There were two showdowns at the Staples Center the night the
Lakers took the NBA title in Game 6. Watching Kobe Bryant take
those final free throws, the crowd inside the Staples Center knew
it was all over for the Pacers. The Lakers barely beat Indiana
116-111. The tense and sweaty battle on the court made the Lakers
and all of Los Angeles victorious.
But the other contest that night was a conclusive loss: Rioters
1, LAPD 0. When ecstatic Lakers fans got out of control after the
game, police officers made the situation worse by not stopping the
mayhem before it caused serious damage.
After watching the finale on the Jumbo-Tron outside the center
that broadcast the game to fans in the parking lot, revelers burned
T-shirts and posters and lit bonfires in nearby streets. The 60
police officers on the scene wriggled into riot gear but the
celebrating escalated.
Two police cars were torched, businesses were vandalized and
looted, a bus was set ablaze and a fire hydrant was opened. An SUV,
a UPS truck and two news vans were vandalized and reporters were
assaulted. And in the spreading commotion, a dozen people were
injured.
What is worse than all this insanity is the fact that the LAPD
was right there watching it. They watched a crowd of 6,000 bombard
the streets and stop traffic. They watched fans tear branches from
trees and use them to set police cruisers on fire. They watched
people tear down street signs, and it seemed they did next to
nothing to stop or deter them. Eventually police did use rubber
bullets and tear gas to slow the crowd, but made only 11 arrests.
My thoughts echo a question thrown out by a news anchor during a
live broadcast of the riot: “Where were the
police?”
Clearly not doing the job we pay them to do. It is one thing for
fans to celebrate a hometown win and quite another to damage
property, assault bystanders and wreak havoc near a crowded sports
arena and private homes. The revelers were celebrating with
destruction and the police were allowing them to do it.
Police Chief Bernard Parks and Mayor Richard Riordan praised the
officers involved for controlling the crowd in a small area around
Staples Center and maintaining a strong approach toward the violent
offenders. But the crowd was not contained. Violence erupted in
other places, including Westwood, where police reportedly used tear
gas to fight a crowd outside Maloney’s and one man was
arrested for battery of a police officer.
As for the tactics employed, some who watched the rioting on TV
argue that the command staff directing the officers on the street
was incompetent and officers should have been ordered to forcefully
stop the crowd before it got out of hand.
The police at the center were outnumbered, but did not call for
backup. Why didn’t the LAPD call in more officers to stop the
violence before their own cruisers were fried on the street and
fans were injured?
Officers may have been fearful of being cited for any
retaliation against individuals in the crowd. Police might have
also feared provoking the crowd further by asserting control. But
when this type of violence and property damage occurs, measures
need to be taken to stop it, even if they are violent ones.
Protecting life is more important that trying to maintain a
virtuous image.
Fan violence isn’t a new phenomenon. In 1990, seven people
died and a hundred were injured in Detroit when the Pistons
squashed the Portland Trailblazers in the NBA Championships. When
the Bulls beat the Blazers in Chicago two years later, two officers
were shot, 61 police cars were damaged and 1,000 rioters were
arrested. And in 1996, revelers celebrating the Bruins’
victory at the NCAA Championships went on a destructive rampage in
Westwood.
These riots make the Lakers disturbance look like a disagreement
at a tea party. Maybe rioting is a sports tradition. Maybe the
Jumbo-Tron got everyone riled up, already drunk on their 3.2
percent-alcoholic sports arena beer. Nevertheless, this kind of
violence should never be allowed to escalate when police have the
means to control it. In addition to the harm it caused, the Lakers
riot just contributes to the bad image out-of-towners already have
of this city and the people who live here.
If this is what happens after a basketball game, what may happen
during the Democratic National Convention in August terrifies me.
At a Lakers game, fans riot because they are pumped up and
intoxicated by the game. But the thousands of protesters expected
at the DNC have real reasons to disturb the peace that go beyond an
impulsive emotional surge. The same coalition that invaded the
World Trade Organization talks in Seattle and the International
Monetary Fund meetings in Washington, D.C. may plan a protest
strategy for Los Angeles. Unions will be marching and protesters
from every organization that feels stepped on will be at the
Staples Center protesting against wage inequality, multinational
corporations, environmental catastrophe and corporate greed. They
will wave signs, block entrances and make a real mess of things.
Unless the LAPD gets its act together people and property are going
to get hurt.
Parks recently told the Los Angeles Business Journal that he
draws the line when protests interfere with procession of events or
business. “We recognize the First Amendment rights of people
to express their opinion, but those rights do not preclude
others’ rights. And there is no license to disrupt business
in this city,” he said. If this is truly the policy that
Parks aims to follow, the LAPD needs to start practicing what it
preaches before the DNC becomes a rerun of the Lakers riot.
The convention this summer may go smoothly. Protesters could
peacefully make their points and police could have an easy time
handling the crowd. But looking at the history of U.S. political
conventions, this seems rather unlikely. When protesters unite
behind a cause, a mob mentality ensues. People get carried away, as
they did after the Lakers victory, and that is a risk to life and
property.
A riotous atmosphere may arise at the DNC. Unless the LAPD and
the other officials in charge are prepared to control the protests
before real damage is done, then we can’t expect much better
than the Game 6 aftermath: bonfires, vandalism, injury and an
increasingly tarnished image of Los Angeles.