STUDENTS SAY PROTEST INSPIRED BY SHOOTING, BUT FOCUSED ON WAR ON DRUGS

Grand Rapids - Organizers of the third protest in a week for Derek
Copp wanted to clarify their message during a march in downtown Grand
Rapids on Friday, March 20.

"A lot of people are saying we're just a bunch of hippies who want
our bongs back," GVSU student Vanessa Crowley said. "That is not
true. We are responsible citizens. We're doing the mature thing to
solve the problem."

That was the message projected by more than 50 students who gathered
at the Grand Valley State University Pew Campus in downtown Grand
Rapids Friday afternoon.

While the officer-involved shooting of GVSU student Derek Copp during
a drug raid inspired the march, it ultimately centered on the war on
drugs, organizers said.

"We want to focus on the policies that caused this to happen," GVSU
student Blake Walton said, as students around him prepared to march
several blocks from the campus clock tower to Rosa Parks Circle. "We
aren't here to demonize or scapegoat the police."

Other students also said they wanted to clarify their message, after
a protest on the main GVSU campus in Allendale Township last week in
which some chanted, "F--- the police!"

"There was a lot of rhetoric that was ugly," Crowley said.

Copp, 20, was unarmed when he was shot in the chest on March 11 by an
Ottawa County Sheriff's Office deputy assigned to the West Michigan
Enforcement Team, after WEMET obtained a warrant to search Copp's
off-campus apartment for drugs. WEMET is a multijurisdictional drug
investigation unit.

Copp was released from Spectrum Health Thursday.

The deputy who shot Copp - a 12-year veteran of the sheriff's office
whose name is being withheld by police - has been placed on paid
administrative leave while the Michigan State Police investigate the shooting.

Copp's attorney Frederick Dilley said this week that Copp was in
possession of no more than "a few tablespoonfuls of marijuana" when
he was shot.

Before the march, students handed out pamphlets titled "The Truth
About the War on Drugs," citing statistics from a national drug
survey that states 45 percent of the population has used an illicit
drug at least once in his or her lifetime.

GVSU student Crowley said the reality is that some people choose to
do drugs, but it wastes taxpayers' money to devote so many resources
to busting them for it.

"Why don't we take the money we've spent on these failed policies and
devote it to the economy?" she said.

While Copp's classmates wait for answers on what led to the shooting,
they say their friend maintains his "peaceful" personality.

"I visited him on St. Patrick's Day and he wasn't doing so hot
physically, but he's got positive thoughts," GVSU student Sara Jones
said. "He told me, 'I don't want to be a victim or a hero.'" Others
said they hesitated to blame police for reacting too quickly with so
few details about the shooting available.

"We get pissed when cops make mistakes, but then when we want them
there, we want them there," GVSU student Zack McNeil said.

Protesters linked arms around 1:30 p.m. and marched to Rosa Parks
Circle, toting signs painted with messages such as "Stop police
violence," and "Who will protect us from the police?"

Shouting through a megaphone in Rosa Parks Circle, GVSU student
Firman Valle also questioned who students could trust, if not law enforcement.

"If our friend overdoses, we should feel confident that we can call
(police) for safety. They should work for us, not against us," he
said. "We should not have a reason to fear authority."