New Year’s Eve, Yellow Springs Ohio: The Police Try to Start a Riot, an Analysis of an Unarrest
On the morning of New Year’s Eve, the community of the village of Yellow Springs successfully unarrested an individual, denying the police their quarry. I cannot write a “how to unarrest someone” guide, I do not have those qualifications. I can present an analysis of important factors and the background.
Background
The village of Yellow Springs is a small community of approximately 3500 people. We are frequently listed in counts of “progressive cities” and “hippie oases”.
Despite our progressive culture, the village government is rife with problems.
The head of the Chamber of Commerce, Karen Wintrow, is also the head of the Village Council creating conflicts of interest which always seem to be glossed over officially.
Approximately 4,000,000$ of the village budget (~40%) goes to the police department. Yes, 4,000,000$ dedicated to policing less than 4,000 people.
There’s been other shenanigans, assaulting journalists and people filming the police, arresting people walking home or sleeping in their cars, arresting people filming the police.
For whatever reason, former Police Chief David Hale preferred hiring stormtroopers who neither live in the village nor share the values of our community.
New Year’s Eve
New Year’s Eve in Yellow Springs is typically the third biggest event in the town, behind the two massive street fairs that are great fun. (Come and visit!)
The ball drop has been going on for approximately 30 years ever since someone found a spare disco ball to drop from the top of the theatre. Nowadays, it is strung over a power line (the ball is not that heavy) and drop it at 12:00AM. Usually the police say something like “Everyone have a happy New Year! Please clear the streets!” to wrap everything up after the drop.
No such courtesy this year.
So the ball is dropped, everyone is hugging, crowdsurfing, people are proposing. Just a wave of positive, happy, loving energy.
Then, a mere 8 minutes after the drop (12:08), the police blare their sirens, turn their cruisers into weapons, and drive into the very inebriated, emotionally charged crowd. Predictably, pandemonium ensues.
It was initially assumed by almost everyone in the crowd that an Ambulance had to get through. We got out of the way, saw no ambulance or emergency, became quite upset, and re-entered the street in protest.
Babies crying, police hiding in their cars, people living in the village center being blasted awake by sirens, shouting, and shrieking.
The crowd became non-violently belligerent, refusing to leave. The police were filmed by dozens of people.
One individual did something to upset the police. I suspect the police welcomed it and wanted someone to hurt and make an example of. The crowd surges forward, closely surrounding the police.
Officer Saurber shoots a Taser, missing her target, hitting a bystander. The man they are trying to arrest jumps into the crowd. The police begin pulling at him. (I was there in front of the theatre.) Someone in the crowd yells something to the effect of “Pull him out! Don’t let the police arrest him!” The crowd on the other side of the police play a brief tug-of-war. Dozens of people pull the man, block the police, allow the fellow to escape, and openly defy the thugs. I remember Officer Saurber screaming and waving her Taser at people trying to hunt the fellow down.
(Officer Saurber pictured with her taser)
Realizing that they’re surrounded by 400 angry drunk people who are willing to openly resist them with the physical force the police themselves escalated to, the police realize they should probably cease to be the heavy-handed thugs they usually are. They reference their underutilized de-escalation training to try and solve the problem like normal human beings.
(Pictured: A ridiculous online certificate earned by Officer Hawley, who decided creatively interpret his orders as suggesting that police cruisers be used as plows to clear the streets.)
It was around this point that the Dayton Daily News and WHIO show up and start recording a shouting crowd and bunch of police pretending to be reasonable human beings. Police from other districts begin to show up in large numbers as well.
I remember Officer Jeff Beam specifically saying “I’m just doing my job”. This is literally where the term for a terrible excuse “cop-out” comes from.
(Pictured: Officer Beam trying to pretend to be reasonable.)
I was collecting champagne corks for a personal project all evening. There were plenty of people drinking at this event and leaving their bottles laying around. At this point, I realized that if one bottle goes through a cruiser window, we the people lose the moral high ground so I cleaned them up. I collected approximately 40 heavy bottles and recycled them.
Continuing, the Greene County Sheriffs and Deputies show up (with at least one dog), basically tell the Yellow Springs Police “you majorly screwed up” and the YSPD leaves, the crowd cheers as the swine leave with curly tails between their legs.
Dayton Police officer Bill Parsons would later analyze the video. “Those kind of tactics would be used for aggressive riot control,” Parsons said.
The Sheriffs seemed to do a little talking, but really just kind of watched the crowd.
We dispersed slowly, back home, or to other bars such as the Gulch or perhaps to Peach’s. No more incidents that night except the police hunting down the guy they were trying to arrest earlier and nabbing him on a trumped up felony charge.
What about the unarrest? How was it done?
I suspect every unarrest, like every battle, will be subject to unique conditions. These are a few conditions that seem essential.
Your community must be tight knit. In our town, I know everyone. I know the grocers, the cashiers, the baristas, the bartenders, the people at the gym, the lady at the arts and crafts store, the florist. Everyone know each other very well. Being a member of a strong community means knowing your neighbors, shopping local, and involving yourself in community affairs.
Our community values freedom.
There’s a reason Yellow Springs is regularly listed as a hippie oasis. We value freedom of expression, kindness, love, and acceptance.
The crowd was emotionally charged. Emotions get people to do things they otherwise wouldn’t, like openly defying a badge-wearing gang that regularly kills people over trifles.
The crowd was huge. We outnumbered the police 100:1. I never did any pulling on the unarrested fellow. I couldn’t. I was stuck pressed in the crowd.
The crowd was filming. Always, always film the police in any interaction. In court, police testimony is taken as gospel. Only objective video evidence can counter that.
The crowd was non-violent. Police know how to be violent. It’s what they’re trained to do: Be brutal thugs. If you can avoid being violent, police can’t justify escalating to killing you as easily.
Remember: Non-violence as a tactic to expose brutality only works as a contrast to violence and only if it can be seen.
The Aftermath
The police have been fairly quiet. Village Council Member Marianne MacQueen was charged with obstruction of official business for trying to be calm and talking to the officers. I saw Officer Saurber driving around reading license plates on parked cars two days later, probably looking for victims.
Village Council decided to have their usual meeting in the gymnasium instead of the council chambers that week where there would be an airing of grievances.
Police Chief David Hale resigned rather than deal with the fallout and correct the problems of the department. He left Officer Naomi Watson (formerly Officer Naomi Penrod) as the ranking officer. Officer Watson and Officer Hawley have arrested people for filming them in the past. His resignation leaves the problems for the village to solve and constricts Freedom of Information Act requests.
Dozens of people spoke. Village Council spoke. Mostly it seemed like letting the steam off of the village with no commitment from council to actually do anything. People dragged forth their own personal problems with the police.
A lot of things came to light, one was the reveal that the Sergeant in charge that night, Officer Knapp, was not in town. Neither was Chief Hale, which is funny because the Dayton Daily News and WHIO took a statement from a Chief who got his information from a Sergeant who was not there.
Officer Hawley had tried to go home early.
His otherwise vague instructions clearly list the event as spanning from 11:00PM to 1:00AM.
I suppose technically everything was over at 1:00AM and Hawley did go home early. Hawley “sustained an ‘abrasion to his left pinky,’ and he struck his right eyebrow on an unknown object” and is still on medical leave at the time of this writing.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/openyellowsprings/permalink/950139615116084/
( Pictured: From the “Packet of Communications Received Regarding New Year’s Eve Incidents” released by Clerk of Council Patti Bates. )
In this part of the video from the Yellow Springs Village Council meeting, there is testimony that the YSPD had reinforcements on the way even before they tried to drive through the crowd. I remain convinced this was a planned attempt by the YSPD to incite a riot.
I’ve always gotten the impression that the YSPD treats the villagers as cattle and weirdos that need controlled, not as people.
An internal investigation was started. To the credit of the Village Council, they chose to hire a professional attorney as an outside investigator. However, I’m not sure why this is not an open and shut case.
Where are we now?
We suspect Village Council of hoping this whole thing blows over. So we maintain no trust in them.
There is a ballot initiative in the works to defang the police department.
Officer Brian Carlson has been appointed interim police chief.
Yellow Springs Police Department Hall of Shame
Officer Naomi Watson (Penrod) Officer Allison Saurber
Watson (Penrod) is known for attacking journalists, being unreasonable, costing the village immense sums of cash and respect.
Saurber is a former Butler County Jail guard and Hawley’s protégé.
Officer Jeff Beam Sergeant Knapp
Beam appeals to authority, blindly follows orders, does not even try to understand the culture of the village.
Sergeant Knapp was in charge on New Year’s Eve and gave the order to clear the streets.
Officer Randall Hawley
Hawley consents to using cars as weapons against peaceful crowds, arrests people who film the police.
Chief David Hale
Chief Hale prefers to hire stormtroopers, does not share the community’s values, and leaves problems for others to address.
(Article submitted Anonymously)