maybe you should have it tried on you. If the student was armed then that is a different story and maybe it would have been needed, but he was not. So why don't you think twice about what you say before shooting off your big mouth. |
| By: concerned senior on 10/16/2009 |
| "It's best if students simply cooperate." Sounds like martial law or something along those lines to me. |
| By: anom on 10/16/2009 |
| Be compliant? Cops now a days seem to think they have the right to walk up to any individual and demand ID and are allowed to "Pat them Down" for there own safety. It's bs the way cops have been treating people. Six officers and they still feel the need to knee the kid in the back around 10 times? BS. Cops get pissed and take it out on suspects and more often than not get away with it. This school needs to protest and stand up for that student. |
| By: haha on 10/17/2009 |
| lucky the man did not have a staplier in his hands... |
| By: anomymous on 10/17/2009 |
| If you resist arrest you will be subdued . Even if you have done nothing wrong. Its better to comply with the officer do what he asks & if you have done nothing wrong you have nothing to worry about .Better a small inconvenience than being arrested |
| By: S.G. Yando on 10/17/2009 |
| All you people complaining sound like little B****S and need to grow up. Hey the one above saying "if there was a gun then yes a tazer should be used", yeah great idea let the police get shot (then they might get some respect). Also if I was resisting and getting my ass kicked by cops because I was being a d**k and resisting. I would not keep resisting I would do the smart thing and STOP. Lastly if someone is high on drugs (the good stuff) they are not thinking right and also when the adrenline kicks in it makes a person 3x stronger. Keep that in mind when you are fighting a person that is 200 lbs plus. |
| By: T.A on 10/17/2009 |
| A student barricades himself in a office, so what's wrong with that? Did he do anything? No - he locked a door I guess and went into an office. Who gives a Sh( t. That's legal to me. As Bill Phelps above said *What we see clearly is that this dude was RESISTING ARREST. I Agree. You don't even see him move in the video. But he get's beaten by the security and police. Who do they think they are? Is he armed? No. Did he kill someone? No. #1 mistake from the security/policed he is getting hit in areas where you are not allowed to hit. In the back of the neck and center of the back (Seen Video) All I can say, way too much force was used in the wrong body areas for this little issue. Irnes Zeljkovic, get your lawyer and sue them! Your good for $2 million for this situation. |
| By: Irnes Zeljkovic Beaten and to much force used. on 10/18/2009 |
| It is more troubling to hear from those who evidently find the brutality necessary. This is the way police behave in a fascist state (Nazi Germany). This man may have been experiencing psychosis and was not aware that he was doing anything wrong. Further to this, it aptyly explains why he seemed disoriented above all. Psychosis is far and away more frightening to the person experiencing it than those around them. They need assessment, calming conversation and above all compassion and perhaps sedatives till the antipsychotics begin. He did not appear to be resisting arrest in the video. Do we want a society where those who appear or sound a little different are beaten for being so (because we feel threatened by that)? This could have been your brother or son who literally after 4 yrs of university suddenly experienced an altered state after even binging. That's all it takes to set off psychosis is some people. |
| By: LB on 10/19/2009 |
| I am a parent with a student at UWO. I am disturbed. The video made me ill to watch. The police seemed to have an adrenaline rush. The suspect was not resisting. The expanded explanation made me more concerned. Was the student affected by drugs/alcohol, whatever? Did the student use ANY violance? Yes, the student needed to be cuffed. Beaten repeatedly, no. This was wrong. Officers should not be on the job who took part in this until a full investigation is done and until the question about the extraordinary use-of-force is assessed. The officials who are defending this must realize that those with sight, can in fact see. |
| By: Judy on 10/20/2009 |
| I dont see a problem here. If cops tell you to stop resisting then stop resisting. He clearly didnt stop so what are they gonna do. Shoulda hit him harder. |
| By: rik on 10/21/2009 |
| Repeated, clearly spoken commands from uniformed individuals to the accused who clearly was actively resistant and not cooperative. Controlled strikes in specific areas of the body, combined with no cooperation by the accused. In fact, you can clearly see his body rise up and continue to be propped up by his right arm. The accused looks like a big fella. What's the problem? Looks to me like everything was righteous as per the national standard as per the use of force continuum. I'm glad that "DREDDLY", the person responsible for the youTube video actually placed a clarifying note with his video. Good for you. |
| By: bif on 10/21/2009 |
| What is even more sad than this entire incident is the sad group of people posting comments which call for use of tazers (Dick, I doubt you know what you are talking about)... Unwarranted, repeated beating is a misuse of force... for those of you who think it may have been appropriate, may I remind you that we do not live in a police state, yet...... although the manner in which the student was abused by officers is very reminiscent of something other than a democratic state.... I hope he finds a good lawyer, or two.... |
| By: UWO PhD Student on 11/09/2009 |
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