Raleigh police bodycam video shows hidden side of violent downtown protests in May

Police body camera footage from the George Floyd protests in downtown Raleigh in May shows that officers deployed tear gas after protesters threw objects at them, according to a review of the videos by The News & Observer.

The videos, released after The N&O petitioned a court, also reveal that some officers mocked demonstrators who were protesting police brutality.

The first time law enforcement used tear gas on May 30, the first night of the protests, came after two hours of peaceful demonstration. A few dozen protesters confronted deputies at the back entrance of the public safety building — the sally port where detainees are brought to the jail.

Eric Curry, a sheriff’s spokesman, and Raleigh Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown both described the situation on McDowell Street the same way: Protesters charged into the sally port and were ordered to back away.

“That is when gas was deployed to move them back immediately,” Curry said, The N&O has reported.

Around the same time, Curry said, “we were pelted with rocks and bricks.”

Police officers used tear gas in the sally port soon after deputies deployed it first., according to a Raleigh Police Department report released earlier this month. Deck-Brown said it was to help the officers get to safety.

The Raleigh Police Department’s written directives say officers must give adequate warning before taking “crowd control actions” such as removing agitators, breaking up the crowd or using chemical agents like tear gas, The N&O previously reported. A law enforcement training manual, developed by the N.C. Justice Academy, says gas should be used only under certain circumstances.

“Chemical munitions should only be used when the crowd is disorderly to the extent of throwing objects, physically attacking officers, or there is imminent threat of either,” according to the manual, which is used to train new officers.

Later, at the nearby intersection of Davie and McDowell streets, officers deployed more tear gas on protesters after rocks and water bottles were thrown again, Deck-Brown said at a news conference the day after. It was not until some in the crowd began to throw bottles and rocks at officers that Raleigh police “escalated their response,” she said.

The weekend of protests involved police and sheriff’s deputies using smoke bombs, pepper spray and more tear gas as protesters threw bottles and rocks and set off fireworks, The N&O reported. At least 45 people were arrested across the city throughout the weekend.

The N&O saw multiple incidents of objects being thrown at officers and deputies in its review of about 20 hours of bodycam footage throughout the first evening of protests. In an inventory of the videos, the footage was labeled with the name of the officer wearing the camera. The N&O lists these names throughout this article.

Objects thrown on camera at sally port

Bodycam footage from Officer Christian Dahmke, who was standing at the other side of the sally port with other police officers watching protesters close in on deputies, began from the moment the first tear gas was deployed by sheriff’s deputies.

In reviewing the videos, The N&O spotted at least nine objects thrown at deputies at the sally port. The deployments of tear gas by both departments in the sally port lasted about three minutes, before most protesters in the area moved away.

Most of the thrown objects can’t be clearly identified because the officers are standing too far from the clash. At one point, a water bottle was clearly thrown at an officer, who ducks out of the way.

Curry later said deputies’ tactical gear protected them from the rocks and bricks, The N&O reported. Police officers in the sally port beside them were not wearing such gear.

After the situation calmed down, more than 30 minutes passed before unrest resumed.

An officer near Dahmke’s bodycam mentioned protesters taking down a fence across the street from the sally port. Another replied, “Let them.”

A different officer added, jokingly: “You want some help?”

Around 10 minutes later, as a protester talked through a megaphone and police officers watched more protesters fill the street in front of them, one officer expressed worry about the crowd reforming.

“We can’t escalate it any further than this,” the officer said. “It’ll cause problems.”

“He’s going to draw in a crowd and we’re going to have people like there were before.”

The Raleigh Police Department’s report on the first nights of protests said 14 officers were injured and 17 police vehicles were damaged during the protests, The N&O previously reported.

The report also found that, in addition to the sheriff’s office’s use of tear gas, police used 250 canisters or grenades of tear gas May 30-31 and more than 250 foam “baton/projectiles.”

“It is believed that this deployment of gas created a more agitated crowd that night,” the report said about the first night of protests.

‘Rocks, rocks, rocks’

Just around the corner from the sally port on Davie Street at the Wake County EMS bay, footage from officer Christina Gori’s bodycam shows protesters running from the tear gas.

“That’s insane,” Gori is heard saying on the video. “I never thought I’d ever see it.”

Around 10 minutes later, Gori and other officers had moved back up the street toward a confrontation between officers in riot gear and protesters.

After law enforcement deployed another tear gas canister, many protesters began running in the direction of the camera. Then, protesters began throwing objects, hitting an officer in the chest and the ground around them.

“Rocks! Rocks! Rocks!” an officer yelled.

A few minutes later, an officer walking away from the confrontation commented to another:

“They’re throwing rocks, I wouldn’t go nowhere near that shit.”

“They’re throwing big rocks,” Gori replied. “Not little ones.”

In other bodycam footage, officers commented on protesters picking up rocks and throwing a traffic cone at a line of officers.

Deck-Brown said five officers were injured during the ensuing mayhem of the first night of protests, including one with a “brain bruise,” The N&O reported.

“What we saw yesterday was violence,” Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said at the news conference on May 31. “And when you start throwing rocks and bricks and pavers at police officers and through windows, that is not peaceful protest.”

‘So much fun watching them run’

Four Raleigh police officers sat in a Gator utility vehicle driving around downtown Raleigh on the night of May 31, the second night of the protests.

The officers had been using the small, fast all-terrain vehicle to catch and arrest protesters. Daniel Twiddy, a senior officer, was sitting in the back seat with his bodycam on.

While sitting at a stoplight for a moment, an officer in the front seat turned around and made a laughing remark.

“As much as I love chasing people down on foot, it’s so much fun watching them run when we’re in the gator,” the officer said. “They just f-----g fall and shit.”

“And we trapped them in that little f-----g tunnel,” another officer replied.

Less than a minute after the remarks, one of the officers broke the silence again.

“I’m going to say we grab at least three more people tonight,” said the officer.

The rest laughed with him.

‘Start spraying and shooting’

The officers’ exchange was one of multiple instances from the two nights of police celebrating arrests and speaking derisively about protesters.

Most of the footage shows officers standing in silence, whether in riot gear in the middle of crowds or guarding places like EMS bays while watching the large groups of protesters from a distance.

But in other moments — while riding in Gator teams, taking water breaks or, in one instance, threatening protesters with gas — police officers broke their silence, often to express how they thought unruly protesters should be handled.

In one video, a group of officers was taking a water break as a frantic radio call came in asking for help. An unidentified officer standing in front of officer Scott Womack’s bodycam remarked: “Start spraying and shooting.”

In another video from the second night, after the situation had calmed down from a flurry of tear gas and rubber bullets used on protesters near the Confederate monument at the state Capitol, officer David McDonald walked up to his peers, exhaling.

“Whoo. More gas,” he said. “That’s what we need.”

Another officer said, “Yeah,” affirming the need to keep gas coming.

Earlier in the evening, in bodycam video from another Gator team, Officer Kyle Perrin can be heard talking about an arrest he had just made of a protester who kicked a tear gas canister.

“Not sure if I was supposed to grab that guy, but I did,” Perrin said.

“I mean, if he kicked a can, f--k him,” said another officer in the vehicle.

Later in the conversation, an officer mentioned that he had found a phone on the ground during the arrest. They weren’t sure whose phone it was.

“I’m going to keep trying the passcode until it locks up for the rest of the year,” he said, laughing.

The Raleigh Police Department, “in the interest of transparency,” has asked a judge to release all body camera videos from the May 30-31 protests, police spokeswoman Donna-maria Harris said in an email.

“With respect to the videos that have been released, we are in the process of conducting an internal review of all of the videos,” she wrote. “Any behaviors or actions that do not align with current policies and procedures will be investigated internally.”

Such investigations could lead to disciplinary action that would become part of officers’ confidential personnel records, she added. The date and type of each dismissal, suspension or demotion of a public employee is considered public information under state law.

Some officers showed restraint, others didn’t

Some footage obtained and viewed by the N&O also showed officers being helpful at times or showing restraint with aggressive protesters.

One video showed an officer in an altercation with a protester who threw punches, one landing before the officer moved away.

Multiple video clips show officers offering and providing medical aid to protesters caught in the middle of clashes. Just minutes after the first tear gas was deployed near the back entrance of the Wake County public safety building, police officers are seen helping a man sitting on the ground by bringing him water and helping him stand back up so he could get to his car. In another, officers attempted to clean a man’s hand that had been cut on glass.

Footage from Twiddy’s bodycam shows the officer politely explaining to a few demonstrators why they couldn’t bring a gun to a protest.

In other situations in which protesters and officers were in close contact, often without masks, bodycam footage showed physical confrontations and violence between the groups.

Multiple videos show demonstrators throwing rocks and other objects at officers in the early evening of the first day. Rocks hit some officers while they weren’t wearing riot gear. On multiple occasions, officers fired gas directly at protesters.

Another piece of footage shows an officer screaming threats at a group of women standing silently in front of a line of officers who were holding wood batons and wearing black vests and helmets with face shields.

“Move back or you’re going to get gassed,” the officer repeatedly yelled. “Move back. Move back now or you’re getting gassed. Move back now or we’re going to gas you.”

Then the officers moved up the street, pushing the women with their batons. Footage from officer Eric Vigeant’s camera shows the officer repeatedly using a baton to shove a female protester, who was standing silently with her fist raised. The officer continued pushing her until the line of protesters and officers reached the end of the street.

After another officer tried moving her by force again, she turned around and yelled. “You’re really going to beat on a 17-year-old f-----g girl?” she said.

Called protesters ‘dumb-dumbs’

In numerous instances, officers antagonized and denigrated protesters when away from crowds, referring to them with obscenities. Officers also described their situations multiple times as “getting attacked.”

In one incident near the public safety building, just more than an hour after the first tear gas was dropped in the early evening, a protester asked an officer why the riot gear was needed.

“Why are we bothering anybody?” he asked.

“Are you causing property damage?” the officer replied.

“No, why would you ask that?” the protester said.

In another instance, while officers in a Gator team drove around downtown at night, they talked about a man they had seen kicking a can of tear gas that was still smoking. At first, they hadn’t known if he was an officer too.

“I didn’t know if it was one of us,” the officer said. “Or if it was dumb-dumbs.”

This story was originally published September 28, 2020 at 3:32 PM.