Phoenix police chief: Officers acted properly at Trump rally protests
Phoenix police warned demonstrators before releasing pepper spray and gas in the moments after President Donald Trump's rally Tuesday, but that warning may not have reached everyone, Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams said.
Amid charges of civil-rights violations and complaints by some protesters that police struck without provocation, Williams commended her officers, saying she was proud of their professionalism in a tense environment.
PREVIOUSLY:Phoenix police chief denies aftermath of Trump rally was 'chaos'
Groups such as the ACLU of Arizona are calling for an independent investigation, saying that Phoenix officers failed to protect the First Amendment rights of demonstrators. The group is asking people to submit photos or video showing excessive use of force by police.
Williams said officers showed restraint.
“As a matter of fact, we restrained from using more force,” she said. “We didn’t rush the line, we gave people the opportunity to make the decision to (depart) and go home and create a peaceful scenario and situation,” Williams said.
She addressed allegations by a Tempe city councilman and former state senator, along with others at the demonstration, that police were too quick to use aggressive crowd-control tactics. Police used smoke canisters, pepper spray, gas and flash-bangs on a largely peaceful crowd.
“We did warn people,” Williams said in a Wednesday interview with The Republic.
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'... then people started running'
Tempe Councilman David Schapira said police did not warn demonstrators in his vicinity before releasing pepper spray. Demonstrators said they were shocked when gas and pepper spray were released at a crowd that included children, people in wheelchairs and elderly people.
Schapira told The Republic that he was with his wife handing out water bottles to the crowd.
"Next thing I knew I heard a pop," he said, "then people started running."
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He posted a video of the melee and a statement on his social media accounts.
"We witnessed no provocation, only peaceful protest,” he said. “There was no warning. Tear gas was also widely deployed before we heard any warnings to disperse."
He added that he didn’t see anyone throw rocks, gas canisters or water bottles at officers.
While Schapira said he couldn't see what was happening in all areas of the demonstration, he said that in the area he was standing, where the first pepper ball spray was deployed, he saw no provocation.
“Everything was peaceful," he said.
Several demonstrators said they saw people throw water bottles at police. One demonstrator told The Republic that after police dispersed the gas, one canister landed at the feet of someone in the crowd who threw it back toward officers and away from the crowd.
MORE:Phoenix police say they will investigate use of force at Trump rally
Williams said it was unfortunate that a few people were to blame for the unraveling of a peaceful demonstration.
She said police arrested four people.
Williams: 'We gave the warning'
Williams said officers did warn demonstrators, but that those warnings might not have reached everyone.
“Maybe you weren’t there to hear that or listen for that, (but) the air unit was overhead making announcements and warnings," she said.
But Williams said officers were reacting to provocations.
The International Association of Chiefs of Police National Law Enforcement Policy, which provides model policy for public-safety agencies, has stated that restraint spray “should not be used indiscriminately against groups of people; in demonstrations or crowds where bystanders or other officers would be unreasonably affected; or against passively resistant individuals.” And that “a warning should be issued prior to the use of these systems, whenever reasonably possible."
Williams said officers dressed in riot gear is also a form of a warning. She said that if police hadn't reacted, there could've been a greater risk to the public's safety.
"To me, under the circumstances, they (police) did an amazing job last night," she said.
Trump supporters and opponents arrived hours early at the Phoenix Convention Center where Trump spoke. They waited in 100-plus-degree weather, taunting and yelling at one another. Police separated the opposing sides using a street, creating boundaries with metal fencing and large plastic barriers.
The demonstrators were largely non-violent. Amid the rhetoric, there were people singing songs and playing music, and a group of indigenous people lit sage and prayed.
A change in the mood
The mood changed as Trump’s speech ended. Demonstrators began booing people leaving the convention center.
About 8:45 p.m., police said a few people began throwing rocks and bottles at police and someone dispersed gas on Monroe Street near the Herberger Theater Center a block from the convention center.
Officers in riot gear threw smoke canisters, pepper spray and flash bangs at the crowd.
MORE:Police disperse Trump protest crowd with pepper spray outside rally
Williams said the standoff started when police tried to control a skirmish. And someone hurled something at police, she said.
She said some sort of “lighted device” was hurled at officers while they formed a line, and police were aware of a fight going on in the middle of the crowd. She also reinforced police officials’ statements Tuesday that gas was thrown on police by someone in the crowd.
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Williams said that her office will launch a standard review of police actions. She invited members of the public upset by police actions to meet with her.
“I know people are angry. There are some groups out there that are very angry with law enforcement,” she said. “I would challenge them to be angry with the people that created the dynamic that forced my officers to have to go in and create a situation where our city is safe, there’s no property damage and there were no major injuries to anyone.”
Calls for an independent investigation
Tuesday night, the Arizona chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union called on people at the protest to contact their office if they believe their rights to peacefully protest were violated.
On Wednesday, the organization issued a news release calling for an independent investigation and asking the public to submit witness accounts and video or photographs showing excessive use of force by police.
“The police failed to protect the First Amendment rights of protesters,” Alessandra Soler, executive director of the ACLU of Arizona, said in a statement.
MORE:How many people were in downtown Phoenix for Trump rally, protests?
Soler said police violated demonstrators’ First Amendment rights.
“They used harmful chemical agents against a peaceful crowd, which turned a nonviolent gathering into one where many, many people were harmed,” she said. “Law enforcement’s decision to swiftly and brutally end hours of civil protest could profoundly chill the freedoms of speech and assembly in Phoenix for years to come.”
Demonstrators have contacted the organization to report police action.
“We have received many complaints that people, including children and people with mobility and respiratory issues, were taken by surprise when the police bombarded them with chemical irritants, with no warning,” she said.
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"Who in the future would want to take the risk to protest in Phoenix when it is clear that the city’s police department will take physical action against them without cause or notice?" she said.
The organization had more than 70 legal observers at the rally to document law enforcement actions.
"Many of our legal observers, who were themselves hit with chemical irritants, reported the police attacked peaceful crowds, even continuing to harass and intimidate people who had retreated to receive medical attention," she said.
She balked at a Phoenix police-managed review.
"We do not have faith that the law enforcement agencies involved in this abuse of power will hold themselves accountable so we are calling for an independent investigation that will provide real answers," she said.
Reporters Jerod MacDonald-Evoy, Kaila White and Megan Cassidy contributed to this article.
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