Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 7, 1993 TAG: 9306070034
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
It was one of the first warm nights of spring, and a crowd of more than 200 had gathered in Melrose Park.
Roanoke police first learned of the April 7 gathering after several citizens reported fights and gunshots in the area.
When Sgt. C.J. Goens cruised past in his patrol car, someone in the crowd hurled a beer bottle that shattered against his car window.
Goens called for backup, and soon there were about 15 police officers facing a crowd that was growing more volatile by the minute.
Police said one man - Douglas Troy Jordan, 23, of Roanoke - appeared to be the ringleader. Officers said he repeatedly yelled to the crowd, and taunted police that they were too outnumbered to arrest him.
"He was rallying the troops," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Joel Branscom argued last month in Roanoke General District Court.
Jordan is accused of inciting a riot - an unusual charge that will be considered today by a grand jury.
"By his actions and the circumstances, all that together can be taken as an attempt to incite others to riot," Branscom said.
If the grand jury indicts Jordan on the felony charge, he will face a judge or jury alone. But some say his actions that night were a result of a mob mentality.
An expert in behavioral psychology said Jordan was probably influenced by the crowd, whether its members were screaming at police, throwing bottles or simply watching.
E. Scott Geller, a Virginia Tech psychology professor, called it the "risky shift" phenomenon; someone acting more recklessly than he normally would because of an audience that provides both encouragement and a sense of anonymity.
"He was getting a large amount of reinforcement and attention, so he didn't feel as responsible for what was going on," Geller said.
"You might say that everyone in the crowd was responsible for what happened."
As an example of similar mob mentality, Geller cited what happened recently when Bill Clinton spoke at the Vietnam Memorial. The crowd members who booed and jeered likely would never think of criticizing the U.S. president had they met him alone and face to face, he said.
In Roanoke, authorities are concerned not so much with what crowds say but with what they do.
Warm weather, late-night drinking and impromptu gatherings can create trouble with no warning. "When you stir those ingredients up, the potential is there for problems," said Maj. Don Shields of the Roanoke Police Department.
At Melrose Park, police used a new tool in crowd control - a video camera.
Many police departments now use video to keep watch over potentially explosive situations. The benefits are twofold: Many troublemakers think twice about acting up in front of a camera; those who don't, face damaging evidence in court.
With video cameras, "people lose the sense of anonymity they have with a crowd," Shields said.
In Fredericksburg, police are going one step farther - airing videotape of gatherings in the city's open-air crack markets on a local cable television channel, in hopes of discouraging drug activity.
Critics called that an invasion of privacy that can brand innocent bystanders guilty by association, one example of how videotape surveillance can possibly backfire.
When police used the camera in Melrose Park, it attracted more attention that perhaps officers had anticipated. Jordan's brother, Tony Gerard Jordan, was charged with impeding police after he allegedly knocked the camera from an officer's grasp.
As police struggled to arrest Tony Jordan, the crowd became even more angry. Shouted threats, obscenities and beer bottles filled the air.
Police said Douglas Jordan was especially confrontational - in effect, daring them to arrest him.
"It was my opinion that he was the ringleader," officer T.A. Buzzo testified last month at the preliminary hearing.
"There aren't enough [police] to make us leave," Jordan yelled to the crowd, according to Buzzo's testimony. "They can't take me with all you here."
After charging Jordan with inciting a riot, police arrested another man who they said charged at an officer and knocked a flashlight from his hand. Thomas Manuel Taylor, 23, was charged with impeding police.
"If we had had more officers, we would have made more arrests," Goens testified.
Although a show of force by police can sometimes quiet an unruly crowd, it can just as easily have the opposite effect.
"If anything, the police are part of the crowd, too, and they have to ask themselves to what extent were they involved," Geller said.
Kenneth King, Douglas Jordan's lawyer, questioned if the gathering at Melrose Park was really a riot, asking witnesses at the preliminary hearing if they observed any fires or looting.
But that doesn't have to happen to meet the legal definition of a riot, which is three or more people acting together with force to threaten public safety. King could not be reached for comment last week.
Geller also questioned whether criminal charges should be brought in such a situation.
"If we have not guilty by reason of insanity," he said, "then in this case we should have not guilty by reason of crowd contagion."
by CNB