News

'The Shit Show'

Body camera footage sheds new light on first hours of Cal Poly Humboldt occupationBody camera footage sheds new light on first hours of Cal Poly Humboldt occupation

By

comment

Page 2 of 9

4:57 p.m. — Martin, still going door-to-door, enters the presidential suite, finds Johnson and others, and asks if anyone wants an escort out. "I don't have any fears for my safety or anybody else's safety," Johnson says. "What I'm concerned about is not allowing that to take root anywhere in the building. They're free to go out in the quad and voice their political opinion all day and all night, as long as they're not sleeping on campus property. But they're not going to camp out in the administrative building on campus. ... This is not a violent group. They're just misguided."

5 p.m. — Martin continues checking on rooms, locking them behind him so the protesters can't gain access. He contacts a chemistry class, a professor in an empty classroom and another class in progress, with everyone indicating they feel safe. They are left to continue what they were doing. "If people are comfortable, I'm not too worried about them hanging out," Martin tells one instructor. "Are they crowding people?" the instructor asks. "I haven't seen them crowding any people. They are less than impressed with the uniform, but that's to be expected and I haven't seen them interacting with anyone else in a negative way," Martin responds.

5:03 p.m. — Upon returning upstairs, Jackson and Cress find a pile of art supplies on the floor. "Looks like abandoned property to me," Jackson says, before both move the supplies behind a locked door.

5:05 p.m. — Cress informs Koczera, "It was a firm no" on the protesters moving to the quad. Koczera asks if she should set up the university's emergency operations center and Cress agrees. "The way they responded, it's going to be," he starts, before the vice president of risk management interrupts. "It's going to be a shit show, isn't it?" she asks. "The way they responded, they didn't show any indication they were interested in a cooperative resolution," Cress responds. Johnson then emerges from his office. "So, they've elected for the shit show?" he asks. "Like I told Cris, they've indicated they are not willing to comply cooperatively," Cress responds. "OK," Johnson says. "They can choose the easy way or the hard way."

5:05 p.m. — Martin contacts some students in a computer lab, and when they indicate they don't know what's happening in the hallways, he reports that there's a protest and police are offering to escort folks out of the building. "Is it, like, bad?" one of the students asks. "No. It's loud," Martin responds. The students opt to stay and Martin says, "Call us if you need us," before locking the door and leaving.


Add a comment