By Linh Nguyen and Julietta Bisharyan
DALLAS / LAS VEGAS / DENVER / PORTLAND, OR – Videos from the George Floyd protests show police officers arresting and shooting rubber bullets at innocent bystanders, including a pregnant woman in a passing car and a woman carrying groceries home.
While police attempt to block off roads to areas where large groups of demonstrators gather to protest against police brutality and for racial justice, to contain the crowd and keep non-protesters out, unsuspecting non-participants are still harassed and targeted by police officers.
In Las Vegas, a non-protester was recording officers arresting protesters. The man recording the video did not interfere with the police or speak to them in any way.
6️⃣6️⃣ Las Vegas, NV: police arrest one guy minding his own business walking across the street
And then, to the unarmed non-protestor filming, point and say "You're next! You're next!"
[IG at https://t.co/f3spT4iSIe] pic.twitter.com/3optjuBsT6
— T. Greg Doucette (@greg_doucette) June 1, 2020
The video shows an officer dragging a presumed protester on the ground. Another pair of officers dragged another protester away while he said, “I did nothing. All I said was say ‘no justice, no peace.’ That’s all I did.”
The camera continues to pan on the moving officers. One officer is walking backwards and points to the man recording the video, saying, “You’re next!” to which the non-protester nonchalantly said, “Oh, ok.”
Though it is unknown whether he was actually arrested, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department reported 80 arrests and 12 officer injuries on the first day of protests on May 30, 2020.
On June 2, Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak authorized additional members of the Nevada National Guard to provide support for state and local law enforcement in response to a local request in Southern Nevada.
“The Nevada National Guard units will not be on the front lines, making arrests or doing crowd control,” the press release said. “Their mission is to act as support personnel and they will focus on protecting critical facilities, preserving public safety, and allowing individuals to exercise their rights to peacefully demonstrate.”
In Dallas, pictures posted to Twitter show a woman shot in the head with a rubber bullet pellet by officers. She was not a protester; she was walking home with her groceries.
4️⃣0️⃣ Dallas, TX: police shoot a totally innocent bystander – a woman walking home with her groceries – in the head for sport pic.twitter.com/Gdgiu11aaj
— T. Greg Doucette (@greg_doucette) May 31, 2020
The graphic images show blood dripping down the woman’s face. In the third image, an officer is providing her aid by appearing to stop the bleeding from her forehead.
That day, the Dallas Police Department reported 74 arrests. Tear gas and rubber pellets were deployed to disperse the crowds downtown.
After a week of protests, the Dallas Police Department announced new policies to reform their police system. These include banning chokeholds and any force intended to restrict a person’s airway, warning before shooting, creating guidelines to release body camera and dashboard camera video of critical incidents, and intervening in any situation where force is applied inappropriately.
One video posted on Twitter shows police officers in Denver, CO, discharging tear gas at a non-protester’s car stuck in traffic. The video has over 6.5 million views.
The driver of the vehicle steps out to yell at the officers, who are gathered across the street, saying that there is a pregnant woman sitting in the passenger seat. The man stops his car in front of the crosswalk as multiple cars drive by.
“You’re going to shoot my car with a f—ing pepper ball with my girlfriend in it? My pregnant f—ing girlfriend in it?” the man yells repeatedly. “Shoot it again! She’s f—ing pregnant.”
The officers then begin to shoot at the car multiple times as the woman inside screams. Clouds of smoke form around the car as the driver tries to dodge it.
“There’s a pregnant woman in the car!” yells the man one last time, pointing at his car while looking at the surrounding bystanders. He then sits back inside and drives off with the police still shooting at him.
Another video shows the aftermath of what appears to be police officers tear-gassing a camp of homeless non-protestors in Portland, OR. The camp is located at Naito Parkway, a major thoroughfare, and looks washed over with the smoke.
The camera man points out five police officers walking away from the camp toward their cars. The quiet street appears empty of any protestors. He observes that the homeless people appear to be fine but then starts to roll up his window once the gas reaches his vehicle.
“That’s really f—ed up,” he says before driving away from the scene.
