Police Officer Dies After Brawl With Biotech Protesters

[seriousstan]

PHILADELPHIA -- Violence between biotech protesters and police in Center City Philadelphia has turned tragic. A Philadelphia police officer has died after a scuffle in Center City on Tuesday.

The officer, Paris Williams, 52, may have died from a heart attack but homicide is also investigating the case. He is a 19-year veteran.

Williams collapsed near the end of a brawl between protesters and police that lasted for several minutes near 12th and Arch Streets. Some protesters were seen being taken away in handcuffs by police after the incident. The fallen officer was taken away in an ambulance.

Police department spokesman Jim Pauley said Williams was pronounced dead at Hahnemann University Hospital shortly after 1 p.m.

http://www.nbc10.com/news/4632819/detail.html

[eternalburn]

1. If it was a heart attack......

....it's bound to happen.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20050410-17482600-bc-us-fatalchase.xml

[OKNancy]

2. Sorry for his family and friends

It doesn't appear that there is anything there however. He had a heart attack.

[tk2kewl]

3. maybe he accidentally tasered himself

:shrug:

[brainshrub]

4. OMG! People who are against patenting life are terrorists!

Time to pack for a trip to Gitmo. I hear the food is great.

[ashling]

27. Gitmo food, mmm mmmmm!

Menu for biotech terraists:

two headed lemon fish
genetically altered vegetable salad

[librechik]

5. what terrible news

for the officer's family, and for activists. How long has it been since any of us killed a cop? This will make an awful cudgel for the anti-regulation crowd.

[bennywhale]

6. Oh dear. the trigger for a crackdown. btw what

are the biotech protesters protesting about. (posting from England so don't know)

[Mandate My Ass]

13. All the big names in big Pharma are in town for a convention

Also the franken food people. You can read about it here:

http://www.bio.org/events/2005/

I miss England! Been there 3 times and wish I could go back.:hi:

[fed-up]

14. Reclaim the Commons-Biodemocracy 2005 Philadelphia

I'm sad that the police officer died, but perhaps they were rushing the crowd when there was no need to do so.

Reclaim the Commons is the annual biotech protest

http://www.reclaimthecommons.net/

The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) will hold their June 19-22 international corporate convention in downtown Philadelphia. Join us to counter their closed-door agenda of medicine for profit, genetically engineered agriculture and bioweapons proliferation. Give voice to a different vision of fair trade, local food sovereignty, community power, biodiversity and honest science....

Here is a "personal account" of the arrest from someone in Philly
http://biotech.indymedia.org/or/2005/06/4476.shtml

----

some pics from last year's Reclaim the Commons
https://www.indybay.org/news/2004/06/1684111.php

I attended Biodev 2004/Reclaim the Commons in San Francisco last June and for the most part the particpants were very calm and peaceful. There were a few that jumped the barricades around The Moscone Center (where the Bio-tech convention was being held) and in turn they were viciously jumped by some of the cops and slammed to the ground. Most of the cops were bored, but some looked like they were out for blood.

There were probably 1000 cops for 500 people!!

[flvegan]

7. I can already see it: Animal Rights Extremists Kill Cop

Shudder.

[shockra]

10. Erm...yeah.

I just noticed last night that PETA was going to be protesting at the Philadelphia Convention Center today.

http://www.peta.org/MC/NewsItem.asp?id=6614

Philadelphia — Armed with giant photos and portable video monitors showing monkeys being battered in a Covance laboratory, members of PETA will gather outside the BIO Conference, which is being sponsored by Covance, a billion-dollar biomedical company that is the subject of a new PETA undercover investigation.

<sigh>

[doodadem]

11. Unfortunately, you may be right

I was just reading awhile back that PETA has now been classified as a domestic terrorism organization.
I agree with them though on alot of issues. These labs need to go away completely. There is not enough policing of practices, and there are some real, documented horror stories. The last I heard, there is one CRO (Contract Research Org.) called Huntingdon Labs that annually kills nearly half a million test subjects a year in this country and Europe. That's alot of deaths, when most results do not transfer to humans, and vice versa. There used to be a website for SHACusa (Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty) that would just tear your heart out, but it looks like they've redone it http://www.shacamerica.net/
I know several members of their group have now been indicted.

[flvegan]

25. Yes, the SHAC 7 (now the SHAC 6)

SHAC, PETA and others were organizing protests at this Biotech love-in.

[bennywhale]

16. Legitimate protest against the governments and the powerful of all

Western nations is being subtely and deliberately merged with terrorism. Legislation in England designed to prevent terrorism is being used against Animal Rights groups. And new house arrest powers again directed at terrorism have "not been ruled out" concerning G8 protesters.

[The Doctor.]

8. I know how poorly some police take care of themselves...

This is a tragedy, but as a police officer one can expect to be in very tense situations.

Although I think Biotech protestors may not be well-informed in some cases, I should hardly think they are directly responsible in any way for his death.

[formercia]

9. His family should sue Krispy Kreme

Umfortunately some of the protesters may be charged as contributing to the death if they started it.

[quaoar]

12. You should reconsider that comment

[formercia]

23. may I ask why?

[NewYorkerfromMass]

28. No. The officer was overweight

A lot of the fault lies with his own self for not taking care of himself.
Krispy Kreme no doubt helped to "supersize" him.

[Mandate My Ass]

15. MISLEADING headline

According to the Phila Inquirer

There was a demonstration. During the course of the demonstration by the protesters, a scuffle broke out," said Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson.

"I don't think Officer Paris Williams was involved in the scuffle, but anyhow, he saw the scuffle, he went toward the scuffle, he collapsed," Johnson said outside the hospital.

Other officers saw Williams go down, and called for help, Johnson said. Fire Department paramedics rushed him to nearby Hahnemann.

"He died in the performance of his duties," Johnson said. "We're not blaming anybody for what happened.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/business/special_packages/bio2005/11949070.htm

[Mandate My Ass]

17. Police officer dies of apparent heart attack during protests (philly)

Police officer dies of apparent heart attack during protests

By Thomas Gibbons
Inquirer Staff Writer


A 17-year veteran Philadelphia police officer was fatally stricken today while assigned to monitor a protest in Center City.

Officer Paris Williams, 52, was pronounced dead at 1:12 p.m. at Hahnemann University Hospital of apparent cardiac arrest, authorities said. Williams, who was assigned to the department's civil affairs unit, was at the scene of a demonstration in the 1200 block of Arch Street when he was stricken about 12:45 p.m. Civil Affairs officers and commanders routinely are assigned to demonstrations.

"There was a demonstration. During the course of the demonstration by the protesters, a scuffle broke out," said Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson.

"I don't think Officer Paris Williams was involved in the scuffle, but anyhow, he saw the scuffle, he went toward the scuffle, he collapsed," Johnson said outside the hospital.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/business/special_packages/bio2005/11949070.htm

Uh oh....protests kill cops. Protesters are domestic terrorists. And away we go.

On edit: Bio 2005. Big Pharma is in town.

[jobycom]

18. Condolences to the family. Way too young to die.

[Warpy]

19. I hope protestors go to the funeral

and offer his family their heartfelt condolences. He was too young to die.

It's a shame nobody there knew CPR. They may have been able to buy him enough time until the paramedics arrived.

[rinsd]

22. Not neccesarily....

A better option would be a defibrillator. If he went into cardiac arrest (the article says he collapsed), 9 out of 10 times the defib is all that would have saved him.

I should know as my father was saved by one last year. CPR would not have helped him. He ended up having a quad bypass.

[screembloodymurder]

20. 10 to 1 the police started the scuffle.

Someone probably crossed the no protest line or left the free speech box.

[wakeme2008]

21. It is summer in Philly and mid 80s from the weather places

I am stealing this from a friend of mine (female) who was with the LAPD for 16 years. LOL this was posted on a dog forum... Think heat and kevlar vest... heart problems are not out of the question...

Now, you'll be wondering, what on earth would I know about insulating animal fibers as relates to being hot or cold? Well, I used to have a job where for oh, 9 to 13 or even up to 20 hours a day, I wore wool pants and shirt. I had the option of 50/50 poly/wool, but that's supposed to be hotter. If wool was the cool choice, I never had the nerve to attempt the "not cool" choice. This was augmented by the lovely insulation provided by a kevlar vest which rendered me, much like a dog, unable to effectively sweat over a hefty chunk of my torso. (I did sweat there of course, it just couldn't cool me off because it couldn't get to the air.....unless I went to the garage, purloined the airhose, and directed a blast of dry air under it, which is just a little bit of heaven...)

With that in mind, here are a few pieces of information. One, being "insulated" when you are generating your own body heat is only nice at temps below about 70 degrees. Actually, its only "not unpleasant' below 70. To get to where you'd appreciate it, you'd need temps around 60 or lower.

Once you get above 70, it starts to be unpleasant. At about 85, thoughts of ripping off clothing in the middle of the street begin to invade the mind.

Of course in my case this was aggravated by the fact that the wool was navy blue, causing it to soak up heat just about like my grey-lab's black coat. Standing in the sun was okay for a few minutes.... the kevlar would hold it off until it soaked through... but then when it hit there was no escaping the searing heat, which would last long after I was out of the sun, thanks to all that insulation.

Overall, it was like walking around in an oven all day, especially where I couldn't sweat. I once took a poll at my station "what is better, taking off your vest at end of watch, or really good sex?" Even the guys struggled with that one.... so next time you are told "your dog needs that heavy coat to protect him from the hot weather" please ask the person who said it why they aren't walking around all summer wearing wool over plastic wrap so they can be "insulated" from the heat? Then slap them for me and go get your poor hound a haircut

[BiggJawn]

24. We had that happen here.

The dead officer was morbidly obese and the kid he was arresting was acquitted on murder charges when the defense successfully showed that the dead officer could have keeled over trying to take a shit any day...

[NashVegas]

26. Protests Escalate at Bio Confab (Wired)

http://wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,67978,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2

[leesa]

29. Why was he scuffling with them. Perhaps he should have left them alone.