Utah Rave Party is Crushed by S.W.A.T. Teams & Chopper. [View All]

[reprehensor]

On August 20, 2005, a 'Rave' party was brought to a crashing halt by SWAT teams with helicopter backup in Spanish Fork Canyon at the Child's ranch, just outside of Salt Lake City.

The rave was appropriately named;



Things seemed to proceeding as they do at a rave party. Teenagers were dancing, and it is reported that the use of the drug 'ecstasy' was being conducted.

The DJs were spinning;



As I said, things were proceeding as they do at a rave.

That is, until law enforcement arrived, stormed the stage, shut down the DJs, surrounded the stage, and began arrests.





Now, I don't condone the use of the drug ecstasy, nonetheless, if teenagers want to experiment with a particular street drug, it doesn't matter what the hell I condone.

I have, however, met people under the influence of ecstasy, and they are about as dangerous as 'Tickle Me Elmo'.

The Sheriff says he sent in 'approximately' 90 law enforcement personnel.

Let's round that up to an even hundred, shall we? We're just 'approximating' after all.

There is video floating around now of the bust, and the amount of force used taking down some of these kids looks unacceptable to me. Admittedly, it's hard to tell from the video I've linked. You decide.




There are numerous accounts of what happened that evening, but by all accounts, virtually all the 'police' were decked out in camo, some accounts say the psuedo-soldiers were packing assault rifles, other accounts say the police were kicking and kneeing these kids for little to no reason.

This is not sworn testimony, but here is one kid who says he saw someone with a video camera beaten unconcious for not turning over his video camera;

I saw about 7 people attacked (before being forced to leave). I saw two of them right in front of me. One was a guy who was walking around with a camcorder stunned at what was happening. A soldier told him to give him the camera now. The raver said no it is my camera. The soldier then proceeded to grab the camera, throw it to the ground and then began beating the kid. In the end they threw him to the ground violently an put their knee into his back while handcuffing him. All for wanting to keep his property. When I last saw him he was knocked out and unmoving.

Let me put it another way; ecstasy is not known for driving people into violent rages. It is however, known to mellow people out. The Sheriff in this case could have dispersed this rave by switching off the generators and playing Slim Whitman over a bullhorn. I'm sure he had 'Greatest Hits' handy, if not the box-set.

Instead, the Sheriff, playing centurion, (who says the police dept. was tipped off about the rave at 12pm), waited until hundreds of stoned kids were gathered in the dark at 11:30pm later that evening to send in a helicopter and set up a phalanx of camo-wrapped cops, (some of them masked), around the stage and around several 'bust' areas to scare the living excrement out of some bored, (and possibly misguided), teens.



First, they came for the ravers.



This is ridiculous. In my opinion, this is abuse of power. By the Sheriff's own account it appears that this never had to go down the way it did.

What if that was your 16yr old getting thrown into the dirt face first, gets a knee in the back, and then some super tight handcuffs to top things off?

Acceptance of this activity by any strata of society, even in a 'red' state, paves the way for worse abuse down the line.

This does not bode well.



If you want to pass this around, download these screen caps to your hard drive and mirror them somewhere else. I also recommend you grab that video and mirror it too. No, I don't know who took the video.



This is sick.



Sick.