Watch Columbia PD Drag A Mizzou Student From His Home, Slam Him To Ground Over Noise Complaint

Alex Buscemi10 years ago

Startling footage of Columbia, Missouri Police Department officers dragging a student from his house on east campus surfaced today. According to sources close to the victim, the police responded to a noise complaint at the house at 2 or 3 a.m. on October 31. The sources say that earlier in the night, the victim hosted a small Halloween party with “a few close friends” who were still at the house when the footage was taken.

As you can clearly see in the video, the student is in his sweatpants. The house is relatively empty. The only audible noise is the sound of the television. If there even was a rager, it is certainly long over by now. The student speaks calmly with the officers in the doorway. There are no signs of aggression. Then, the officers tell the student that they “smell weed.” They step into the home, grab him by the arm and neck, drag him outside, and slam him to the ground.

The sources tell us that the student was arrested for resisting arrest and disorderly conduct among other charges, none of which included marijuana possession. The cops just pulled the classic “I smell weed” card to justify entering the home. This is of course the same police department that once served a warrant for marijuana by using a SWAT Team raid that ended with minor charges and one of the home owners’ dogs being shot to death by a Columbia police officer, all while small children were in the home. (You can watch that video here!)

The sources say that a University of Missouri Police Department officer (a campus cop) lives across the street from the home, and that he was responsible for calling in the noise complaint. They also claim that the MUPD officer who lives across the street (in a student neighborhood, mind you) routinely creates issues with the house, antagonizes them, and calls the police on them. Six(!) Columbia PD squad cars (the city cops) responded to the complaint.

Keep in mind, the MUPD officer who supposedly called in the complaint is on the same police force that just asked students to call them if they hear “hateful/hurtful speech.” Do we trust them to handle a response to something as trivial as “hateful/hurtful speech” when they currently antagonize students simply for acting like students? It’s also worth noting that while MUPD is tasked with taking the “hateful/hurtful speech” calls, it is likely that Columbia PD, the department that responded to this noise complaint — which, I’ll reiterate, was almost completely absent of noise — patrols campus regularly as well, and could very likely end up being the officers responding to the “hateful/hurtful speech” reports. Comforting.

Call me a fear monger if you want, but if I were a student at Mizzou, I would be genuinely scared right now. Just lock your doors and don’t say anything to anyone. If someone tells the police you said mean words, they might drag you from your home and fuck you up..