I was going to try to ignore these stupid, anti-democratic demonstrators, but now that a police officer has died, I can't.
PHILADELPHIA-June 21, 2005 — A Philadelphia police officer who was hurt trying to make arrests during protests in Philadelphia has died. Protestors are demonstrating against a major bio-tech conference in Center City. Sources tell Action News that some of the radical organizations were threatening violence today.
The protest was at 12th and Arch streets in Philadelphia. Officer Paris Williams, 52, was kicked by at least one of the protestors after falling to the ground. He was an 18-year veteran of the police force and a father of 2.
Philadelphia police commissioner Sylvester Johnson was heading to North Carolina. He had his plane turned around came back to Philadelphia because of Williams' death. Johnson says it may have been a heart attack, but the exact cause of death will be determined by an autopsy.
The incident that preceded Williams' death happened just outside the Pennsylvania convention center at about 12:45pm.
Homicide detectives are now investigating the case.
How very democratic!
They got the attention they wanted, and made their case against evil "biotech."
Silly fools. They claim to believe in democracy, but they're anything but democratic. They only support democracy if it means they get their way, and if the majority disagree with them, why, that's the primary reason they demonstrate.
MORE: Here's a photo of the multitudes I missed.
Obviously, the majority of Philadelphians hate biotech!
Hordes of skateboarders are expected to jam city streets and public spaces on Tuesday for "Wild in the Streets," which could live up to its name if the organizer's estimate of 2,000 to 5,000 participants is on the mark.
Professional skateboarders will lead the throngs on a chase through Philadelphia to a series of locations that will remain secret until Tuesday, a day that was already shaping up to be hectic in Center City, with biodiversity activists planning a multipronged protest against BIO 2005, the huge biotech show at the Convention Center.
"I don't know if it'll be crazy or tame," said Robbie Reid, manager of Nocturnal Skateboard Shop at 610 S. Third St., a launch point for Wild in the Streets. "We've had a lot of calls."
MORE: According to this report, the skateboarders appear uninterested in the biotech issue:
about 250 biotechnology protestors of all ages marched around City Hall before holding a short rally at the nearby JFK Plaza, where they were joined by more than 100 skateboarders staging their own unrelated "Wild in the Streets" skateboarding rally. The skateboarders were more interested in Love Park, the city park that was once a mecca for skateboarders before the city made it illegal to skateboard there, than biotechnology issues.
I hope the cops don't overreact, because there's nothing more irritating that the new converted -- to whatever "cause."
MORE: According to this report, Police Commissioner Johnson has stated that Officer Williams was not involved in the scuffle, and that he died of a heart attack:
Authorities closed the street in front of the Pennsylvania Convention Center to traffic as hundreds of protesters chanted and pounded on drums. A small number of demonstrators scuffled with police.
Authorities did not think Williams was directly involved in the confrontation.
"I don't think Officer Paris Williams was involved in the scuffle, but anyhow, he saw the scuffle, he went toward the scuffle, he collapsed," Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson said outside the hospital.
"We're not blaming anybody for what happened," Johnson said. "At this point, unfortunately, we have an officer that died today in the line of duty."
MORE (05:53 p.m.): Video footage I just saw on local ABC television is blurry, but it shows the officer in the middle of the melee, which started after a demonstrator threw liquid on another officer. The report states that "fists were flying." I couldn't tell whether Officer Williams was struck, and I'd say it's too early to know exactly what happened. (However, if a blow from a fist causes the heart attack, legal liability can result.)
Four men and a woman were charged yesterday in the melee between demonstrators and police Tuesday in Center City that left a veteran Philadelphia police officer dead of a heart attack.
District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham said the most serious offenses were lodged against Guillaume Beaulieu, 23, of Canada, who was charged with aggravated assault against Officer Paris Williams, 52, the Civil Affairs Unit member who died at Hahnemann University Hospital Tuesday afternoon.
An autopsy yesterday revealed that Williams suffered from heart disease. Jeff Moran, a city Health Department spokesman, said the cause of death was listed as hypertensive cardiomyopathy.
Beaulieu also was charged with aggravated assault on another officer, Edward Braceland, 45, and resisting arrest, conspiracy and disorderly conduct.
At a late-afternoon news conference at Police Headquarters, Abraham said the melee in the 1200 block of Arch Street early Tuesday afternoon began when Beaulieu threw water on Braceland.
She said Braceland chased Beaulieu and a scuffle broke out between police and protesters. Williams was one of the officers involved.
"This is the genesis of this event," Abraham said, adding that "the resulting punching, shoving and pushing... caused Officer Williams to suffer his cardiac event."
Williams, a 17-year veteran, was trying with other officers to prevent protesters from nearing the entrance of the Convention Center where the BIO 2005 conference was under way.
Abraham said four others were charged with resisting arrest, conspiracy and disorderly conduct. She identified them as Caroline Colesworthy, 25, of Newport Beach, Calif.; Brenton Hall, 21, of Bangor, Maine; Mark Garcia, 19, of San Antonio, Texas; and Charles M. Sherrouse, 46, of the 1400 block of Elbridge Street in Northeast Philadelphia.
About 20 protesters maintained a vigil in a small park across from Police Headquarters last night and said they would remain until their friends are released.
In Berkeley, the protesters would most likely have gone straight to the Police Review Commission, filed charges against the officer, then attempted to intimidate the Commissioners into doing their bidding.
These people are career activists who travel around the country planning and instigating precisely such events. (They're professionals at what they do -- a point often missed.)
He died of a heart attack, not from being attacked. He got kicked in a scuffle that ensued, which supposedly was started by other police officers after 'water' was thrown at an officer. It's tragic he died, but don't blame the protestors that the officer was in bad physical shape.
Michael Schurman · June 22, 2005 10:47 PM
As the legal expression (known as the "eggshell skull rule") goes, "you take the plaintiff as you find him." If you unlawfully strike a fragile person, that person's fragility -- and resultant harm, even if unusual or out-of-the-ordinary -- is no defense.
I'm having trouble with the logic that the scuffle was "started" by the officers themselves. If you throw water on an officer and (not knowing what it is) he responds by chasing you, I fail to see how he "started" it. The right to protest doesn't include a right to throw water on officers -- or on anyone.
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution reads:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
I don't see anything in there about a "right to riot". I support the police.
Throwing liquid (or just about anything else) at an officer is "assault." Maybe the officers overreacted, but then again, the protesters should not have "assaulted" the officers.
The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler
Don?t bang your head!
No cause justifies that. I guess no one will be listening now to whatever their grievances against "biotech" were...