Protest Photos From Inside CalTrans
Kym Kemp / Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2011 @ 8:38 a.m. / Humboldt , News , photo
Yesterday’s lockdown in the lobby of CalTrans ended hours of peaceful protest against the straightening of Hwy 101 at Richardsons Grove. Above, Will Druid on the left and Jeff Muskrat on the right are the last two of a protest circle to be cut apart and arrested by officers.
The day started with about 120 protesters waving signs and chanting gathered in front of the CalTrans office in Eureka. Here, they group up for a photo op.
Fairly quickly the lobby of the office was occupied and, almost immediately after entering, 6 people chained themselves together and to the stair rail.
At 5pm, the officers formed a wall and forced the unchained protesters from the lobby. The officers then covered the windows with yellow plastic sheeting. Then they covered the protesters with orange tarps and fitted them with goggles to protect them from the band saw the officers used to cut the pipes.
According to sources inside the building the officers maintained professional and calm attitudes during all the times they were witnessed by the sources. There were no uses of taser seen either. But the sound of the electronically locked door being held forcibly open made a sound very similar to that of the taser.
UPDATE:Forest Defender published a video and some excellent photos from inside the lobby at the protest. Here is the video. I recommend turning down the sound.
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Photos on my blog by unnamed source
Kym and readers, today’s Times-Standard article, “Richardson Grove Rally Takes a Violent Turn” by Matt Drange and Donna Tam, isn’t posted on the web yet.
But a briefing on the article can be found here at the Humboldt Herald .
Additionally, yours truly cannot confirm the deployment of a Taser and there are reports <a href=”to the contrary here .
That line in the T-S article about the police not using their tazers or batons is a complete lie. The refusal by protesters to leave caused police to break out their tazers and billy clubs. In fact, one of the pics at the T-S shows an officer brandishing both a club and a tazer towards the crowd. They swung their tazers wildly in front of them, trying to haze the crowd out of the building like cattle or bison. Basically they were using them like cattle prods, zapping the people who were closest to them. That is when a few things were thrown.
I heard the tazers crackle before I saw them, but when I saw them there was absolutely no mistaking it. It was definitely not the door.
Non-violent people were being subjected to pain holds behind police lines. One of the protesters who had locked to the railing was on medical watch last night in the jail because police use numchucks like a nut-cracker on his ankle, while he was still locked down.
http://humboldtherald.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/thanks-but-no-tanks/#comment-130095
So…conflicting reports on the behavior of the police officers.
Tthe plot thickens.
Kym had a very sound and reasonable explanation about electronic doors being confused with the sound of Tasers (thank you, Kym). Chief Nielsen clearly stated no Tasers were used.
I am moderately familiar with the sounds of both electronic doors and Tasers from experience. Now we have another (hearsay?) account that they were indeed used.
Given both accounts, let’s see what comes out in the wash— were Tasers deployed or not?
Kym, your photos and reporting absolutely ROCKED.
Upon enlarging the photograph in the link, a distinct yellow Taser can be seen in the officer’s left hand, baton in the right; no contact of either made towards protesters at the time of photographing.
I am questioning the photo in the Times Standard. My first reaction was there is a taser. My second was I’ve only seen one once, what do I know. So I did some research. This article describes the make and model of the tasers used by the Eureka police. This one and this one shows photos of those types of tasers. Neither are yellow. That is not to say they couldn’t be had in yellow. Just noting that the manufacturer doesn’t show them in yellow.
Now, I’m convinced they were used. So why the lie?
I don’t know why, but that statement just tickled my funny bone. Only Kym would have a hot-line to Taser International. If I tried a million years I couldn’t figure out how to call Taser International.
It took me all of 30 seconds to find their phone number, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Kym got it the same way. Here’s how you do it;
Google “Taser International”
Click on “Contact us”
By the way, this basic approach works to get the phone number and other contact info of just about any large company, many small ones, government entities, etc.
The Google — you gotta love it!
Well sure, you and Kym can do these things, but can either of you build a refrigerator? That’s the true mark of a person…
Did I ever mention I’m half in love with you? You crack me up. tra is right. It was easy for me but, heck, the thought of a refrigerator’s innards makes me tremble.
But seriously the real point is not how quickly any of us could find the phone number, but whether we’d actually take the time to make the call.
So, hats off to Kym for her journalistic follow-through.
Thank you Kym, for whatever it’s worth, for your independence in journalism and take on this issue…
BTW, thanks for the photos. I’ll use them while in court…
I think we’re both interested in the truth so if something here helps you achieve the truth, I’m glad.
(Could you use another verb than “admit” though? You make it sound like I’m confessing to a crime rather than proudly proclaiming?)
At the rally were at least 200 people, locals from all walks of life. There were beautiful signs saying things like SLOW DOWN, YIELD TO NATURE, and KEEP HUMCO LOCAL. There were lively speakers, singers, prayers, guitar, mandolin, trumpet, drums, and many chants such as ONE DEMAND-CANCEL THE PLAN, CUT THE CAL TRANS FAT-SAVE MONEY, GET OFF OUR DOORSTEP AND WE’LL GET OFF YOURS, CALTRANS LIES, etc. Democracy was celebrated at our public dept. of trans. on behalf of our protected Park.
To me this issue is about massive development of the Humboldt Bay region, and a huge increase in our industrial police state which will cause quality of life to decline. The time has come to weigh these things we call progress and Nature, and to stand together for the future, with deep respect.
Its on” access humboldt “if the link below doesn’t work
Video Link: http://www.archive.org/details/AH-Richardson_Grove_Protest
Watch closely on the right at 6:35, 7:52, 8:08, 8:29, 8:59
http://www.archive.org/details/AH-Richardson_Grove_Protest
Make your own judgments, but I would say it’s obvious that the Times-Standard got it wrong. The cops were reckless, abuseive and violent to those locked down, which escalated the whole situation.
Good seeing you tonight. I wish I could have gone to the movie, too.
As a Headwaters campaign veteran I’ve experienced police lies countless times. Maybe it’s helpful to put them in cultural perspective: I’ve also experienced corporations (and governments) composed of interchangeable employees lying sincerely all my life long. About Agent Orange, about insurance claims, about throwing uninsured out of emergency rooms, about routine communications, civilian deaths, lazy dereliction, honest incompetence—you name it.
Our organizations hold themselves together with reports, which are treated as authoritative wherever their word-webs spread. Whatever yarn one cop spins is echoed by another, until a higher cop says something different, which then defines the echo chamber. And it’s no different in government, in the military, in corporations, in non-profits, in fraternal organizations, in cartels.
I can well believe Garr Nielson doesn’t think he’s a liar. I can well believe Tasers are easily diddled to un-record their use. These details are Modern Life 101. It’s why cops beat bad lawyers and good lawyers beat cops: it’s why entrapment is only illegal if you have an expensive lawyer, it’s why you need your head examined and a meth connection to fight bureaucracies of any sort. There is no reality there, there are only official reports.
Finally, on the word ‘used.’ I was amused to read in the T-S Garr’s claim that ‘No Tasers or batons were used,’ right next to the photo of a Taser pointed at a demonstrator, with batons wielded against them on both sides. Are guns not ‘used’ until they’re fired? That’s not what I think when one’s pointed at me.
We have to be clear that loyalty to the company story is the first qualification for any employee of a hive. Consider the bee before you judge a cop—or even a county planner.