CLEVELAND — New police body cam video released Tuesday shows a first hand look at the what happened during protest in downtown Cleveland that turned into violent several weeks ago. The night of May 31 further strained the relationship between the Black Lives Matter movement and police, spilling over onto a teleconference between the two sides.
During that discussion, local Black Lives Matter leader, Kareem Henton and an attorney representing the police union, Joseph Delguyd went back and forth on transparency within the department. Coincidentally, the discussion occurred on the same day the city of Cleveland released the body cam footage from the May 31 protest.
The video shows officers struggling with a surging crowd, protesters being arrested, some officers getting hit with objects, a commander giving the order for protesters to disperse and police deploying flash bangs to push the crowd back.
Henton says, however, that the cameras don’t show the full story because only some of the officers were wearing cameras.
“Many of those officers that had that riot gear were not fitted with cameras,” says Henton.
There was footage from about a half dozen police body cameras released as a matter of public record, but all ended in the daylight, before things took another turn.
Of course, we know now the night ended with 99 arrests, some buildings and cars broken into and looted and some even set on fire.
That night in Cleveland, as well as many like it around the country have led to discussions about defunding police, retraining, police and community relations and more, with politicians and citizens weighing in from all walks of life.
