Video shows Raleigh police using riot-control weapons on protester backing away
Hunter Bradley backed away from police with his hands in the air.
He had interposed himself between the helmeted officers in body armor and the people who moments before had been chanting and holding up signs near the base of a Confederate monument at the state Capitol.
Bradley had come to downtown Raleigh on May 31 to support the Black Lives Matter movement.
“I wanted to be out there to listen to people, hopefully help some people out,” the 21-year-old from Garner said.
Then, just about 10 minutes after he arrived, officers put on gas masks and began throwing tear gas and stun grenades into the crowd.
Bradley figured he had less to fear from police than many others because he is white, 6-foot-6 with build of a wrestler and clean cut. In a split-second decision, he said, he moved toward the street, where some protesters had been blocking traffic.
Officers with riot-control guns ran toward him, raising their weapons. Soon, Bradley was pinned face down in a haze of tear gas, telling the officers crouched over him, “I can’t breathe.”
The sequence was documented on video by The News & Observer’s visual journalists and at least two other people who posted footage to Twitter.
The video of the death of George Floyd — who told Minneapolis police, “I can’t breathe,” while an officer pressed a knee into his neck for more than eight minutes — galvanized a multiracial coalition of protesters that filled the streets in towns and cities across the country, calling for dramatic change to policing.
It was one of many videos of police using disproportionate force in recent years that has helped to tip public opinion in favor of reform. Videos of police using tear gas, pepper balls and rubber bullets on protesters have added fuel to the fire.
Durham attorney T. Greg Doucette has compiled more than 500 examples of police using force on protesters in a Twitter thread, including video presenting two angles on Bradley’s arrest in Raleigh, one of which has registered more than 105,000 views. The footage shows Bradley was hit at least twice with some kind of riot-control munitions, first in the chest, then in the back of the leg as he continues walking away.
For years, Doucette, a Republican, had been posting examples of police violence on social media, and he always got the same response: That’s just a bad apple, not a systemic problem. So when the recent round of protests began, he saved up 10 examples before posting anything.
In response to his initial post, Doucette said he got thousands of messages pointing to additional instances of apparently unwarranted police violence. So far, he said he’s gone through about 1,000 submissions with another roughly 1,600 still unread.
Public opinion on policing is changing rapidly. Nearly 7 in 10 Americans now view Floyd’s death as representing a broader problem, not an isolated incident, according to the results of a recent poll conducted by The Washington Post and George Washington University. Roughly three-quarters of Americans support the protests, the data show, and 44% said officers had used too much force on peaceful protesters.
Bradley’s case shows that “even in progressive, protester-friendly cities, the police are still being abusive and it’s treated as normal,” Doucette said. He is particularly opposed to the use of tear gas on protesters, something that medical and public health professionals have condemned in recent public statements.
Donna-maria Harris, a spokeswoman for the Raleigh Police Department, declined to answer most questions about the incident, saying the matter is under review. She confirmed that the video showed Bradley’s arrest and said the officers involved were part of the Special Operations Division.
The department has also been dealing with more recent controversies. On Thursday night, officers arrested two people outside of the county jail, including a minor. Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown said in a news conference Friday that she had subsequently decided no charges would be filed and ordered an internal investigation into officers’ actions based on social media videos and body-camera footage.
Bradley is among at least 58 people arrested in relation to the protests held almost daily in Raleigh since May 30. He is accused of resisting, delaying and obstructing a public officer and impeding traffic, both misdemeanors. At least 17 protesters face felony charges, most often based on a looting allegation.
Doucette, who frequently represents protesters in the Triangle, has agreed to serve as Bradley’s attorney pro bono.
When police can use force
The Raleigh Police Department’s written policies say, “Force should be used only when all other means of resolving a situation have been exhausted or are clearly inapplicable.”
The force should not exceed the amount “reasonably necessary to control the situation.”
Raleigh’s policies describe police force as a continuum ranging from officers’ “mere presence” to their shooting someone. Officers are supposed to file reports if they use force that goes beyond touching, including using restraints or pepper spray, unsheathing a knife or pointing a gun.
The type of force used against Bradley, described as “less lethal weapons” in the policy manual, “is acceptable when force is necessary to incapacitate or control an individual.”
Police have not publicly identified what type of weapons were used against Bradley. But the policy booklet specifically addresses the use of Exact Impact 1006, a foam projectile, which “may be used when there is active resistance to legal custody, to prevent imminent injury to an officer or third person, or to stop serious self-injury from occurring.”
The policy defines active resistance as “the use of personal weapons (i.e. hands, feet, or other body parts) or other weapons in order to assault or gain a positional advantage from which an assault is or would be likely.”
Though sponge grenades and other similar “kinetic weapons” are not as dangerous as lead bullets, they can still break bones, penetrate skin, explode eyeballs and damage internal organs, The Washington Post has reported. The injuries can be fatal.
Aside from Friday, Deck-Brown has defended officers’ handling of the protests, saying rallies are different from peaceful protests, which are also different from “sheer anarchy,” and officers had to adapt to changing conditions.
She advocated for hiring a consultant to do an independent review. The city manager chose to hire a firm made up almost entirely of ex-police chiefs, The News & Observer has reported.
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Lingering questions
Bradley says he did not resist police or threaten anyone.
Although he thinks the way police treated him was wrong, he had not filed a complaint with the department. It hadn’t occurred to him, he said.
“I’m new to all this,” he said. Prior to May 31, he had not had any negative interactions with police and had never been arrested. He’s a student at Wake Tech who wants to be a social studies teacher.
The encounter with police on May 31 left behind bruises to his face, chest and leg, but also questions.
Bradley said he would like to speak to the officers who arrested him to understand what they were thinking.
“I think it’s the job of our law enforcement to serve the community,” he said. “It’s to protect people and help people, and I think that when you come to using the kind of force that they were using, you should have a very good reason for doing so.
“I cannot imagine having a mindset where I’m looking at someone in the road in front of me, who is protesting, you know, for equality and against police brutality, things that the law enforcement themselves should be supporting, and I am firing tear gas and and shooting at someone with their hands up, who’s said nothing to provoke, who hasn’t done anything threatening. It’s just very hard for me to understand.”
Bradley plans to take his case to trial. If court proceedings for past protests in the Triangle are any guide, Doucette said, he won’t have his day in court for at least a year.
Any action the police department might take to discipline or retrain an officer found to have used excessive force will be kept secret under state law. The same is true for the disciplinary history of the officer or officers that fired at him.
A newly created police advisory board was not given the authority to respond to residents’ complaints or recommend disciplinary action.
This story was originally published June 22, 2020 at 2:50 PM.