Wichita PD Deploys Tear Gas on 1000+ Bystanders to Break Up an Argument
December 3rd, 2012
Over Thanksgiving weekend, Wichita police bungled an attempt at preventing an argument from escalating into a fistfight by deploying tear gas right outside the door of a packed nightclub as patrons were leaving en masse after last call. Over 1000 people were blasted by the noxious gas, causing a stampede as innocent bar patrons fled the fumes. A bar employee’s hand was broken as people rushed back into the club in an attempt to escape the gas, which also poured inside the building.
According to KAKE TV, Wichita Police Chief Williams justified this by stating, “[The Officer] felt it was the most effective tool he had at the time.” Let’s examine the known facts related to this incident and explore why officer convenience should not trump human rights. In this case, deploying area-of-effect tear gas on a crowd was an ineffective tool for dealing with an argument that was happening right next to the officers. Check out raw surveillance video from the incident below.
Creating a Stampede Is Not Good “Crowd Control”
One single strategic failure took a minor incident and escalated it into a national embarrassment. Shortly before 2 AM, patrons began exiting the Old Town area nightclub. Outside, a group of men began loudly arguing near police. The club’s attorney indicated that the police officers in question were in range to use something with less of an area of effect release pattern such as pepper spray on the individuals, though it’s also important to note that no fight had broken out yet.
Instead, the officers unleashed a military-style pepper spray canister right at the door of the nightclub as people were coming out, causing a dangerous bottleneck for those trying to leave for the night. People responded by rushing back inside the club to escape the gas, which followed them in, trapping them in an enclosed space. Those outside scrambled over each other in an attempt to get away from the fumes, causing injuries and mass chaos. There were over 1000 people feeling the effects of the gas. All of this was done just to break up a fight that hadn’t even started yet.
Officer Convenience Can’t Trump Human Rights
Police officers are put in dangerous situations. There are cases in which they use less-than-lethal technology for good reasons. For example, if someone is threatening innocent people with a knife but is not in range to use it, an officer can use a taser rather than a firearm to subdue the perpetrator. That would be appropriate use of less-than-lethal tools.
Using them as a form of pain compliance to get people to do certain things more quickly is a completely different issue. Gassing crowds of people in public can be dangerous. Stampedes often lead to fatalities. In this case, less-than-lethal tech was used in a way that escalated the situation and increased the danger for both nightclub attendees and the officers themselves.
Police officers have a dangerous job, and providing law enforcers with a wide range of tools to keep themselves safe while preventing violence is a reasonable policy goal. However, when officers break up an argument by unleashing toxic gas on a crowd, one could argue that they are engaging in violent behavior against innocent bystanders. This incident was an example of poorly-trained police going way too far and escalating a situation that might have calmed down on its own.
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