<p>Something to consider:
Allegations</a> of police brutality surface at Colby College at Boston.com</p>
<p>The student video:
Police</a> Brutality at Colby College in Maine Caught On Tape | The Exception Magazine</p>
<p>This is shocking, I hope the administration reacts appropriately.</p>
<p>[Excessive</a> Force Used in the Unjustified Arrest of Colby College Students - iReport.com](<a href=“http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-244366]Excessive”>http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-244366)
a little more info.</p>
<p>It is shocking. The administration has pledged an impartial investigation to be conducted by a third party that will make recommendations. The president of the college attended the huge student rally yesterday and is holding a question and answer session with students tonight. </p>
<p>Some recent posts have questioned whether minorities are ostracized at Colby. The students are overwhelmingly and vocally supporting the minority students who were arrested in this case, raising money to repay the friends who bailed them out, and demanding changes in campus security. Although all facts are not yet known it certainly appears that campus security was overzealous, to say the least. The students are doing exactly what they should be doing, in my opinion. They are publicizing the incident and video, holding respectful, peaceful protests and demanding answers. They seem really united in this, as they should be.</p>
<p>I echo sailfish’s posts.</p>
<p>The students stand united and the administration is pledging to find out the truth. So many stories going around right now as to what really happened, but one thing’s for sure: students are united.</p>
<p>Updates of this event and media links are available on Colby’s website:
<a href=“http://www.colby.edu/news_events/april12-incident.cfm[/url]”>http://www.colby.edu/news_events/april12-incident.cfm</a></p>
<p>Is that animal on the I-Report video a representative of the Waterville PD? Whoever he is, steps should be taken to ensure that thugs like that are not dispatched to a college campus, unless it is for remedial education in the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. I bet he’s unfamiliar with the events of May 4, 1970.</p>
<p>I wondering how this is going down with those admitted students and their parents who were visiting campus on Monday trying to decide if Colby “was for them”??</p>
<p>I’m sure they thought about it and each one has to decide whether this particular incident is enough to color their opinion of the college. Not saying that it should or shouldn’t, because that is such a person decision and should be respected.</p>
<p>As a Colby parent, it has not at all changed my opinion about Colby. Very disturbing events such as this unfortunately do happen, and when they do, I look at what the response is, and the good that can ultimately come out of it.</p>
<p>Was I concerned when I first heard about it from my S? Of course. But I am also reserving judgment and seeing how this unfolds. So far, I am pleased with the response.</p>
<p>Whoa, that guy helped put on a show when I was at Colby Live. Why the hell would they hold his head against the ground for so long?!</p>
<p>There’s a lot of information on the Colby website including a link to the Echo (student newspaper), which has extensive coverage, as well as links to all other media coverage. I wouldn’t want to suggest that there’s anything good about this type of incident, but one good thing about Colby’s response, I think, is that the college has been very open about sharing information with the Colby students, parents, alumni and even with the public. They haven’t tried to hide this (they couldn’t have done that locally, but they’ve put it right out there on the website where a lot of people who wouldn’t know about it otherwise can see it). Colby’s response to the financial crisis this year was similarly forthright and open and I like their instincts in that respect.</p>
<p>Parents just received the following email from Bro Adams, Colby’s President. Appointment of Ralph Martin to investigate the events of Easter Weekend is good news. He is a highly respected former DA and attorney:</p>
<p>Dear Colby Parents,</p>
<p>I am pleased to announce that Colby has retained an independent investigator to help us evaluate the events of April 12. (Apparently, not all of my emails have been delivered to those in our databases, perhaps because of spam filters. If you would like more information about what happened on April 12, please see [Colby</a> College | News & Events | April 12 Incident](<a href=“http://www.colby.edu/news_events/april12-incident.cfm]Colby”>http://www.colby.edu/news_events/april12-incident.cfm))</p>
<p>The investigator, Ralph C. Martin II, is managing partner of the Boston office of Bingham McCutchen and managing principal of Bingham Consulting Group. Prior to joining Bingham, he served as a trial lawyer and state and federal prosecutor and was, for 10 years, district attorney for Suffolk County, Massachusetts. His current areas of practice are corporate investigations, white collar defense, and civil litigation. His biographical information may be viewed at [Bingham</a> McCutchen | Ralph C. Martin II](<a href=“http://www.bingham.com/lawyer.aspx?lawyerid=224]Bingham”>http://www.bingham.com/lawyer.aspx?lawyerid=224).</p>
<p>Clearly, Mr. Martin’s work as a trial lawyer, district attorney, and prosecutor affords him excellent credentials in organizing investigations and assessing facts and evidence. But as a consultant, he also has earned praise from colleagues in areas such as community policing. He was consultant to a leading university in its review of campus community policing practices, work that will assist him in his assessment of Colby’s security and safety policies and practices.</p>
<p>We are now in the process of scheduling Mr. Martin’s first visit to campus and are working with him to determine how best to schedule his time. I will have more to say about those details as soon as they are determined. </p>
<p>Mr. Martin is a graduate of Brandeis University, where he served on the Board of Trustees, and received his Juris Doctor degree from Northeastern. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and Boston Children’s Hospital. He is also a former chair of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the Boston and Massachusetts Bar Associations and a life member of the Massachusetts Black Lawyers’ Association. He holds honorary doctorates from the New England School of Law and Northeastern University, where he also received the Outstanding Alumni Award in Public Service. He is a recipient of the National Black Prosecutors’ Association’s President’s Award of Excellence and the Anti-Defamation League’s Civil Rights Award, among many other honors.</p>
<p>I look forward to assisting Mr. Martin in his very important work for Colby.</p>
<p>William D. Adams</p>
<p>President</p>
<p>As an attorney who lives in the Boston area, I can attest that Ralph Martin is a highly respected and very accomplished attorney and former prosecutor. In my opinion he is an outstanding choice to conduct this investigation and should have credibility with all constituencies.</p>
<p>As an EMT, I will take a moment to comment on this event. When a patient is being attended to by EMS, onlookers have no legal right to be within an area defined by law enforcement around said patient. If you were me, would you be able to attend to a patient with a dozen kids yelling and screaming all around you. The answer is no. So, the police are required to make anybody present leave. Even if they are a student (even if it is their dorm room) they are trespassing. When the students do not leave after a simple request, you must order them to leave sternly. When a student becomes belligerent and demands to know why, you do not need to tell them. If they remain belligerent, they must be removed with force. If they resist (which the student did) you must fully restrain them. That can be accomplished in one way and one way only: pin them to the ground. Until an officer is available to remove said suspect into custody, the suspect must remain restrained on the ground. The fact that they are “of color” has nothing to do with it at all, they simply failed to follow lawful commands. The student was pinned and bleeding, well guess what, he is bleeding because he was taken down for his belligerent actions, and that injury is neither life threatening or a priority until he can be fully arrested and medical personnel can assess him securely, which could not be done at that point in time. </p>
<p>The Colby officers did exactly what needed to be done and its not pretty but its what had to be done. Students are often quick to jump to “race” because they do not want to admit that someone was wrong, and its always easy to blame someone else. </p>
<p>Questions? Comments? PM me, leave it off the forum post</p>