ARTICLES

"Officer, Help!"

POLICE STAND BY AS PRO-LIFERS ARE ATTACKED IN LA JOLLA

By Anne Knight

Shortly before school is dismissed, veteran pro-lifer Connie Youngkin and other volunteers show up with large signs displaying photos of aborted babies and distribute pro-life literature to students as they leave campus. During such pro-life demonstrations over the last year and a half at San Diego city schools, Youngkin gives San Diego police officers high marks overall for fairness. However, her account of a May 6 incident at Muirlands Middle School in La Jolla is a glaring exception to the rule.

Youngkin and her associate -- the latter, in light of the recent Illinois conviction of pro-lifers under the federal RICO statute, asked to remain anonymous -- arrived after school as parents were picking up their children. They each stationed themselves on the public sidewalk near separate exits and were out of each other's sight during the demonstration, which lasted approximately 45 minutes.

Minutes after they arrived, approximately four San Diego police squad cars arrived on the scene. Since they couldn't see each other, neither demonstrator was sure of the total number of police officers present. Two or three officers were near Youngkin at all times, she says, and her associate was monitored by two officers. Officer Laurie Curran, who stayed close to Youngkin most of the time, appeared to be in charge.

By Youngkin's account, she at first held her sign while sitting in a chair, since she has difficulty standing for long periods of time. What ensued, she says, was ten minutes of continuous tumult. It began when a group of about ten parents and school officials crowded around her to block her sign. It is legal to block a demonstrator's sign, but not to touch the sign or the demonstrator.

"Your kids need to know the truth about abortion, because they could get pregnant," Youngkin told them.

She says the approximately eight parents then began leaning against and shoving her and her sign. Officer Curran was standing about five feet away, says Youngkin, and watched the fracas while Youngkin made numerous pleas for her help. She also requested in vain for the female officer's assistance in making a citizen's arrest of those shoving her and her sign, actions that constitute assault and battery. When Youngkin complained to Curran about a woman who, at one point, was holding onto her sign, Curran told the pro-lifer, "Don't you touch her. I can charge you with battery."

In the midst of the activity, a man pushed Youngkin and her chair over. She attempted to snap a photo of him, but he grabbed the camera out of her hand while someone else ran away with her sign. Throughout, Youngkin says, Curran stood nearby, passively observing. The officer made no response to the camera theft, and the man fled the scene. Curran then confiscated the chair because, she said, it could be used as a weapon. Youngkin says she told Curran that she is unable to stand for long periods of time, but the officer did not return her chair until Youngkin and her associate were preparing to leave, almost a half hour later. Youngkin always brings a chair to demonstrations, and told News Notes that there are no laws preventing its use. Curran did pursue the man who stole the sign, but didn't return it to Youngkin until 20 minutes later.

In the meantime, Youngkin says, she retrieved another poster from her associate's car and sat down with it on a curb, about 100 feet from the first location, for 20 minutes. Curran did not accompany her to this location. Several of the parents who had assaulted her drove by, and some threw ice and soda at her. Some parents, however, expressed gratitude for Youngkin's presence.

The two demonstrators stayed for nearly 45 minutes, until most parents and students had left the school. As Youngkin was leaving, she says she told Curran, "Your bias is showing, because you didn't protect me," and that, as a police officer, Curran has a duty to protect citizens equally, regardless of her personal opinions. Curran made no reply.

Youngkin's pro-life companion didn't fare any better. After the police arrived, the demonstrator says he was chased into the middle of Nautilus Street by a man who told him, "If you don't leave with this sign, I'll help you across the street." The pro-lifer says the police rebuked his pursuer with words to the effect of, "You can't do that." One officer stood about three feet away from the demonstrator, while another sat in a squad car parked a short distance away.

Nonetheless, three men, including the one who chased him earlier, began leaning on him, pushing him and trying to grab his sign. He says the policeman watched but took no action. After the cop wandered away 15 minutes later, he says, the three men -- presumably fathers of Muirlands students -- became increasingly aggressive, kicking the pro-lifer's sign and several times forcing him off the curb and into the street. The pro-lifer began pleading for help from the officer in the car to no avail.

"Finally, I screamed at the top of my lungs, 'Officer, help!'" he says. The officer then drove his car the short distance to where the pro-lifer was standing, rolled down the window, asked the group what the trouble was. As he got out and sauntered over, the pro-lifer says he told the officer, "Look what they're doing to my sign!" The officer replied that if he left with his sign, he wouldn't be having such problems.

The three assailants became less aggressive as the policeman got out of his car, but soon, the demonstrator says, they resumed trying to damage and dislodge his sign. The officer remained nearby for the duration of the demonstration, but did not intervene.

The men also made threats to the pro-lifer that included statements such as "I'm coming back for you," "I know someone who can take care of you," "I know your license number," and references to damaging his vehicle. He says he yelled to the policeman, "These men are threatening me, and you're a witness." Again, he claims, the officer ignored him. Youngkin's associate estimates that the physical abuse, punctuated with threats of violence, occurred almost continuously for more than half an hour in the presence of police officers.

Youngkin and her fellow pro-lifer were not charged with violating any laws nor threatened with arrest during the Muirlands Middle School demonstration. In the two weeks between that demonstration and their interview with News Notes, they demonstrated at four other San Diego schools. At those locations, Youngkin says, "The police helped maintain order."

The two pro-lifers are accustomed to verbal and occasional physical abuse when demonstrating with the aborted baby photos, and have occasionally encountered individual police officers who were reluctant to enforce applicable laws. What set the Muirlands demonstration apart, they said, was that all of the police officers present deliberately ignored most of the numerous illegal acts committed against them.

When News Notes contacted police public information officer Bill Robinson about the incident, he said to phone Officer Curran directly. When contacted, Curran said she would need to talk to her lieutenant first. She also asked, "Do you have any background on these folks [Youngkin and her associate]? Do you know what their agenda is? Because they've been involved in several incidents before."

When she called back, Curran provided the names of four Muirlands school officials who were present at the demonstration, and suggested that News Notes contact them. When asked if she could answer any questions, she replied, "I'm only going to say that I don't agree with her [Youngkin's] perceptions of the situation and I'm sure these school officials would agree with me." Could she answer specific questions regarding her role in the demonstration? She said questions would have to be submitted in writing through Robinson's office.

Robinson subsequently explained that Officer Curran requested that News Notes submit written questions because she was unfamiliar with the publication. This was not possible before press time.

Laurie Francis, vice principal at Muirlands Middle School and one of the four officials named by Curran, says she was near Youngkin during most of the demonstration, and did not recall seeing assault or battery activity against Youngkin, nor did she believe school officials were involved in blocking her sign.

Officials at Muirlands are well aware of the law and constitutional rights, Francis says. Their main concern is the students' safety, and she complained that Youngkin was blocking students' access to the bus. When pressed, Francis conceded that Youngkin was not blocking the students; rather, she was making it "more difficult than usual for students to exit the school because they had to walk around Youngkin on the sidewalk." Francis also expressed concern about ten- and eleven-year-old students at Muirlands being exposed to the graphic photos.