5/26/2002: Mardi Gras mob gone terribly wrong

[That Guy]

Originally posted by sycamore


Austin?

Yes. I missed last year, but caught the news coverage of it, rubber bullets and all. This year, I went down there (a friend of mine needed to "see some boobies"), and I started talking to one of the officers on the street. He had several cans of pepper spray stapped to himself, the smallest one the size that most people carry on key chains, and the largest one bigger than a kitchen fire extinguisher. He said they were prepared this year.
On the way out, I stopped to get a slice of pizza, and noticed some dude was passed out on the curb, with most of the crowd trying to step around him. Once the police noticed this, they brought in the mounties, which are already fairly prevalent around the d-town nightlife. All they had to do was circle the horse once around the guy, and the crowd backed up enough for some EMS to get in and pull the guy off the street. It's pretty impressive the way they use such a large beast for crowd control. I think I'd still like to see the RCMP, though.