Police Beat Woman on Telegraph as People Prepare for March Against Repression

On Wednesday, September 3rd around 5:45 PM, while walking on Telegraph and Dwight I noticed a Berkeley police officer on top of someone about half a block up. Starting to yell I pulled out my phone and started to record the interaction. I noticed that other people were also filming. About 30 seconds after pulling my phone out and starting to film, I watched the officer (badge number #149) hit the woman he was detaining right in the head with his fist. The person next to me was also recording and he told me that the whole incident started when a man (that had called the police) propositioned the woman being arrested for sex. The woman rejected his advances and an altercation ensued. “He tried to rape me!,” the woman cried out after she had been handcuffed and placed onto a chair. More Berkeley Police arrived quickly and the arresting officer was visually unpleased that people were recording and made several statements alluding to his displeasure. It is of no surprise that on September 13th people are planning to rally and march in Berkeley against police and business repression of the homeless, poor, and street community and threats to take People’s Park from the people. Recently, UC Berkeley has issued statements that they will attempt to remove people from People's Park and 'retake' the area.

Several things about the situation were very telling. First, police immediately took the position of supporting the person who called the police and against the woman who was they arrested violently. It was more important for them to contain and stop any sort of disturbance to public order than it was to stop a man from sexually harassing a woman. We can see this same gendered violence in the recent police murder of Kayla Moore, a transgendered woman who was killed by Berkeley Police over a year ago via suffocation.

Second, when I asked the police officer for their badge number and name (I was even polite, called the officer “sir”) they wrote down their name (which was wrong) and badge and replied to the man who called the police, “He probably has a problem with my use of force, they don’t care about the victim.” What victim was he referring to? The woman that was in tears screaming that the man that was walking free around with the police had tried to assault and rape her after the police had hit her directly in the face? It’s also telling that the only thing that I had done was record with my phone and ask for the officers badge number. This is all basic information and most officers now have cameras mounted directly on their uniforms – but of course the problem was that other people were recording with their phones. This was information that we could in turn show to the public and expose police brutality.

“It’s good you’re doing copwatch,” said one homeless man in his 40’s. I asked him if they had seen an increase in police activity against homeless and street people in recent times. “It’s because all the UC Berkeley kids are back. You get all these rich kids coming into town and they sweep through. We see it every year. It’s about money,” he told me. This targeted police harassment of poor and homeless people is nothing new. From the raids at the Albany Bulb, to sweeps that push out homeless camps, to the recent targeting of St. Andrews Plaza after the passing of the West Oakland Specific Plan (WOSP), in many ways, homeless people end up facing the brunt of attacks as the rich and powerful try to sweep away the 'undesirables.'

One thing that struck me though, was that when I saw what was happening I immediately went for my phone and started to record. I looked around and saw people doing the same. While it's great that a couple of people got it on camera, if I was in the same boat I wouldn't want people just to record, I'd want them to try and help me get away from the police. When we come across these situations it's great to do Copwatch, but we shouldn't be afraid to try and change these situations ourselves and move from being just passive observers to people who are ready to intervene.