Talk about a wakeup call.
I was lumbering toward the Quad this morning en route to my 9 a.m. class in my normal half-asleep manner when I saw a small gathering of people pointing at something.
A few steps further, and I saw it myself: a car in the Quad.
My first thought was that it was either some type of protest about limited parking availability around campus or budget cuts or something. But normally with a protest, there are police officers around.
I looked around, and I saw no officers. All I saw was his dog.
Second thought: It’s some guy trying to do an art exhibit with his car. Wonderful.
He started dumping a checkers board onto the grass, he threw CDs and various other items all over the place, and there was some type of poster board near the back of his car. I heard him say something along the lines of “Blueprints” as I walked by.
Then came the gas canister.
Newest thought: Run away. So I went near the fountain and was going to call LSUPD, but the people around me had already done so.
Then a student in his military outfit confronted the guy, and that seemed to go nowhere. Meanwhile, another student tried to get people to walk away from the scene.
But everyone was mesmerized. The only person to leave was the guy himself. Outfitted in his bright-blue Hawaiian shirt, with his backpack and dog, he walked toward me.
I took a step away, and the girl next to me asked him what he was doing.
“Walking my dog.”
Obviously.
So I followed him from about 50 feet behind, along with the aforementioned student that was keeping people away, into the Design Building, where my class was. I informed my teacher, and he called LSUPD, and things were taken care of.
Here’s the problem: The LSUPD had apparently only initially sent two officers to the scene.
We got no emergency text message, no warning, no nothing. Oh, and two officers.
I’m not saying this was going to turn into a Virginia Tech situation, but some teacher went crazy at a school in Huntsville, Ala., just more than a week ago. If it can happen there, it can happen here, and that’s why I got scared.
Plus, he had a backpack and gas. Anything can happen.
But now I get why so many innocent bystanders get hurt. It’s mesmerizing, and it’s a show. We like it, so we look on. And I’m guilty of this myself. But next time, I’m getting the hell out of there.
I got my wakeup call.—-Contact Andy Schwehm at [email protected]