Rubber Bullets, Pepper Spray, Riot Gear: Protest Injuries Raise Concerns About ‘Non-Lethal’ Police Tools
News outlets investigate tactics employed by law enforcement during recent protests of racism and police violence. Calls for reform by protesters and lawmakers are also reported.
The Associated Press:
Injuries At Protests Draw Scrutiny To Use Of Police Weaponry
In law enforcement, they’re referred to as “nonlethal” tools for dealing with demonstrations that turn unruly: rubber bullets, pepper spray, batons, flash-bangs. But the now-familiar scenes of U.S. police officers in riot gear clashing with protesters at Lafayette Park across from the White House and in other cities have police critics charging that the weaponry too often escalates tensions and hurts innocent people. (Neumeister and Hays, 6/21)
Kaiser Health News:
Fractured Skulls, Lost Eyes: Police Often Break Own Rules Using ‘Rubber Bullets’
Megan Matthews thought she was dying. “I thought my head was blown off,” said Matthews, 22, who was hit in the eye with a sponge-tipped projectile fired by law enforcement at a May 29 protest in Denver. “Everything was dark. I couldn’t see.” Matthews, a soft-spoken art major who lives with her mother, had gone to the demonstration against police brutality carrying bandages, water bottles and milk so she could provide first aid to protesters. (Szabo, Hancock, McCoy, Slack and Wagner, 6/19)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Crowds Take To Bay Area Streets To Celebrate Juneteenth, Protest Racism And Police Brutality
Thousands of people gathered for rallies and marches around the Bay Area on Friday to demonstrate against racism and police brutality and participate in a nationwide “day of action” marking the end of slavery in the United States. The biggest of the day’s events was in Oakland, where a peaceful protest along the waterfront closed the Port of Oakland for the day. A smaller but still spirited group in San Francisco urged city officials to defund the Police Department and redistribute the resources into community programs. (Bauman and King, 6/19)
The New York Times:
After Video Shows Apparent Chokehold, N.Y.P.D. Suspends Officer
The New York Police Department on Sunday suspended a police officer who was involved in the arrest of a black man in Queens, after cellphone video of the encounter showed the officer appearing to use an illegal chokehold. The encounter on the Rockaway boardwalk Sunday morning took place only days after the City Council passed a law making the use of a chokehold by the police a criminal offense. It also comes as protesters have marched against police brutality for weeks in New York City and across the nation. (Southall and Zaveri, 6/21)
The New York Times:
From Policing To Climate Change, A Sweeping Call For A ‘Moral Revolution’
A national coalition to address the challenges of the working poor released a sweeping legislative platform in a three-hour virtual rally on Saturday, including proposals to address mass incarceration, health care and wealth inequality. The policy agenda by the coalition, the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, seeks to offer a concrete road map for tackling the systemic injustices that have captured the nation’s attention in recent weeks after the police killing of George Floyd. (Eligon, 6/20)
Politico:
'Defund The Police’ Faces Skepticism — Even In Deeply Liberal Cities
The liberal push to "defund the police" has drawn predictable scorn from conservatives and resistance from more moderate Democrats, including the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Joe Biden. But there’s a more significant obstacle to the growing movement on the left: Democratic politicians in the country’s deep-blue cities. Many of the cities with the highest number of law enforcement per capita on the payroll are urban areas with progressive mayors — including many women and people of color — and Democratic majorities on the city council. That means local leaders in cities like Washington, New York and Atlanta have the power to limit funding for some of the nation’s largest police forces and reallocate that money for programs to shrink the wealth gap and provide stable housing, access to jobs and health care. (McCaskill, 6/19)
Los Angeles Times:
School Police Defunding To Be Consider By L.A. School Board
The Los Angeles Board of Education next week will consider phasing out the school police, essentially eliminating the department over the next four years, a proposal that comes after more than a week of intensifying demands to do so by student advocacy groups and the leadership of the teachers union. Two other competing school board resolutions also call for a review of police operations, but not an outright termination of the department. (Blume, 6/18)
Los Angeles Times:
Protesters Demand Answers For Why 18-Year-Old Latino Man Was Shot By A Sheriff’s Deputy
Protesters and sheriff’s deputies engaged in a tense standoff Sunday evening over the officer-involved shooting of a Gardena man, with authorities using what appeared to be tear gas to disperse a small group who had broken off from the otherwise peaceful demonstration. “We don’t want to see your children hurt,” someone announced from a sheriff’s helicopter that circled overhead, urging families to leave so that they were not exposed to pepper spray or tear gas and to protect themselves from troublemakers. (Mejia, Do and Newberry, 6/21)
NPR:
Sandy Hook Victim's Parents Encourage Protesters To Persevere
The protests since the death of George Floyd are being hailed by many as a watershed moment that might ultimately bring about an end to police brutality and systemic racism. But the high hopes are also tangled up in dark fears that the current uprising will eventually die down and will end up being just one more missed opportunity. Nelba Marquez-Greene, 45, has seen it before. After her 6-year-old daughter, Ana Grace, was killed, along with 25 others, in the 2012 mass shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, she'd hoped that tragedy would mark a turning point. She poured herself into protesting and lobbying for meaningful change. (Smith, 6/21)
The Washington Post:
On Father’s Day, Families Gather In D.C. To Celebrate Black Fatherhood And Challenge Stereotypes
Determined to challenge racial stereotypes, scores of fathers gathered Sunday morning with their children, other relatives and friends at the National Museum of African American History and Culture for a walk to celebrate black fatherhood and commemorate those who were killed by police. On a cloudy and muggy Father’s Day in the nation’s capital, hundreds convened at the site on the Mall to deliver a myth-busting message. They wanted the world to know that they have pride in their families and work hard to nurture them. They shouted the names of their male ancestors, and they showed off their own children .Then they marched through the streets of Washington, as so many have in recent weeks, to demonstrate against racism and police brutality. “Black lives matter! Black dads matter! My dad matters!” the crowd chanted. (Boorstein and Anderson, 6/21)
San Francisco Chronicle:
While Some California Police Unions Promise Change, Others Seek To Undo Reforms
While three of California’s biggest local police unions are taking out full-page newspaper ads promising to back reforms, other law enforcement organizations have pumped more than $2 million into a November ballot measure that would partially overturn laws that some call models for reforming the criminal justice system. Police unions have contributed more than half the nearly $4 million raised for the Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe Act campaign. The ballot initiative would roll back provisions in three measures that were aimed at reducing the state’s prison population, including Proposition 47, a voter-approved 2014 initiative that reclassified several felony crimes as misdemeanors. (Garofoli, 6/18)
Kaiser Health News:
Injured And Uninsured, Protesters Get Medical Aid From LA Doctor
It wasn’t Deon Jones’ fractured cheekbone or even his concussion that most worried Dr. Amir Moarefi. He was most concerned that Jones could go blind. “He sustained a rubber bullet direct injury to the cheek, which broke his zygomatic bone, which is your cheekbone, literally about an inch and a half from his eye and about another inch and a half from his temple,” Moarefi said. The death of George Floyd led to a national wave of protests against police brutality and racism. Law enforcement’s attempts to control impassioned, mostly peaceful crowds has included tactics often deemed “less than lethal,” such as tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets. (Fortier, 6/19)
