All Star Member Accomplishments: Michael J. Haddad
San Francisco Chronicle
Agreement Reached on Crowd-Control
Tactics
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, November 6, 2004
Oakland police will no longer indiscriminately use wooden or
rubber bullets, Taser stun guns, pepper spray and motorcycles
to break up crowds, under an agreement announced Friday.
The changes followed criticism and lawsuits against police
for their tactics at a large demonstration against the Iraq war
outside the Port of Oakland on April 7, 2003.
The new policy settles part of a federal class-action lawsuit
filed by 52 people who claimed their First Amendment rights to
freedom of speech and assembly were violated as they targeted
two shipping companies with contracts tied to the war in Iraq.
"What we've done is create a comprehensive policy that
really provides a much more sensible, reasoned approach to managing
demonstrations and crowds," said Rachel Lederman of the
National Lawyers Guild in San Francisco.
The policy followed 10 months of discussions involving Oakland
police, the city attorney's office and plaintiffs in the case.
Oakland Police Chief Richard Word publicly circulated the basic
changes in the policy in December.
Nearly 60 people, including longshore workers, said police
fired nonlethal projectiles including wooden bullets, stinger
grenades and bean bags without provocation and without giving
them a chance to disperse. Others said they were bumped hard
by traffic officers on motorcycles.
A photograph of protester Sri Louise, showing her with a golf-ball-size
welt to her jaw, was widely published.
Still unresolved in the lawsuit are monetary damages that the
protesters are seeking. Those claims will go to trial in January
unless they are settled.
"Overall, it's a good policy, and I think it will benefit
the whole community," said Michael Haddad, an Oakland attorney
representing Louise and five other plaintiffs in a separate federal
lawsuit.
John Burris, another plaintiffs' attorney in Oakland, agreed,
saying the crowd-control measures are "a positive step toward
evenhandedness."
Oakland police spokeswoman Danielle Ashford said Friday that
the department's new policy was the result of an "ongoing
learning process" that seeks to "ensure the safety
of our officers as well as the community that we serve."
Haddad said police are "supposed to respect protesters'
First Amendment activity" under the new policy. If laws
are broken, police will try to negotiate with leaders and give
audible orders to the crowd to disperse before making arrests.
If demonstrators still refuse to comply, police are allowed
to deploy tear gas "on the edge of the crowd," form
a skirmish line and push back protesters with batons but not
strike them, Haddad said.
Alan Schlosser, legal director of the American Civil Liberties
Union in San Francisco, said the policy is timely because of
the re-election of President Bush.
"I would guess that there's probably going to be lots
of demonstrations and lots of difference of opinions," Schlosser
said.
Lederman said, "These projectile weapons are very dangerous.
It was only a matter of luck that someone wasn't killed on April
7, 2003, in Oakland. That's what we're trying to prevent."
E-mail Henry K. Lee at hlee@sfchronicle.com.
|
