The George Floyd protests in Cincinnati saw police officers immobilize a loud but unarmed protester with a stun gun, spray chemical irritant on a marcher whose hands…
The George Floyd protests in Cincinnati saw police officers immobilize a loud but unarmed protester with a stun gun, spray chemical irritant on a marcher whose hands were raised and shoot a fleeing demonstrator with a pepper ball.
These types of tactics have prompted a tough question about police conduct during the protests about police brutality: Was the response by some officers overaggressive and excessive, proving the marchers’ point?
It’s a question that the independent watchdog overseeing complaints against Cincinnati police is asking. On Monday, officials with the Citizens Complaint Authority said 25 police brutality complaints have been filed in relation to the protests.
Five of the complaints have been deemed serious and worthy of investigation. The nature of the complaints wasn’t immediately revealed by the authority.
But social media videos have surfaced along with eyewitness accounts by Enquirer journalists, calling into question some instances in which officers used questionable force on protestors. Similar accounts and videos emerged across the country in the past week as protesters posted images of the police response from New York to Los Angeles to Columbus.
“I have seen the same videos over and over again where police use excessive force to detain black men, usually. Black females, too, but typically black men,” said Sami Silverstein, the training director at the Hamilton County Public Defender. “That’s why they’re protesting in the first place. Frankly, it’s hard to watch these videos.”
The defender’s office is part of a six-member coalition that’s speaking out against Cincinnati police and Hamilton County deputies‘ tactics during the protests.
In one Facebook video Silverstein watched, she saw a black business owner with his arms raised in front of his tattoo parlor. The man tripped when approaching officers asked him to move out the way and they used a Taser on him.
“He immediately went limp and slumped down. It’s just such a graphic video. He fell to the ground and started slumping in the corner,” Silverstein said.
On Tuesday, Gov. Mike DeWine asked a panel of law enforcement and local leaders to propose statewide standards and practices for dispersing crowds, when tools such as pepper spray and tear gas should be used and when to deem tactics excessive.
“We are not looking to give a small number of violent protestors a free pass,” DeWine said. “We want our peaceful demonstrators to feel safe when asserting their First Amendment rights.
The panel, the Ohio Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board, created standards on when to use deadly force and best practices for hiring a diverse force.
Creating statewide practices could help determine when officers go too far in their attempts to detain or push back crowds of demonstrators.
During the first weekend of the protests in Cincinnati, police officers were captured on multiple occasions on video using forceful tactics on demonstrators.
During a May 30 rally outside police headquarters, protestors threw water bottles at officers who were standing guard behind a steel gate.
Officers lined up in formation at 9:13 p.m. and began launching tear gas propellants toward unruly demonstrators, as witnessed by Enquirer journalists. A curfew in parts of the city that day didn’t go into effect until 10 p.m.
One man, who was among hundreds of protesters, initially stood his ground in the street in front of headquarters, on Ezzard Charles Drive in the West End, before relenting at the last second to move out the way.
As he did, an armed officer shoved him from behind with a shield. The white man wearing overalls over his white T-shirt turned around and was met by several officers attempting to suddenly detain him.
A few feet away, a protestor standing by himself in the grass with his hands raised was teargassed.
How did the handling of those men by a large group of officers match up with the department’s procedures for crowd control? Here’s what the guidelines on crowd control, included in CPD’s 33-page policy rules on use of force, say.
