Student actions lead to
use of tear gas
By Vanessa Renderman
Special
Projects Editor
Sunday night, there was more to students' crying
than the women's basketball loss; there was tear gas.
Many revelers who were out on campus after the
women's loss to Notre Dame felt the effects of pepper spray and CS –
both are types of irritant gasses that the combined police forces used
to control and move crowds.
Purdue Chief of Police Linda Stump said using gas
to control the crowd is one of the steps on the level of force continuum,
the first step being verbal warning.
"We let whatever action they take dictate what
reaction we give them," she said.
When verbal warnings didn't break up the crowd
and people began throwing bottles, lighting fires and taunting police,
authorities decided to use the gas.
"It didn't hurt too bad," said Marc Pugh, a freshman
in the Schools of Engineering and resident of Cary Quadrangle. "It didn't
last very long."
Pugh felt what other revelers felt when he was
outside on Sunday night during the revelry – irritated eyes, throat
and nose. Irritation is the major symptom of the gas, but people who
are asthmatic or have other respiratory problems may have been affected
more, Stump said, which is why the police are supposed to first give
a verbal warning.
Raif Snider, who works at the Army Provost Marshal's
Office in Fort Knox, Ky., said there are no long-term effects with the
gas, but the short-term symptoms make people feel as if someone has
rubbed hot peppers all over them.
Ron Fosnaugh, captain of special services for Purdue
Police, said most of the tear gas police used on Sunday was CS gas and
the officers who deployed the gas are trained to do so.
On the level of force continuum, gas deployment
is the step before soft-hand techniques, such as taking someone by the
arm to control him, Stump said. "Deploying gas is very non-intrusive
from our standpoint," she said.
If another situation similar to what happened Sunday
night should erupt on campus and police deploy tear gas, people who
are affected should get decontaminated, Fosnaugh said. He said some
people were decontaminated on Sunday night.
Snider said the first thing to do is wash out the
spray with water. But depending on what type of gas it is, a person
washing his face could actually spread and worsen the irritation.
n A representative from St. Elizabeth's Hospital
in Lafayette said nobody was treated for tear-gas related symptoms Sunday
night.
|
