Chipalo Street '06 GS, who has said he was brutally assaulted in an altercation involving Providence Police Department and Brown Department of Public Safety officers, was arraigned Tuesday on misdemeanor charges of assault of an officer and resisting arrest, he wrote in an e-mail to The Herald early Wednesday morning.
Street's claim of police brutality - combined with a second allegation of police misconduct by another black University student involved in a separate incident last weekend - captured the campus' attention Tuesday, sparking a student march across campus, dominating discussion at a meeting of the Brown University Community Council and triggering a campus-wide e-mail addressing the allegations from President Ruth Simmons and Interim Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services Russell Carey '91 MA'06.
On Monday, Brown Chief of Police Mark Porter initiated an investigation into the incident involving Street and launched a review of the PPD's presence on campus.
In his e-mail early Wednesday, Street declined to comment beyond confirming that he had been arraigned. He declined to comment further Wednesday evening.
The PPD report of Street's arrest confirms the general details about the incident included in the campus-wide e-mail sent Tuesday by Simmons and Carey. According to that e-mail, DPS officers responded at approximately 3:20 a.m. Sunday to "a report of two unknown males attempting to gain entry into a residence hall." After the officers asked the two men for identification, one of the males, Street, "walked away from the scene" and "was subsequently intercepted by Brown and Providence Police officers at the intersection of Waterman and Thayer Streets."
"The facts and circumstances of what happened next are now the subject of an investigation which was initiated immediately" by Porter, wrote Simmons and Carey in the e-mail. "There are differing accounts of what took place next. We do know that this Brown University student was arrested and he has made serious allegations of police misconduct in the course of this arrest."
Street, a computer science master's student, said at a gathering Monday in Harambee House that he and a friend, Simon Panosh '08, were asked for their Brown IDs by several police officers they encountered at Wayland Arch. After he refused to present his ID and continued walking, he was tackled from behind at the intersection of Thayer and Waterman streets, Street told the approximately 100 students at the gathering. He said officers then assaulted him and used pepper spray before taking him into PPD custody.
According to the PPD report, the incident started when a female student called DPS after Street and Panosh approached her and requested that she let them into the residence hall. The student identified the two men to a DPS officer when he arrived, and the officer approached Street and Panosh to identify them and determine if they belonged on University property.
Panosh gave his name but a false date of birth, while Street fled on foot, ignoring the officer's commands to stop, the report said. Street then ignored orders of another DPS officer to stop.
Street was found walking on the sidewalk at Angell and Thayer streets, followed by a DPS officer. When a PPD officer arrived, he greeted Street and asked to speak with him. Street then "became very vocal by saying 'you can't do this' and 'I don't have to talk to you' and attempted to walk around" the PPD officer, the report states.
As the PPD officer stood in front of Street, Street pushed the officer's hands aside and attempted to walk around him. According to the report, the PPD officer "grabbed onto Street's arm and shirt in an attempt to keep him from leaving, at which time Street began to create a disturbance by shouting out loud 'why you grabbing on me?'"
As the PPD officer repeated instructions for Street to calm down, Street struck the officer's arms with his hands and ignored instructions to place his hands on the police vehicle. The PPD officer ordered Street to place his hands behind his back because he was under arrest, and Street refused and attempted to "spin away" from the officer, the report said.
The PPD officer held onto Street's shirt long enough for a DPS officer and another PPD officer to force Street to the ground. "Police were wrestling with Street for approximately 20 seconds before bringing him to the ground," the report states. "Once on the ground, Street ... refused to comply with numerous police commands to put his hands behind his back. Police repeated instructions to stop resisting and eventually were able to handcuff Street."
The report said Street was then taken to Roger Williams Hospital for treatment for an "abrasion above his eye that he sustained while being taken to the ground."
Police could smell "the presence of an intoxicating beverage" while Street was in the backseat of the police car, the report states.
The two PPD officers involved in the incident were "working at the time on a paid University detail," according to the campus-wide e-mail from Simmons and Carey. Porter will assess the arrangement between the PPD and the University and make a recommendation to University officials as to whether it should continue, Simmons and Carey wrote.
An administrator in the office of the PPD chief of police said the department would not comment on allegations of misconduct or internal investigations.
Meanwhile, very few details are available about the second incident over the weekend involving allegations of police misconduct by a Brown student. That incident occurred off-campus and did not involve DPS. According to the campus-wide e-mail from Simmons and Carey, which cited a PPD report, PPD officers "directed a Brown University student who was driving his vehicle along the route to move aside so that the Providence Police vehicles could pass." After the student allegedly did not move aside, "the situation escalated to the point where officers used force in effecting his arrest," according to the e-mail.
The e-mail continued: "The student has alleged police misconduct in this incident. The University is providing the student with full support including information regarding how to file a complaint with the Providence Police Department."
