Crowd Control
People ask me sometimes why I'm afraid of crowds. "It's fun!" they tell me. "No one's going to hurt you." My people in ages past (for several values of "my people") didn't keep living if they couldn't tell which way the wind was blowing and get the #@$*& out of Dodge ahead of Trouble.
Which brings me to Saturday night.
Penn State's football team won against Ohio State. This is one of two huge rivalries for the team (the other with Michigan). It was an away game, but our crowd at home was... pretty excited. When the game ended at 11p lastnight, three thousand people poured into the streets and started rioting. Yes, rioting.
Police heavily maced and tear gassed the mob into dispersal, but it took over an hour.
"We realize everyone was happy for a victory, and we let it go on for a while, but people started uprooting shrubbery and knocking down lampposts, and we can't let that go on," said John Gardner, captain of the Patrol Division at the State College Police Department.
Daily Collegian story
Photo set of clash between rioters and police -- Check out especially the guy hauling off a paper box, the guys walking a toppled 30-foot streetlight post down the street, and the visible streams of mace and tear gas in most of the police photos.
When someone eventually asks me where I was for the big riot of 2008, I was at the lab, then went home to futz around and drink some wine, blissfully unaware of the destruction. But I could hear them from at least 3 blocks away when I left my lab to drive home.
Which brings me to Saturday night.
Penn State's football team won against Ohio State. This is one of two huge rivalries for the team (the other with Michigan). It was an away game, but our crowd at home was... pretty excited. When the game ended at 11p lastnight, three thousand people poured into the streets and started rioting. Yes, rioting.
Police heavily maced and tear gassed the mob into dispersal, but it took over an hour.
"We realize everyone was happy for a victory, and we let it go on for a while, but people started uprooting shrubbery and knocking down lampposts, and we can't let that go on," said John Gardner, captain of the Patrol Division at the State College Police Department.
Daily Collegian story
Photo set of clash between rioters and police -- Check out especially the guy hauling off a paper box, the guys walking a toppled 30-foot streetlight post down the street, and the visible streams of mace and tear gas in most of the police photos.
When someone eventually asks me where I was for the big riot of 2008, I was at the lab, then went home to futz around and drink some wine, blissfully unaware of the destruction. But I could hear them from at least 3 blocks away when I left my lab to drive home.