UMich-OSU Football Riot, 2002, by Kurran Ochwat
From MemoryArchive
Who: Kurran Ochwat What: Riot following The Ohio State University vs. Michigan football game Where: The Ohio State University Campus in Columbus, Ohio When: November 23, 2002I awoke to the sound of The Ohio State University
After the stadium emptied, campus was cluttered with screaming fans. For the most part everyone was well behaved and by around 7:00 that night campus was actually extremely quiet as the fatigued revelers were passed out or taking naps. At around 10:30 we awoke from our slumber still drunk with victory and booze and continued on with our celebratory victory with more beer and liquor. Every house on campus was throwing parties that spilled over into the streets. It was just a matter of time before everything got out of hand.
Police officers and firefighters were gathering in the alleyways in preparation for the chaos. Standing outside on our porch I observed a vehicle turn down 14th slowly making its way down the street waiting for the party goers to move out of the way. One fateful mistake the driver made was that he honked his horn. In a matter of seconds the windshield was smashed in with a rock and the driver passenger was pulled out of the car and beat. I could not believe what was going on. The two managed to run away leaving their car in the middle of the street. By now there were half dozen students rocking the car back and forth until it smashed into another car as it rolled over. I looked over at my buddy and told him that it had begun. One car after another was being flipped over all down the street. Fortunately all of our cars were parked off campus for we were no strangers to what crazy Ohio State fans do after a big game.
From our porch some of us decided to go onto the third story roof where there is a much better field of view. By the time we got on the roof there were two cars already set ablaze and people chanting around it like some primitive fire-worshippers. Firefighters and police officers stayed in place at the end of the street and let the cars burn. After about an hour there were no more cars to flip over so people started to bring furniture out into the streets for firewood. After that I guess the police had just about enough and came in with riot gear. Dozens of tear gas canisters were fired into the crowd and thousands ran in each direction to avoid the noxious gases. The crowd merged over onto 13th street where there was an equally size mob engaged in the same destructive behavior. Since we could not see as well from our roof we decided to follow the crowd.
My friends and I joined the crowd with 6 packs in hand to observe the once in a lifetime event. Block by block the crowd moved trying to escape the police in riot gear who were having an equally enjoyable time beating students as the students did rioting. The police were not able to contain the raging campus until the wee hours of the morning. As for me, I don’t really remember what actually happened past 2:00 in the morning for I found myself sleeping in the bushes of some house on 11th street covered in beer and my own urine. I walked back to my brother’s house taking in the destruction along the way. Every street was littered with beer cans, destroyed furniture and burned out cars. It kind of reminded me of some of the scenes from the Road Warrior. There was still a strong police and firefighter presence who were all retelling their accounts of what happened. I don’t know who had a better time; the students who rioted or the police officers that fought the students.
