Campus student group MEChA de UCLA accused university police
Tuesday of unfairly targeting the group over the past few
months.
The two-page complaint was sent to Berky Nelson, director of the
Center for Student Programming, and outlined four specific examples
of incidents where the organization felt UCPD acted inappropriately
and unfairly.
Nelson said he received the complaint Tuesday and that it is now
in the hands of police.
“The police are going to respond to me about the
complaint,” Nelson said, noting the police were given the
document on Wednesday morning.
Karl Ross, acting chief of police, said he is unfamiliar with
some of the incidents reported in the letter.
“I can’t comment about the allegations that are
contained in the letter,” Ross said. “We’re going
to have to look into these incidents ourselves.”
The incidents described are situations where police allegedly
embarrassed or harassed students at events associated with the
organization.
“We feel that our events receive an unwarranted amount of
attention from the UCPD, to the point of becoming
harassment,” the complaint read.
Ross said he is going to look into the incidents that MEChA
described, and that he will personally be working with Berky Nelson
to prepare a response. He added that it would take time to look
into the complaints.
MEChA alleges that during the Raza Youth Conference on Feb. 28,
high school students were getting food in the Court of Sciences
when an officer drove his motorcycle through the area. According to
the letter, the officer said he had been looking around campus for
a car thief.
MEChA wrote that the officer’s explanation was
unacceptable and that the organization was “bothered by the
negligence the officer had toward the high school
students.”
On the group’s April 9 Raza Day event ““ during which
admitted minority students visit UCLA ““ the letter alleges a
police officer drove his motorcycle at about 20 to 30 mph through
Wilson Plaza where MEChA had organized tables to serve lunch.
“This was an extremely irresponsible action taken by this
UCPD officer, considering that it put graduating high school
students as well as university students at risk since we were in
the same area,” the letter read.
During a MEChA student state-wide conference on April 30,
members of the group’s security team said they saw police
beating a black man near the Wooden Center.
According to the letter, security team members were conducting a
perimeter check and saw two police officers rushing toward the
center.
MEChA wrote that its representatives wanted to make sure there
were no problems with members of their conference.
Members of MEChA saw police chasing a black man, and allegedly
eventually subduing him using excessive force, MEChA wrote.
“As a result of this incident, more than seven UCPD cars
arrived at the Lot 6 turnaround, making the environment very
uncomfortable for our conference attendees,” the letter
read.
MEChA wrote that the most recent incident, on May 2, occurred
when a black man who attended a MEChA statewide conference event
was allegedly violently grabbed by a UCPD officer while he was
exiting, and eventually handcuffed.
MEChA wrote that the officer explained that a car had been
stolen, and the man had been handcuffed so he would not run away
while the officer checked his record.
Shortly after leaving to run the check, the officer returned and
unhandcuffed the man, apologizing and explaining that the
attendee’s record was clean, and the situation of the stolen
car had been resolved, MEChA wrote.
MEChA’s complaint comes after enduring months of political
attacks from another campus organization.
Recently, the Bruin Republicans have led an initiative against
MEChA de UCLA, claiming a document connected to the national MEChA
organization is un-American, unpatriotic and has links to
terrorism.
MEChA maintains that its members no longer abide by many parts
of the document, which was created in the late 1960s, including
most of its radical provisions.
In the letter, MEChA linked the police activity to the political
attacks.
“Considering the recent attacks we have endured as an
organization, from certain entities on campus, the unnecessary
presence of UCPD in and around our events leads us to believe that
the administration supports the accusations made against
MEChA,” the letter read.