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Roosevelt Police Department documents detail an apparent cultural misunderstanding that led officers to deploy pepper spray and use a baton on spectators performing a Polynesian dance at a high school football game.
The documents, including witness and police affidavits, were released to The Salt Lake Tribune in response to an open records request after the Oct. 20 incident involving a group of spectators attempting to perform the Haka, a traditional war dance and chant, to honor Union High School football players after a heartbreaking loss to rival Uintah.
Police ultimately determined both sides were partially to blame as the situation could have been avoided had both officers and spectators made different decisions that night, records show.
Records state the two officers assigned to work security at the game, Luke Stradinger and Wade Butterfield, were already braced for trouble because in the past the rivalry had resulted in fights. Police and other witnesses reported hearing some spectators in the Polynesian group shouting obscenities at the departing referees, displaying poor sportsmanship or making inappropriate comments toward Uintah High School cheerleaders trying to leave the stadium after the game, records show.
School officials were concerned enough about the atmosphere that they opted to keep football players on the field until some of the crowd cleared out, witness statements show. Police had already cleared the exit once and ordered people off the field when a group of Tongan dancers and supporters appeared, suddenly blocking the only exit, one witness affidavit shows. Police said a video recording at one point captures one dancer expressing concern that they might get in trouble with police. Then a woman encourages everyone to start.
Stradinger can be heard on the same video telling everyone to make a hole so that the players could leave, but the video shows the dancers ignored the order. Witnesses statements from those standing amid the group indicate some acknowledged they heard the order, but others said they didn't hear it or that police didn't give them enough time to respond.
Some statements indicate the group was starting the dance so those that heard the order apparently chose to disregard it because they felt they weren't doing anything wrong. Records show as the dance got under way, officers started to worry. They had never seen anything like it and had no prior warning the Haka, which involves some aggressive movements, was going to occur.
To them, it appeared the dancers, including some of the earlier trouble-makers, were taking an aggressive, threatening "fighter's stance," when they "squatted down and swung their arms and doubled fists" and their shouts and actions increasingly became more aggressive as Stradinger continued to shout the command at them. Butterfield later reported his experience and training led him to believe the group was trying to spark a fight or riot, records show.
So they acted.
Butterfield said he used his baton as he had been trained to strike a man in a fighter's stance until he lowered his arms. Stradinger deployed pepper spray. Both witnesses and police indicate that as soon as the group moved back, because of the spray, the football teams left the field. An investigation found the officers' actions legal under Utah law.
But then members of the crowd turned on the officers and began yelling obscenities and shouted that they were only doing a celebration chant and dance, records show.
After being sprayed and beaten, some in the dance group approached the officers "in fits of rage," records show. One assailant, who remains unidentified, struck Butterfield in the face, under his right eye, injuring him, police said. Witness statements indicate those in the group or standing nearby were furious and outraged because Stradinger's bursts of pepper spray hit not only them, but also small children nearby, and their dance was not intended to provoke violence. Others were outraged that Butterfield had struck at least one man with his baton, the statements show.
Stradinger's police narrative indicates remorse for the misunderstanding. He said he apologized to everyone who was inadvertently sprayed, but explained he didn't know the dance was planned. He pointed out how important communication between spectators and police would be in an effort to prevent future incidents.
"Given the totality of the circumstances, and the incidents that led to the chant, I reacted as any reasonable officer would," he wrote. "Had I been consulted prior to the event, I would have taken a much different approach ... I sincerely apologize to every innocent bystander who may have been affected by the event that took place as a result of my actions."
The police investigation found, in hindsight, that both sides could have handled the situation differently — the police by ignoring the people or retreating from their demands — and the spectators by warning the officers about the dance or following the orders to move, which is required under Utah law. However, all of the city's police officers will receive cultural diversity training including education on Polynesian dances, use of force policies. The two officers involved will be required to attend training on making decisions under stressful circumstances, the department said.
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