"I am too fat for this job."

I learned this as I chased the 300 revelers across Purdue's campus Saturday night. For most of the time, I was ahead of the group coordinating the photographers while also recording the scene for my own purposes. It did get a little hairy.

Everyone knows that the actions of the fans were just stupid. There is no argument there. Considering we lost, what purpose did the students have other than to get media exposure and give Purdue a bad image?

But what had me the most mad was not the action of the students. It was the action of the police.

Last year, the police decided to use tear gas after nearly three hours of letting the students burn items in front of Cary Quadrangle Residence Hall.

Friday, the police responded much more swiftly. According to Joe Bennett, vice president of University relations, the response was due to the fires being set a lot quicker this year. I can see that. Since the fire was built, there needed to be a quicker response.

I have no problems with how the police handled themselves early Friday morning. Besides the fact they shot tear gas right next to the windows of Cary Quad on a day that a lot of people had tests, everything was cool with me.

But then came Saturday night.

After I chased the crowd across campus three times, the celebrators finally settled on Grant Street across from Grissom Hall and Knoy Hall of Technology.

There, a group of men threw a lounge chair into the street and set it on fire. After more tree branches were added and the fire was going, a dumpster was thrown into the street already burning. It was then that the police made their move.

The police lined up on the entrance way between Grissom and Knoy. There were about 30 of them. Once they were standing there, the celebrators moved off the street and away from the fire.

I was standing in the grass near Knoy as the riot police began their march toward the fire. There were no students on the street, but they were on the grass in front of the local fraternity houses. The police entered the streets with the beat of their clubs on their shields heard by all. There they stood for nearly five minutes, already having control of the fire. There was no major group, just many small ones watching from a distance.

It was then that I believe the police made the wrong decision. They already had control of the dying fire. The main group had been split into smaller ones and they were not headed anywhere. This was not like the other nights. There was no main objective. They were a herd without a leader.

The police gave those standing near the area, including people on their own front lawns, a final warning to leave the area or tear gas would be used. Some will tell you that tear gas was used to get the fire trucks in, but the nearest person was standing at least 30 feet away off the street.

Fortunately for the bystanders, the first tear gas container was only aimed at four people. FOUR! It was not some huge group — just four people standing on the front lawn of a fraternity house. The cops then shot more canisters at the other groups. I counted four canisters used, but there have been reports of up to seven. After the groups had dispersed, the cops moved in to make arrests, mostly of those who did not run.

Those cops provoked the students by shooting the tear gas when it was not needed. The students were slowly leaving the area and if the police had just stood there, everything would have ended within minutes.

I would have understood if the police used tear gas earlier in the evening, perhaps outside of Harrison Residence Hall. But they just sat there and watched the crowd tear down the light posts. However, it seems to me that the police gassed those students because they were mad and had a score to settle.

If something like this ever happens again, I would hope that the police would use better judgement. The police had control of the situation. The groups had been split up and no leader was taking them in a new direction. They were just standing there watching. But the cops made the decision to go ahead.

You know who was at fault Saturday night? I believe it was both. Those students were breaking the law by setting fires and the police were too quick to react. I believe that if the police had kept their cool and let the crowd die out like it was doing, then there wouldn’t be such a high media attention. National reporters don’t care about mobs unless there is an effort to get rid of them.

I just hope that this never happens again while I am here. I hate being labeled as a campus with rowdy students and trigger-happy policemen. And both of them are to blame for that labeling.