Friday September 21, 2001

Chief Richard Miranda says police response was too slow

An officer suspected of shooting a UA student in the eye with a less-than-lethal bullet will be punished along with seven other police officials involved in the Fourth Avenue riots on April 2.

Detective Michael Mare will receive a written reprimand for using non-lethal weaponry without being authorized.

Officials suspect Mare shot University of Arizona student Jeff Knepper with a less-than-lethal bullet following UA's 82-72 loss to Duke in the NCAA National Championships. Knepper filed a $3 million claim against the city for the shot that resulted in the loss of his eye.

The advisory board, which met prior to Tucson Police Department Chief Richard Miranda's report on the riot, blamed Lt. David Leotaud for acting out of policy when he assigned less-than-lethal ammunitions to unqualified personnel, including Mare.

Miranda said it was not Leotaud, but two sergeants who were to blame.

Capt. Thomas McNally will also receive a written reprimand for ignoring a direct order from the commanding officer to move in.

McNally reportedly took the entire situation into his own hands and misinterpreted information given to him by the commanding officer, who told him to respond to the situation before it got out of hand.

The report states McNally asked Miranda several times to be held accountable for the actions of his command.

One student said he wasn't satisfied with the police response.

"Instead of admitting their faults, they're just excusing their actions," said finance junior Chris Neenan.

Tucson Police Department officials said they will continue conducting an analysis of the night to answer other questions relating to how the department handled the riots.

Miranda said police response to the riot was slow. Officers were at first instructed to allow the celebration to continue until the party got out of hand.

Police dogs and tear gas were also used to control the unruly crowd, which congregated on North Fourth Avenue just south of East Sixth Street.

"The next thing you know, people started flipping over cars and women started exposing themselves," Miranda said. "We should have responded to that earlier."

One student said police reacted quite well considering how the behavior of the crowd progressively broke down throughout the evening.

"People took it too far, doing things like burning someone's house, a mobile home - the police handled it well," said Andre Calderon, an architecture sophomore.

Miranda commented on the use of police dogs.

"Dogs were a concern," he said "They were behind the officers protecting their backs, but the potential for using dogs presents itself as a danger."

Alcohol also became a factor in the riots after hundreds of patrons converged on the popular street from surrounding bars. Miranda says although enforcing a "no drinking" policy would be illegal for any future event similar to the NCAA championship, officials are looking at other ways to have more control over the crowd and alcohol consumption.

"We'd like to work with Fourth Avenue business owners and put an event together and allow people to celebrate," he said.

He said the result of TPD's actions at the riots has provided a chance to learn.

"We'd like to analyze this as much as possible so that this doesn't happen again," he said.

He added that the effort the community has made in the situation was crucial.

"I think there are a lot of people who were involved," he said. "Students, businesses and the police departments have done a real good job of analyzing the situation."