Ben Schenkel was tired and sweaty and ready to leave a Friday night party at a downtown club. As he headed for the exit, he saw a “hulking” man barreling towards him carrying an assault rifle. That man, a New Haven cop, cursed at Schenkel and punched him in the face.
That’s the story Schenkel told to a gaggle of reporters Tuesday afternoon inside Yale’s Old Campus. Schenkel, a 20-year-old junior, and nine other Yale students gathered for a press conference about the police raid of a private Yale party at the Elevate lounge on College Street around 1 a.m. Saturday.
The action resulted in five arrests and an outpouring of complaints from students who claim the cops mistreated them. Video has surfaced from within the club, showing police shouting “Who’s next?” after they allegedly Tased and detained one student. Students have complained that police threatened and verbally abused clubgoers and even punched and kicked people.
The university has launched an inquiry into the events of the evening. Police Chief Frank Limon has promised a thorough investigation of all allegations of mistreatment.
The police say they were reacting to dangerous overcrowding at the club, and then a student who assaulted them.
“Many students felt confused, hurt, and scared due to police actions. Polite clarification questions were answered with profanity and threats of arrest,” said Jaya Wen, one of the organizers of Friday’s party. “Certain police officers created a situation in which hundreds of people felt unsafe.”
She said Yale students hope to talk with the police and local government to make sure such situations don’t happen again.
Three students shared their experiences at the club. The last of these, Schenkel, was the only one who said he had been physically assaulted by an officer. Click the play arrow above to hear his story.
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Here’s what he said happened:
At about 12:50 a.m., Schenkel was leaving the party because he was tired and wanted to beat the crowd.
“Being a week shy of 21, I was completely sober at the time,” he said.
As he was about to go down the stairs to leave, an armed man dressed all in black charged up them. It wasn’t immediately apparent that the man was a cop. “I thought either that Elevate was being robbed or that we needed to evacuate for something urgent like a bomb threat,” Schenkel said. He said he was “terrified like never before.”
He asked the cop politely if students should exit, and got no answer. He asked again, and the cop “berated me with profanities and a threat to throw me in the slammer to make an example out of me.”
Schenkel said he backed up. The cop pushed him and shouted “Who the fuck do you think you are?” The cop then punched him in the chin, breaking the skin. Schenkel said he avoided serious harm by leaning back as the blow struck.
Schenkel said the blow was completely unprovoked, that he had addressed the cop deferentially as “sir” during the entire interaction.
Schenkel’s and his fellow students’ accounts of their experiences have all been submitted to the police department for investigation, said Mike Jones, Yale senior and alderman.
Marty Evans, a senior, said he witnessed the Tasing and assault of one of the students who was arrested. He said it was entirely unnecessary.
State Rep. Gary Holder Winfield, who looked on as the students spoke on Tuesday, said he was there because he represents them. He said he’s concerned about what he’s heard. “If it turns out the student’s recollections are accurate,” he said, the department will need to take steps to ensure it never happens again. That could mean training or personnel changes, he said.
“We take all allegations of police misconduct seriously,” said Chief Limon. He said he initiated an internal affairs investigation into the raid even before any affidavits were submitted. He promised a full investigation.
“I Did”
Elsewhere on campus, flyers appeared with a satirical riff on the “Get Tested” public health campaign about STDs.
“Get Tasered,” the flyers read. “It’s all of our responsibilities as socially active individuals to get tasered regularly, regardless of whether we have had a ‘risky’ encounter. … Call now to make an appointment for free and widely publicized tasering at Elevate or look out for our off-campus locations during Operation: Nightlife.”