Trick or treat?

How about trick or beat?

I was horrified by the surprise Halloween party that the Boulder Police Department threw for University of Colorado students and guests.

I count myself as one among the many innocent party-goers who suffered from the outrageous behavior of the Boulder Police Department.

The evening began pretty typically. I felt a little under-dressed for the party.

I had no idea people were going to have such crazy costumes. The best were the officers dressed head to toe in full riot gear, accessorized with pellet guns that shot pepper bullets.

I was in shock. I was shocked by the startling boom of the tear gas cannons firing in the background and shocked by how quickly copious amounts of tears and snot could flow from my face.

I was so amazed I could barely breathe, but I think my lack of breath was more an effect of the fog of tear gas that covered the entire University Hill neighborhood.

Yet somehow, I am still out of breath.

I saw people on the street just outside the Fox Theater in Boulder minding their own business when a bunch of police came out of nowhere firing pepper bullets and beating people with batons.

What for? No one around me had any idea what was going on.

People were enjoying themselves in conversation.

There was nothing about the situation that was out of control until the police showed up.

It was as if someone yelled fire in a crowed movie theater.

People began bumping into each other trying to run for safety. After the crowd opened up, I could see police dressed in riot gear shooting people.

The police ordered people to disperse, and those who did were shot.

People that were confused were shot.

I witnessed several people with their hands raised in the sign of surrender and compliance, targeted by police, and shot.

I saw a young guy walking away from the police, in compliance with police orders, and as he walked away an officer came up from behind and clubbed him with a baton in the back of the knee.

What I saw was people minding their own business, college students and kids, attacked by the police, and it seemed, for no reason.

I was outraged, and I still am.

There are laws that protect people from this sort of brutality, but who protects us when the police are brutal?

The evening was truly horrific.

How’s that for a frightening Halloween?