Michigan State University’s Welcome Week is underway, drawing an influx of new students, families and townies alike to East Lansing’s bustling downtown.
The week-long event is also drawing an increase in patrols from the East Lansing Police Department.
Last year’s Welcome Week culminated with the city and the police department being sued by two men — Mason Woods and Lonnie Smith — for alleged excessive force, false arrest and libel.
The two Black men in their early 20s were pepper sprayed and arrested for allegedly fighting outside a downtown Dave’s Hot Chicken on Aug. 24, during Welcome Weekend.
Charges against Woods and Smith were dropped, and shortly after, Police Chief Jennifer Brown told WLNS, "starting with Welcome Weekend, we have had a disproportionate number of minorities come into the community and commit crimes and as police officers we are simply responding to those crimes.”
Calls continue to be made for Brown’s resignation, and the East Lansing Human Rights Commission determined that the police had racially discriminated against the two men and ordered $50,000 in restitution for each man.
Woods’ and Smith’s attorney, Jack Rucker of Nova Law, told WKAR News that neither of them has received any payment from the city.
“When you’re a young man, you go to East Lansing downtown to hang out, to meet with friends, to go to events,” Rucker said, “and to have to feel like you are looking over your shoulder constantly out of concern about what might happen by the people who are there to protect you is devastating.”
Rucker said he has not seen improvement from ELPD in the past year, and he doesn’t have high hopes for Welcome Week.
“I expect it to be no better than last year, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was worse,” he said.
ELPD’s Capt. Adrian Ojerio told WKAR News earlier this month that people can expect to see an increase in police presence on foot, on bikes and even mounted on horses in areas prone to crowding.
“When we see beautiful Michigan weather, a lot of people come out and take advantage of our wonderful entertainment district,” Ojerio said. “So that draws quite large crowds as well.”
Ojerio said there will be around 100 officers on rotating patrols during Welcome Week, half of which will be from partner agencies like MSU’s Department of Police and Public Safety and the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.
Much of ELPD’s focus will be on drivers.
“We’ve seen kind of an influx [of drunk driving] this summer,” Ojerio said. “Our numbers have kind of creeped up again. We are putting an emphasis on that. During Welcome Week, we will have dedicated traffic units looking for dangerous driving behavior. Not only drunk driving but also drag racing and reckless driving.”
Overall, Ojerio said there won’t be any more police than one could expect at a Michigan vs. Michigan State football game.
Harper Riley, co-owner of Harper’s Restaurant & Brewpub, said he is grateful for the increased police presence downtown during Welcome Week.
“For these events, for football games and things like that, it’s always a good idea to have more hands on deck than less,” Riley said. “You know, in case something was to go wrong, they’re already around, and they can respond quicker and hopefully prevent things from going on.”
Riley said his staff and other local businesses have gotten together to discuss keeping an eye out not just inside but also on what’s happening on the street.
“We have a good relationship with the city and all the other local businesses to keep that kind of in best of check as we can,” he said. “I think we've done a good job with our staff training them how to handle things.”
Harper’s Restaurant and Brewpub is directly across the street from the Dave’s Hot Chicken where last year’s pepper spray incident occurred.
The brewpub was also the site of an incident earlier this month involving ELPD. Video went viral Aug. 2 of 20-year-old Myana Collins being detained and punched by multiple officers.
ELPD released a statement following the incident, saying, “the video that is circulating does not capture the entire incident” and that an internal investigation was launched. WKAR News hasn’t received any updates on the investigation.
Riley declined to comment on the Aug. 2 incident, as it did not involve his staff.
WKAR News has reached out to NAACP Lansing for comment.
