Providence police response to neighborhood fight sparks outrage from activist group
Katie Mulvaney
PROVIDENCE — The leader of Black Lives Matter RI PAC is accusing Providence police officers of assaulting and pepper-spraying women and children while responding to a neighborhood fight in South Providence on Tuesday night.
Video of the encounter posted to YouTube shows eight police officers standing across Sayles Street from a crowd gathered on the sidewalk. Officers moved to make an arrest after a teenager entered the roadway and gestured at someone nearby. Officers then surged into the crowd and placed several people under arrest.
Officers can be seen deploying pepper spray as people approach those being handcuffed and arrested. One officer warns, “Who wants some more?”
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The officers’ actions drew sharp criticism late Wednesday from Harrison Tuttle, executive director of BLM RI PAC, who accused officers of “brutally” beating and pepper-spraying innocent children. He called for defunding the police and for someone to be held accountable.
At a news conference called Thursday afternoon at the site of the incident, at 260 Sayles St., the Moore family and neighbors told of 18 police cruisers and a prisoner wagon arriving in response to a call about a fight between neighbors. By the time the officers arrived, the fight had ended.
"We were getting ready to go for a walk," Taffii Moore said.
A teenager stepped into the road to gesture at a neighbor. The police then swept onto the property as the adults moved to protect the kids, Moore said. Officers used pepper spray on children as young as 1, leaving them to cry that they were burning, she said.
"They attacked children. They attacked everyone in this house," Moore said as dozens of supporters from the Black Lives Matter and other activist groups looked on. "No justice no peace" read one sign, an oft-heard call over the past year at protests decrying police brutality nationwide. "Family members deserve accountability accountability accountability," said another.
The Providence Police Department did not immediately issue a statement, but a spokeswoman said the department expected to release redacted bodycam footage.
Theresa Agonia, chief of external affairs for Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza, said the Police Department is working to redact identities of youth from the body cam footage.
"This is an ongoing investigation and anyone with video or an account of the incident is encouraged to send them to the Providence Police Department Office of Professional Responsibility by calling (401) 272-3121," Agonia said in an email.
According to Tuttle’s account, police responded to a fight between adult neighbors and “began to mace and beat the children without warning.”
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Tuttle said two girls and two boys were taken into custody, three of whom were under age 18. Another, 21-year-old Zyrray Moore, wept Thursday as she told of trying to protect her younger brothers.
"They were ready to be aggressive," Zyrray said of police. The police charged her with resisting arrest, simple assault and disorderly conduct.
None of the children or adults were armed as baton blows left the teens bruised and shaken, the families said.
“All were beaten and maced by the police and have visible marks on their bodies,” Tuttle said.
Tuttle and the Moores complained, too, that all four taken into custody were held in the back of a hot police van for an hour while struggling to breathe after being sprayed. A female teen had asthma. The police ignored their calls from air conditioning, Zyrray said.
According to Tuttle, another 14-year-old boy, whom he described as a cancer patient, was beaten by a baton while trying to shield another boy. He was taken into custody and held in a separate police car.
“After an incident like this, if lawmakers do not support defunding the police across Rhode Island, they are actively endorsing the brutal beating and near murder of children,” Tuttle said in a news release.
“The thoughts and prayers of the entire Black Lives Matter movement are with the families during this difficult time, but we will stop there. Thoughts and prayers don’t replace action and we will continue to fight for change,” he continued.
Raymond Lee, who shot the video, said he believes the house was targeted due to his work for social justice causes, including Black Lives Matter. He's been calling police for years due to conflicts with neighbors and to stop others from loitering a doing drugs nearby, he said.
Lee can be heard in the video urging calm.
The families are calling for a public apology from the Providence Police Department and for some of the officers involved to be fired and held accountable.
"We're asking for them to be retrained, apologize, fired if they're a repeat offender," Taffii Moore said.