Chemtrails 911 Aerosol spray had to be used to control the hostile crowd

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Neighbors, police differ on Cornhill melee

Pylman disheartened while some residents feel disrespected

July 6, 2007
By Renée Gamela

UTICA — The day after a Cornhill arrest quickly spiraled into a tense confrontation, police and neighbors offered differing perspectives on what occurred Wednesday afternoon on the corner of James Street and Seymour Avenue.

Police: Three officers were surrounded and threatened by a group of 15 to 20 people. Aerosol spray had to be used to control the hostile crowd, police said.

Neighbors: Police displayed a lack of respect for residents, driving a police car close to a 5-year-old boy and exerting great force in taking one man into custody.

Two Utica police officers and one civilian suffered minor injuries during the altercation in which four people were charged with offenses ranging from weapons possession to drug possession and from riot to menacing, police said.

Utica police Chief C. Allen Pylman said Thursday his officers were serving the community by doing proactive police work — taking guns and drugs off the streets.

"It's very disheartening and frustrating for our police officers when they're being attacked by the very people they're trying to protect," Pylman said. {because the police are not good guys anymore}

A number of neighbors, however, are expressing resentment at police actions Wednesday.

Shortly after the incident, hostility among residents toward police was in great evidence, although no neighbors would discuss the situation on the record that day.

On Thursday, however, some neighbors spoke about what they saw. Melissa Dorsey was at a family barbecue when she noticed a lot of commotion and police vehicles toward the end of Seymour Avenue.

When more police came, that's when a police car drove near her 5-year-old son, she said.

"When the cops was acting all crazy and drove up on the curb, he almost hit my son," Dorsey said. "He wouldn't have been here if I didn't pull him out of the way."

Neighbor Gaynor Davis' 12-year-old son was walking to the store on James Street when he was struck with aerosol spray on his shoulder and face, Davis said.

"He was traumatized a little bit, but he got over it," Davis said.

Utica Public Safety Commissioner Philip Taurisano said he wasn't aware of any such incidents and urged anyone with legitimate complaints to report them.

Dorsey also described a scene in which one of the men arrested was handcuffed on the ground while a police officer had his knee pushed on the man's back. A police officer was hitting him when he was on the ground, said Dorsey, echoing an account given by other neighbors Wednesday.

Dorsey said she has had some positive experiences with police officers and has been raising her children to respect authority.

But now, "it makes me not want to trust the police," Dorsey said.

Taurisano said he was unaware of the alleged incident Dorsey described.

On Wednesday, he cited officers' professionalism and said of the confrontation: "They have to use whatever reasonable force is necessary to keep people safe."

YWCA Racial Justice Director Patrick Johnson met Thursday with some of the neighbors concerned about Wednesday's incident.

Johnson said residents expressed dismay at police behavior Wednesday. Their concerns and frustrations will not be minimized, he said.

"I think that most people in the black community would really like to have a better relationship with the people that are charged with keeping their streets safe," Johnson said.

Johnson is part of a coalition of representatives from the African-American community who have been meeting monthly with Pylman and other law-enforcement officials to improve relations strained by incidents such as the July 2005 shooting by a police officer of local resident Walter Washington.

Both Pylman and Johnson said they didn't think Wednesday's altercation would damage the progress the groups have already made. But, the chief said Utica police will not be "punching bags."

At next week's Hoops and Dreams program, which Johnson founded, a police lieutenant and African-American resident are scheduled to offer their perspectives on police-community relations to Cornhill youths.