In support of ASU Professor Ersula Ore, who was walking home from campus on May 21, 2014 and stopped and questioned by an ASU police officer, the Arizona Ethnic Studies Network released a statement recently in support of the professor and to call attention to her case.
You can read the entire statement here. Snippet:
On the evening of May 21, 2014, Dr. Ersula Ore, a professor in the English department at ASU, was walking home from campus after teaching a summer course. Dr. Ore, who is African American, was stopped and questioned by a male ASU police officer patrolling the area in his vehicle. After a short exchange with the officer, a brief physical altercation ensued in which Dr. Ore, who was wearing a dress, was forced up against the officer’s car and then onto the ground, fully exposing portions of her lower body to the public. Eyewitness accounts of the incident, including video evidence, support Dr. Ore’s assertion that the officer did not clearly inform her regarding why she was being stopped or inform her of her rights, and engaged in excessive force during her detention. Despite these questionable circumstances, however, Dr. Ore has subsequently been charged with felony aggravated assault on the officer, among other charges.
We are troubled by the responses of the media, University, and ASU Police Department about this incident. Media versions have presented a sensationalized, one-sided story that differs substantially from Dr. Ore’s and eyewitness accounts. Officials at ASU, in response to questions about the incident and possible racial profiling, have sought to distance the University, stating that 1) because the incident occurred on a public street between parts of campus, it was technically “off campus,” so Dr. Ore was a private citizen; and 2) although they will comply with any investigation, there is no evidence of racial profiling. We find these responses insufficient. First, the officer involved was an ASU police officer and the University is responsible for the conduct of its employees, including its police force. Second, whether as a private citizen or as a member of the ASU community, Dr. Ore has the right to expect dignified and humane treatment by ASU’s police officers. ASU, as a public institution, has a responsibility to ensure this occurs. Third, ASU has not undertaken a thorough investigation into the matter, so how can officials claim that there is an absence of racial profiling? In a state and metropolitan region in which racial profiling has been proven to be widespread, the ASU administration’s lack of concern for the well-being of an ASU community member of color is unacceptable.
In further response to what many supporters of Ore feel—that ASU are working to discredit the cultural studies professor—a website is up regarding her case and to engage support and further information. The website is erslegaldefense.com/.
A petition is also gaining speed—on Moveon.org—with 1,224 signature and a goal of 2,000. The signatures will be delivered to ASU police and ASU President Michael Crow.
To be delivered to Tempe Arizona Police, Michael Crow, University President, and Michael Crow, University President. The petition is here.
This article appears in Jun 26 – Jul 2, 2014.
Tip: Don’t get into an “altercation” with an officer and you have nothing to worry about. Professors are not better than anyone else, in spite of what they think.
What is the big deal showing your ID when asked? Walking in the street with dark clothing on not a very smart thing to do for anyone. She started the trouble when she refused to co operate.
Fire the professor for making the University look bad. She was a big jerk. She needs to get off of her ivory tower.
Pretty simple. She was in the wrong. And as for “fully exposing portions of her lower body”… no one cares.
“I am professor of the university”. wow. Amazing sense of entitlement.
Walking while black is probable cause now near ASU?
http://www.azleg.state.az.us/ars/28/01595.… does not require her to show identification: she is not driving…I cannot find a statute requiring anyone to provide identification upon demand to law enforcement.
After having been stopped in various states…and cooperating…I strongly suggest citizens do not battle officers, but don’t automatically cooperate: after proving I was not the suspect in a robbery, my weapon was taken because the officer thought I had it concealed. I had pay for my own lawyer, and to go to court to have all charges dropped and my weapon returned to me. (TPD said they would drop all charges if I would give my weapon to them: I refused.)
I have been stopped too many times because I “look like” someone. I no longer have complete faith in any legal system, or law enforcement agency.
She set herself up. She resisted. She had it coming. Just like she hoped so she could to get on social media and press a case using the race and gender card.
As this Range posting proves.
This cop needs to get control of his aggression. This is absurdly forceful. No part of this encounter required him to touch her let alone punch her in the face.
I blame Horne and Huppenthal!!
Her Dad would have briefed her how to handle police, aggressive or not, had he been present in the home.
Perhaps she should cover that in ‘culture’ class when she pontificates next about respect during the incident.
Just think if it had happened in Tucson. It would be front page news on the Az. Daily Star.
Wow. Amazing the assumptions and racism here. Goes to show what I try to tell other blacks all the time. We are the most hated and despised race in this country. You don’t have any rights. When these barbarians attack you…don’t fight. Get immediately on the ground and allow them to touch your person and abuse you. The day we learn we have no rights and that our lives aren’t valued…the quicker we can segregate. Stop trying to blend into a society that detests us. Until then…get on the ground.
Katie Bolger pulled out the “yeah, but I’m (whatever)” card. And this lady should have ended up showing her ID not her butt. But wait – you can’t do that to a woman. She … what? What’s the reach this time? She’s Black? She’s a woman? Hispanic? Transgender? What’s the excuse? Truth: She’s a distracted or impaired pedestrian putting herself in an unsafe position who needs to get out her only real card – cop a plea of being in the protected minority of being a dumb(exposed lower body part). Thank the officers for their concern, show the ID and enjoy a good night’s sleep at home. If there are bad cops out there every Department has someone who wants to hear from you because they don’t want them around either. This isn’t the way to do it.
She was guilty of a code infraction, and just like a moving violation she must under law provide the officer ID, so the officer can issue her a ticket. She refused, and resisted, and even kicked the officer. The video is clear, and she will be convicted. All she had to do was cooperate, but instead she will be convicted of a felony, and lose her job.
If Jade is suggesting the incident occurred or was somehow more aggressively handled because the defendant is black then she’s as much a part of the racism problem as any bigot.
Show you ID means show your ID.
I can’t remember a time when the Police asked me for my ID and I refused to do so because I’m not black and the cop just let it go at that.
It just wouldn’t occur to me. If my Dad found out, he would have been disappointed that he didn’t get to floor me first before the cop.
Don’t feed the trolls, especially the racist trolls. Only a troll would excuse the extreme aggression shown by the officer. You would think that a ‘peace officer’ would work on diffusing a situation but this guy seemed spoiling for a fight. He was disrespectful, and went out of his way to escalate the situation until he was able to accomplish his goal of showing Ms. Ore who had all of the power (and the gun). Shame.
Where is the journalism on this? Was she legally required to show ID or not? If not, then this was a false arrest, and the lady was defending herself. If she was required to, then though the police officer was aggressive, he only escalated at each step of non-compliance and resistance by the professor. The details are important. Would the reporters at Tucson Weekly plead inform us with the relevant details? Thank you. shonangreg
I hate cops. Even for simple traffic offenses, they treat you with the most utter disrespect. They are always on a power trip. One time I was driving home late at night and the road was blocked, and I didn’t know how to get to the freeway so I drove through a parking lot to get to the other side, and a cop car went after me. I stopped and asked, “how do I get to the freeway” and he threatened to arrest me!
The policeman was doing his duty in protecting the public. Looking at the incident from his perspective the Professor was walking in the middle of the street. Was she on drugs, drunk, or simply confused. No one in his or her right mind would ever walk in the middle of any street anywhere in Arizona especially the Phoenix/Tempe area. When asked for an ID, the Professor invoked her aggression at the officer. All he asked for was an ID. There is no racism here, simply the officer was doing his job. Can you all imagine the headlines at the Tucson Weekly if it read” Woman Professor run down in Tempe while walking in the middle of a street, while police were on the street watching and doing nothing to prevent this from happening” All hell would break loose and rightfully so. The Tempe ASU policeman did his job.
The ignorance of some people continues to amaze. It is amazing in the sense that some peoples’ views can be so utterly distorted by their need to justify the inhumane and undeserved treatment evidence by this recording. It is incredibly offensive. Dr. Ore, Ms. Ore, Professor Ore, or whatever; if she were your sister, mother, aunt, grandmother, wife or friend you would be as appalled as most sensible people are about what happened to this young woman. Simply said, the officer was in the wrong — period. His actions were unreasonable and excessive. Could she have responded better? Certainly, yet nothing she said or did deserved the harsh treatment she received. The motto, “To serve and protect” was made a mockery of that night. The fact is the Street was closed-off to thru traffic because of an ongoing construction project. And Jaywalking was used as a convenient means to show-off and exert some distorted perception of a delegated authority. And this exercised against a young woman who was assumed to be an ideal candidate to serve as an example. Most likely to demonstrate to his passenger, who was “not a police officer” how much power he possessed. If you are able to put away your prejudices you can only conclude that this is clear that there is something seriously wrong with this officer’s reaction.
Good grief. No one can physically resist arrest and try to wrestle away from an officer trying to handcuff. The officer is allowed to use force in this case. She should have just gone along with the officer and explained things to the judge. And there should be no race card play here. Yeah, I know police are not angels but I saw nothing out of line in the video except the women actually violating the law. You can argue that she should have not been stopped in the first place or required to show ID but that’s an issue that goes before a judge: the person stopped by police on the street cannot be their own judge and physically fight the officer.
Respect for the police is essential for law and order – and I know many readers mostly hate that phrase, except when they need officers to save their butt.
Lots of commentary from Phoenicians, it appears. What a divide. Gender, skin color, whatever. The police are above the law, period.
Everyone keeps mentioning her walking in the street and that is a good enough reason to stop her. Watch the video, there is construction on the side of the road. Even as the incident is occurring you can see two people get out into the street and start walking. Also, i would genuinely ask someone to show me where someone needs to show there id. to my knowledge, its the oppostie, we have the right to not show our id.
Crossing the street should not be illegal. It’s just a method of revenue generation. If someone is stupid enough to cross the street during heavy traffic and are struck and killed then they win the Darwin award.
If you broke a law then they can ID you. If not, you may kindly refuse.
If there was construction and no clear way around it then that’s what you tell the judge. Construction can not completely block your right of way.
In defense of cops,since I work with many, imagine a job where everyday you see the absolute worst of human behavior, horrific images, dead infants, and basically everyone you have contact with is lying to you. A job most of us couldn’t do; so when you get bad apple, that’s why.
In defense of people of color who must interact, our nation was founded on the assumption of white supremacy. Yep, all those smart, benign, silk and powdered wig wearing founding fathers wanted life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but for white people, like them, of course.
And so the white man and his gun is the only response we have for most everything; and while it works well in putting down societies rabid dogs, its the reason we are the country of war and recession, war and recession. Time for that debate.
Arizona professor Ersula Ore speaks out after her jaywalking arrest is caught on camera. – http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/be…
I hope Dr. Ore sues the crap out of the police officers personally (if that’s legal) and the University for the actions of it’s employee’s….Dr. Ore held her composure and refused to be treated like a non-law abiding citizen which is exactly what those police men tried to do. The University is responsible for their police force and for their training, are they not? I think we need to examine across the board how Peace Officers are treating and handling the citizens of this nation, having a badge does not give you absolute power over people, yes police officers should be treated with respect but so do it’s citizens that they are supposed to serve and protect. Dr. Ore maintained dignity in a horrible situation where she was being mistreated and literally man handled…..I’m not sure what the motivation of the police officers were in that moment, but they had no cause to touch this person and they damn sure didn’t need to throw her down to the ground. Who was the other person in the vehicle that wasn’t a police officer? I have a lot of questions that are unanswered about the police. Maybe these police were showing off to ‘someone’ how they can bully a black person? I don’t know but I have a lot of questions? I expect better from our law enforcement, and we all should demand that. Why was she even stopped? When I heard her say that she was crossing a pedestrian only road on CNN, I did a simple Google search on ‘College Avenue ASU’ and the first thing that came up was a PDF map http://www.asu.edu/parking/PDFs/Tempe/CollegeAve_Streetscape.pdf posted by ASU showing this exact area – If she were walking north on College avenue, the section between 7th and 6th are marked ‘pedestrian only’, then as you cross 6th heading towards 5th (which is where she was sopped on the police cam, that section is very clearly marked on the ASU map as mixed use for both ‘pedestrian and vehicular’ – the road itself. According to the campus map this construction started on 17 Feb 2014 and the sidewalks are scheduled to be closed till mid July. I would assume that as a matter of duty responsibility and job knowledge that the ASUPD would have been aware of this information. The Professor was clearly aware of the construction and sidewalk closure information, and even in the video clip you see ‘white’ pedestrians crossing the road – therefore it’s logical for her to question why a police office would be stopping ‘her’ and asking such a stupid question if she knew what this was? “A Street”? Why did they choose to squander campus resources by stopping this person and escalating it to the point of violating a citizens civil rights? And my next question is how is that the rest of you don’t see this?
I understand the initial dialogue from the officer was, “Do you understand the difference between a sidewalk and a street?” If true the officer is in the wrong- That is insulting,demeaning and condescending. This in NOT the 1960’s and if this officer interacts in this manner with the public he needs WAY more training or possible firing. IF that was the first thing out of his mouth, he is in the wrong period. It was chickenshit of the University to state well it didn’t really happen on our property so…. Stand by your employees Mr Crow.