Raleigh police used expired tear gas on George Floyd protesters, new report says
Raleigh police used expired tear gas on protesters and, in at least one case, used tear gas on protesters in error, according to a new report released Tuesday.
Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown presented the nearly 60-page report on the Police Department’s response and use of force during the city’s protests over the death of George Floyd in late May and early June.
The department’s response from May 30 to June 7 cost about $1.4 million, with more than $800,000 in costs coming from officer overtime.
Fourteen officers were injured, and 17 police vehicles were damaged during the protests, according to the report.
There were 153 reported burglaries, 71 reports of property damage and six reported incidents of arson, Deck-Brown told the City Council. There have been 106 arrests stemming from the protests, she said.
After an initially peaceful demonstration May 30, law enforcement officers repeatedly launched tear gas and foam batons — sometimes called rubber bullets — at protesters. Some demonstrators threw water bottles, rocks and fireworks at police, and downtown windows were smashed and some stores robbed.
Police deployed 250 canisters or grenades of tear gas May 30 and May 31, the report said. More than 250 foam “baton/projectiles” were also used on those days. The report doesn’t include tear gas or foam bullets used by other law enforcement agencies.
Raleigh also hired 21CP Solutions to review the police department’s policies and procedures. That report is expected next month.
Tear gas deployed in error
At least one of the department’s uses of tear gas on protesters was a mistake, according to the report.
“This should not have happened,” Deck-Brown said.
On the second day of protests, people blocked Morgan Street, and officers used tear gas to clear the street for an ambulance needed on a nearby medical call. But the ambulance call was canceled, the report stated, and word did not get to officers on the scene.
“This lack of communication and the failure to confirm the need to clear the street with gas resulted in a gas deployment that should have been avoided,” according to the report.
“It is believed that this deployment of gas created a more agitated crowd that night,” it continued. “Additional looting, property damage, and arson occurred in the downtown area, North Hills and Triangle Town Center.”
The Raleigh Police Department has used tear gas rarely in 50 years: once during riots after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and once for riots during N.C. State University’s 1974 NCAA basketball championship run.
Expired tear gas
The report also confirmed that some expired tear gas canisters were used during the protests.
“While the RPD did deploy some expired gas canisters, there is no scientific evidence to support claims that expired CS (tear) gas contains harmful levels of cyanide,” according to the report.
The city used the expired canisters, Deck-Brown told reporters after her presentation Tuesday, “because we had them” and the gas becomes less potent.
Experts previously interviewed by The News & Observer stated the “levels of cyanide found in tear gas are unlikely to cause any immediate harm” and more research on tear gas was needed.
However, Sven-Eric Jordt, a researcher at Duke University who has studied tear gas, previously told The N&O that expired tear gas canisters “do become more dangerous to use.”
When an N&O reporter brought up the research, Deck-Brown said she had “answered that question.”
“The Raleigh Police Department remains committed to bettering itself through study and careful analysis of these events,” Deck-Brown wrote in the report. “Internal analysis of deployment strategies, tactics, munitions and effective public dialog continue to this day. The Raleigh Police Department has striven to be as transparent as possible in its examination of these events, while at the same time not compromising the safety of officers who continue to respond to civil unrest.”
This story was originally published September 15, 2020 at 4:04 PM.
