Police Pepper Spray Haka Dancers at Football Game

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ROOSEVELT, Utah (AP) — Police in a small Utah town are being accused of overreacting after using pepper spray to break up a group of Polynesian men and boys performing a traditional dance called the Haka after a high school football game.

Those darned Polynesians! Don't they know dancing's illegal in Utah?

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The police action came after a pair of officers unsuccessfully attempted to disperse the dozen or so performers who were blocking an exit after the Union-Uintah game Thursday night, the Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune reported.

Oh, that makes it okay. They were blocking an exit, so it was okay to pepper spray them. After all, there's never more than one exit from a football game...wait. There is? Oh. Well, emergency personnel couldn't get through...wait. There was no emergency? So...multiple exits were available, no one was in danger...but they really pissed everybody off, right?

Right?

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Spectators, coaches and players told police that everything was fine and they should let the men perform, Jessica Rasmussen said, but officers asked them to make room and started using pepper spray.

Guess not.

I'll admit that it's rude to block an exit, but to use pepper spray to break up a dance performance? Give me a break.

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Police said the incident is under investigation, and anyone wanting to lodge a complaint should contact the department.

Your call is very important to us. Please remain on the line and an employee will assist you shortly. *Click*

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Spectator Shawn Mitchell said while he didn't view the dancers as a threat, the impromptu performance might have played a role in how police responded.

"If they're going to do something like (the Haka), maybe some planning could be done ahead of time," he said.

Yes, let's tell the cops whenever we plan on doing something so they won't see somebody engaging in non-threatening behavior and panic. 'Cause, you know, if you let people get away with dancing, other people might think it's cool and join them! And then...and then you'll have a whole bunch of people dancing! And then people who don't like dancing might get upset! And we can't have that!

Seriously, what is this...Footloose?

They over-reacted to the HAKA of all things?

Raine wrote:

They over-reacted to the HAKA of all things?

They reacted as usual to a bunch of dark-skinned people looking aggressive and worse of all, in a somewhat co-ordinated manner.
I think I saw a couple of Italian salutes thrown in with the rest of the dance, or is it just a coincidence?

People ignore police request to move from blocking exit. People get pepper sprayed. Dance irrelevant.

Knorg wrote:

People ignore police request to move from blocking exit. People get pepper sprayed. Dance irrelevant.

Pretty much.

Police should pepper spray those lousy Greeks!

The Unoriginal wrote:

Raine wrote:

They over-reacted to the HAKA of all things?

They reacted as usual to a bunch of dark-skinned people looking aggressive and worse of all, in a somewhat co-ordinated manner.
I think I saw a couple of Italian salutes thrown in with the rest of the dance, or is it just a coincidence?

I still facepalm at the whole thing, but I guess I'm looking at it from my perspective as an Aussie. The All Blacks perform it at every football game so it's very well-known here and respected.

Well... it's supposed to be a war dance so I can see people freaking out at it.

No dancing in Utah! No celebrations for a football team winning! Hell, if you so much as fuckin' SMILE we're gonna assume you're plotting something and spray you!

Way to keep people in line, Utah.

Raine wrote:

I still facepalm at the whole thing, but I guess I'm looking at it from my perspective as an Aussie. The All Blacks perform it at every football game so it's very well-known here and respected.

You can keep on facepalming; Hakas are not entirely unknown in Utah either.

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# Hunter High School, American Fork High School, and Bingham High School, all located in Utah, each perform the haka at their football games.
# The Brigham Young University football team performs the haka before every game, due to the high number of Polynesian players that have played for the Cougars.

Raine wrote:

The Unoriginal wrote:

Raine wrote:

They over-reacted to the HAKA of all things?

They reacted as usual to a bunch of dark-skinned people looking aggressive and worse of all, in a somewhat co-ordinated manner.
I think I saw a couple of Italian salutes thrown in with the rest of the dance, or is it just a coincidence?

I still facepalm at the whole thing, but I guess I'm looking at it from my perspective as an Aussie. The All Blacks perform it at every football game so it's very well-known here and respected.

Well... it's supposed to be a war dance so I can see people freaking out at it.

Uh, isn't it supposed to be done before the game anyway?

And in America, showboating like that is an excellent way to earn low/late/cheap hits, and no one will fell sorry for you. This is what the New York Islanders do to teams that show off. And this is why America > New Zealand.

Raine wrote:

They over-reacted to the HAKA of all things?

Ooh, scary. Who will the police arrest next--cheerleaders?

Lady Anne wrote:

Raine wrote:

They over-reacted to the HAKA of all things?

Ooh, scary. Who will the police arrest next--cheerleaders?

Well you know they're just asking for it, dressed up in those skimpy little outfits jumping around doing cheers.

You guys seem to be under the impression that they pepper sprayed them because they were doing a dance. It was not because they were doing a dance. It was because they were blocking an exit, and not listening to the police. This is why you listen to the police instead of trying to be cool, and getting sprayed in the face.

Howithurts wrote:

You guys seem to be under the impression that they pepper sprayed them because they were doing a dance. It was not because they were doing a dance. It was because they were blocking an exit, and not listening to the police. This is why you listen to the police instead of trying to be cool, and getting sprayed in the face.

Yes, we must always obey the police, even when what we are doing causes no harm to anyone.

Except they were blocking an exit, and I don't know about you, but I'd be pretty annoyed if I had to wait for some people that were the way instead of just moving out of the way. There was no reason they couldn't have moved instead of blocking the exit.

[quote="Howithurts"]Except they were blocking an exit, and I don't know about you, but I'd be pretty annoyed if I had to wait for some people that were the way instead of just moving out of the way. There was no reason they couldn't have moved instead of blocking the exit.[/quote

And clearly an appropriate way of getting someone out of your way is pepper spraying them.

Lady Anne wrote:

Raine wrote:

They over-reacted to the HAKA of all things?

Ooh, scary. Who will the police arrest next--cheerleaders?

One can only hope. I sick of hearing lame ass, uninspiring "family friendly" chants because Baby Junior Sonovabitch might hear a naughty word if you made a real chant. Get your average Yankee or Red Sox fan to lead chants. It'll be only "FUCK THE -opposing team here-" for the duration of the contest. Or any hockey fan (BLOOD MAKES THE ICE SHINE, KILL KILL KILL).

Lady Anne wrote:

Howithurts wrote:

You guys seem to be under the impression that they pepper sprayed them because they were doing a dance. It was not because they were doing a dance. It was because they were blocking an exit, and not listening to the police. This is why you listen to the police instead of trying to be cool, and getting sprayed in the face.

Yes, we must always obey the police, even when what we are doing causes no harm to anyone.

People couldn't leave, you fucking tard. If I stood in a doorway and refused to let you leave the building, I'd probably be arrested for unlawful imprisonment or being a goddamn nuisance. If they wanted to act like clowns, that's perfectly cool, but they should have gone off into the parking lot where they weren't being a fucking obstacle to everyone on the property to do it.

A bunch of chumps preventing a mob of people from leaving so they could act like morons could have turned ugly quickly. The police were right to break it up. And I imagine they tried to ask them the tell them to get out of the way before pepper spraying them. Cry moar, cunt.

Howithurts wrote:

Except they were blocking an exit, and I don't know about you, but I'd be pretty annoyed if I had to wait for some people that were the way instead of just moving out of the way. There was no reason they couldn't have moved instead of blocking the exit.

It's more than annoying, it's a safety hazard. One minute you're dancing away, the next you're crushed in a stampede.

Mr.Doobie wrote:

And clearly an appropriate way of getting someone out of your way is pepper spraying them.

Which happened only when they refused to stop blocking an exit.

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And clearly an appropriate way of getting someone out of your way is pepper spraying them.

What would you recommend? Passive aggressive remarks about their poor choice of shoes? Making "shoo" motions with flappy wrists? They were asked by the police to move. That was the appropropiate way, and since there is more than enough room in a football ground to dance without blocking an exit (Cheerleaders manage it), quite reasonable. This request was ignored. Since blocked exits at sports events traditionally lead to problems, the next step in a standard police arsenal is pepper spray. Drag the exit-blockers away one by one? beat them with batons? That's a good way to sprain a forearm.

Oh, players and fans said it was a good idea to let them continue? Well, as balanced an opinion as that is, they wouldn't be dealing with any lawsuits in the famously litigious states if the Police didn't do their sport event related duty and clear the exit, and then something went down. "Oh, Judge, I couldn't get to my shitwagon from the nearest exit, I missed making a deal over my prize hogs, lost money, and had to eat cold nachoes instead! Gimmee a million!"

What all of the "It was the DANCE! FOR GOD'S SAKE, THE DANCE! THE EXIT DOESN'T MATTER, THE POLICE HAVE NO AUTHORITAH TO CLEAR EXITS! FIGHT THE POWER! BLLLEAAAGGHHH" brigade seem to have missed is that the Haka's most famous exponants, the All Blacks are never arrested for performing one of the few dances known to make the Aussie front line sweat. (The other being Jerome Kaino's stunning Samoan rendition of the Macarena). This is because they don't do it while blocking exits.

Yeah, I have to agree with Knorg and Howithurts. Do we know if the dancers were given a warning first? Do we know if one or more of them lipped off with OMG IT'S A FUCKING DANCE, CHILL? Or if they just ignored the cops?

Btw, whoever sarcastically said 'OH WE MUST ALWAYS OBEY THE POLICE', you're an idiot. If the cops tell you to move along then you move along, or they'll do it for you.

Cyberwulf wrote:

Btw, whoever sarcastically said 'OH WE MUST ALWAYS OBEY THE POLICE', you're an idiot. If the cops tell you to move along then you move along, or they'll do it for you.

Yeah, and by the time they feel the need to "move you along", so to speak, they are not going to be in any sort of mood to be particularly gentle about it. Cop tells you to move along and get the fuck away from the exit, move along and get the fuck away from the exit.

Lapin wrote:

Cyberwulf wrote:

Btw, whoever sarcastically said 'OH WE MUST ALWAYS OBEY THE POLICE', you're an idiot. If the cops tell you to move along then you move along, or they'll do it for you.

Yeah, and by the time they feel the need to "move you along", so to speak, they are not going to be in any sort of mood to be particularly gentle about it. Cop tells you to move along and get the fuck away from the exit, move along and get the fuck away from the exit.

Move along, get the fuck away from the exit, then continue the dance somewhere more open and less likely to block egress. If they were sprayed because of the dance, that's a problem. But if they were told to disperse because they were blocking an exit and they then didn't oblige, that's on the dancers. It's a safety thing, really. Granted, we could use more details, but in looking at the various stories, it seems so far to be a matter of ensuring safe avenues of exit for the attendees.

We SHOULD obey the police. But what is this, a fucking militia?

I can imagine the 'warning' going a little like this:

"Move."

"But we're just dancing!"

"ALL RIGHT! PEPPER SPRAY TIME!!!"

Nah, I'm still going to have to say the use of pepper spray was excessive. Even if the officers had already asked them to move and they refused, I'm pretty sure there are plenty of other ways a bunch of police officers could've dispersed a bunch of teenagers.

Judging by the news article, it's not like the kids were getting violent with the officers or posing any kind of imminent threat.

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

I'd probably be arrested for (...) being a goddamn nuisance.

You should.

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