jeez...I'm no Rave fan, but this is fucking ridiculous.
Witnesses say undue force used at rave
Rashae Ophus Johnson DAILY HERALD
Firsthand accounts conflict so starkly that one might wonder whether law enforcement busted two separate events last weekend in Spanish Fork Canyon. Yet the Diamond Fork-area location is among few details confirmed by both the roughly 300 partygoers and about 90 law enforcement personnel who dispelled them at 11:30 p.
m. Saturday.
Uprock Records of Salt Lake City promoted the event as an "album-release party" on fliers and Internet sites like
www.utrave.org. In addition to live performances by DJ Craze of Miami and Spor from the United Kingdom, the party featured typical highlights like a laser light show, barbecue, oxygen bar and glow sticks.
Undercover deputies and SWAT members depict a rave with rampant illegal activity. Beyond the anticipated drugs -- ecstasy, cocaine, marijuana, mushrooms -- they discovered counterfeit money, guns and an overdosed 17-year-old girl.
But where the stories drastically diverge is the raid.
The Utah County Sheriff's Office reported 18 citations for disorderly conduct, failure to disperse or related charges; 21 alcohol- or drug-related offenses; two for assaulting a peace officer; and two related to firearms. Sheriff Jim Tracy said most of the crowd left peacefully, and deputies exercised a "takedown method" only to arrest those who actively resisted.
Witnesses, however, allege "soldiers" and SWAT members held "AK-47s" to partygoers' heads, punched girls in the face and unleashed an arsenal of everything from attack dogs to tear gas.
"At about 11:30 a helicopter began circling the party," said one partygoer in an e-mail to the Daily Herald. "Out of nowhere huge semis filled with National Guard, SWAT and the police rolled up. Soldiers came out of the bushes and rushed down to the party carrying M-16s, AK-47s, nightsticks and Tasers. They proceeded to attack random people and push their might around on people who had done nothing."
Partygoers and rave fans worldwide are circulating video footage through the Internet to support such claims -- while Tracy used the same clips to defend law enforcement.
"No excessive force was used," he said emphatically.
The SWAT personnel -- including teams from Utah County, Provo, the state Department of Corrections and the Department of Public Safety -- are always prepared with a wide arsenal of riot-fighting gear, including tear gas and canines, but Tracy said they did not use any such weapons Saturday night. The tactical gear is camouflaged similar to military fatigues, but neither the National Guard nor any other military was present.
Josh Witbeck, one of the security staff hired by organizers for the event, has interacted with police at several similar events during three years as a bouncer in Salt Lake-area nightclubs, but police hostility, like he said he observed Saturday night, is rare.
"I was trying to keep the crowds as calm as possible. I knew better than to interfere with the cops, but we all got treated pretty poorly," he said. "I'm not going to place all the blame on the police, but they treated every person here like a criminal."
Tracy said a primary issue was promoters did not obtain the mass gathering permit required by Utah County for events with more than 250 people. To do so would have required at least 30 days notice and approval from the sheriff's office. County officials acknowledged that organizers did receive a health permit regulating such aspects as portable toilets and on-site emergency medical personnel.
Brandon Fullmer, manager of the Uprock Records company that promoted the event, argues that he also obtained the mass gathering permit. He said authorities were denying him a copy of it for proof, but a county official agreed to write a letter verifying it.
"We were not there to start any problems," Fullmer said. "What the cops did was wrong."
Regardless, Utah County authorities defended the raid.
"That's all smoke and mirrors," said County Commissioner Steve White. "They were selling drugs. They were committing illegal acts, and as soon as that happened it doesn't matter what kind of permit they had."
So while Fullmer is consulting his attorney about a possible lawsuit, local law enforcement vow to crack down on the increasingly popular raves.
"There's a legal way to do this, and there's the illegal," Tracy said. "If young folks want to get together and listen to music and dance, we don't care if they go about it the legal way."
Tracy said they are monitoring the Internet, searching for fliers and dispatching helicopters on reconnaissance missions over Utah Valley to locate such gatherings before they expand to thousands of people -- beyond what law enforcement can control.
"If they're going to run one on a Wednesday night, we'll find it," he said. "We will ensure we find them and have them curtailed before they ever get to that point."
