Yale University Questions Force Used by New Haven Police During Club Raid(SWAT Team for a Bar Raid?)

[RamboLiberal]

Source: ABC News

New Haven Police Department officers are accused of using excessive force during a raid of a Yale University party where cops allegedly brandishing semi-automatic weapons tasered a student before arresting several others.

Jordan Jefferson, the student who was tasered, had to be hospitalized following the incident. A total of five students were arrested during the raid.

According to Yale University, several students have reported "serious concerns" about the behavior of the officers who showed up at Elevate Lounge in New Haven, Conn., during the early morning hours of Oct. 2.

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The police department defended their actions in a written statement, writing, "Elevate presented such a risk that it was necessary to respond with a strong police presence that involved members of the SWAT team as support to the limited bar detail that was already in place."

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/yale-university-questions-police-tasered-student-club-raid/story?id=11796814

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SWAT Team!!!!!!!! Wow - must be some real terrorist drunks at Yale!

[RKP5637]

1. IMO each day we border a little more on being a police state... n/t

[FiveGoodMen]

2. ...and almost no one seems to mind.

:wtf:

[RKP5637]

3. Yeah, it's almost like a collective OK. I guess I just have a hard time grasping that

so many Americans just fail to recognize what is occurring, simply don't care or have so many other priorities. Each day I think this about many issues, WTF.

[brendan120678]

4. "brandishing semi-automatic weapons" Oh FFS...

Not the dreaded "semi-automatic weapon"!?!?

Fucking media hysteria.
Most all police sidearms are fucking semi-automatic weapons!

[RamboLiberal]

15. I believe they were talking about the police carrying rifles

Police came bearing assault rifles, Carta said, some of which were pointed at patrons’ faces. He said the club plans to notify the city this week about a possible lawsuit related to the raid.

http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2010/oct/05/club-raid-scrutinized/

An attorney for the club at the center of the controversy said police — including some in SWAT gear — “barged” into Elevate Lounge early Saturday like “storm troopers,” cursed at patrons and ordered everybody to the floor.

Witnesses alleged that students who attempted to take video or pictures of the episode on their cell phones were threatened with arrest if they didn’t stop in this latest incident that occurred about two weeks after allegations that a Quinnipiac University student was arrested outside Toad’s Place after recording his friend’s arrest.

http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/10/05/news/new_haven/aa3neyalebust100510.txt

Lee Kennedy-Shaffer ’13 said officers, many wearing bulletproof vests and two brandishing assault rifles, began to walk through the crowd. Some of them were wearing uniforms that read “Connecticut State Liquor Board” on the back, he said.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/yale-university-questions-police-tasered-student-club-raid/story?id=11796814

[Vinnie From Indy]

5. Ah! Cops and their toys!

It should be obvious to anyone with half a brain that the leadership at this police department is unqualified for those positions based on this raid. How many hundreds of thousands or millions of times in America have police raided a bar vs how many did so with a fucking SWAT TEAM and automatic weapons over the last 100 years? The leaders of this police force should be forced to answer why THIS bar in New Haven (hardly a bastion of hardened criminals and gangs) was so different than the other thousands of bars raided by police in America over the last year. The fact is that they have no justification for such idiocy. The truth is probably that this department's SWAT team has spent the last four years training in their cool ninja outfits and running around shooting mythical cutout cardboard bad guys on a range somewhere that they simply could not resist the opportunity to play "super cop" on these college kids.

I am glad that there seems to be some sanity coming from the university in response to this dangerous fiasco.

[Moonbat2]

10. read the post

poor little Yale boys.No lowly public servant will tell them what to do

[AlbertCat]

12. poor little Yale boys.

Your anti-intellectualism sour grapes are showing.

[COLGATE4]

14. I smell Teabagger. "Poor little Yale boys".

[Celebration]

6. Oh, honestly

If it creates a fire hazard, go inside, turn off the music, turn up the lights and tell everyone to go home. They needed weapons and a SWAT team? That is ridiculous.

[valerief]

8. Exactly! nt

[AlbertCat]

11. go inside, turn off the music, turn up the lights

Indeed. A uniform is usually all the authority needed.

How much did that super-duper Rambo stunt cost tax payers?

[Blue_Tires]

7. probably one of those instances of

"If we don't document some situations where we actually used the SWAT toys, we'll lose funding for them next year!!"

[ManiacJoe]

9. In this case that might be a bit too close to the truth.

Taking the article in the OP as the only source of info....

[speppin]

13. gotta use those resouses/$ from Homeland security you know!!