Arizona Riots Lead To Police Brutality (Oh, And Selfies) [Video]

This was the weekend schedule of your typical University of Arizona student: Wake up at noon, watch Wildcats game, watch Wildcats lose, riot in the streets, get brutally shoved by police officer for no apparent reason, take selfies with friends amid the chaos.

Strange, but true. As riot-clad police showed to calm the weekend’s Arizona riots, college students seemed to split there time between what appeared to be needless police brutality and snapping selfies bereft of self-awareness of the situation.

One video, which was apparently taken away from the main riots in Tuscon, shows a cop brutally checking a girl into a bench for no apparent reason. As always, context is key (and missing here), but the violent shove does seem to be out of nowhere, and the officer walks away without restraining or arresting the young woman afterwards.

People in the video react as though the shove was totally not cool man, but we’ll let you decide for yourself after watching the video:

The main protests, by comparison, were a lot less “Kiev.” Many students were apparently comfortable enough during the demonstration to snap a couple of selfies while they were surrounded by police in riot gear.

Photographer Andrew Brown, who took a number of photos of students taking selfies at the Arizona riots, opined that the police presence was unnecessary.

“It wasn’t very serious. It was just a bunch of drunk college kids,” Brown remarked. “I feel like when police officers show up in riot gear that situation will happen.”

He also noted that the fact that students were taking selfies proves that the riot wasn’t as dramatic as police may have assumed.

“Those pictures sum up the night,” he said. “(The rioting) wasn’t anything nefarious. It was just college kids doing what they do.”

The scene did become violent, with officers spraying several Wildcats fans with pepper spray. In return, drunk students threw beer bottles and other trash at them. The University of Arizona issued a statement calling the Arizona riots ”disappointing.”

[Image: UGArdener]

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