Live Ammo next time
Chief defends protest arrests
By The Tribune-Review
Monday, August 22, 2005
Police used force when "several participants ... chose to turn the allegedly nonviolent event into something that warranted police intervention in order to ensure public safety," McNeilly said in a prepared statement.
Four people were arrested in the fracas that began when a protestor assaulted a TV cameraman, and police moved in to break up the crowd. Charges include failure to disperse and rioting.
Protestors De'Anna Caligiuri, 23, of Bloomfield and Justin Krane, 31, of Mt. Washington, were shot with electrically-charged Taser stun darts during the melee. Caligiuri kicked at police who tried to arrest her, and Krane shoved a construction fence on officers, according to police.
Protestor Carole Wiedmann, 68, of Ohio Township, was treated for a police dog bite on her thigh Saturday.
The Pittsburgh Organizing Group, which led the protest at an Army recruiting station on Forbes Avenue, also claimed yesterday that police pepper sprayed a 4-year-old girl and knocked over a man in a wheelchair.
THAT'LL GIVE'M SOMETHING TO BITCH ABOUT!