Sergeant turned off body camera during CMPD clash with protesters in June

CHARLOTTE — Channel 9 has sifted through more than 50 body camera videos detailing the events from the night of June 2, when the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department gassed protesters while they were marching in uptown.

[CLICK HERE to watch CMPD’s unedited body cam footage -- viewer discretion is advised]

The department released the videos on Wednesday. Since then, we have uncovered new information about why a sergeant was disciplined after the incident and gotten our hands on exclusive radio transmission further confirming the incident was planned by police.

Nationwide Black Lives Matter protests were sparked following the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis.

In a video taken by Queen City Nerve, a group of several protesters was trapped on Fourth Street as police shot tear gas and pepper-spray bullets at them. It is a maneuver designed to control large crowds, where officers corral in this case protesters who aren’t obeying commands in order to make arrests.

Protesters said they had nowhere to go and tried to crawl under a parking garage gate. Officers said the protesters did not obey their commands to disperse. In the aftermath, several groups sued the department, preventing CMPD from using chemical agents like tear gas.

Last month, a judge removed a temporary restraining over and allowed CMPD to use chemical agents as a form of crowd control again.

Channel 9 saw this in action several times earlier this week when officers used pepper spray to break up and disperse demonstrators protesting over the Republican National Convention in town.

Protesters hit the streets after CMPD released body cam video of kettling incident

Under the department’s revised policy, officers are required to give additional dispersal orders and they can’t block escape routes.

CMPD Police Chief Johnny Jennings called on the body cam video to be released to give a clearer picture of what happened. He said that he wants to be transparent and make sure people can judge for themselves when they see the body camera video from that night.

During a Wednesday morning news conference ahead of the release of the body camera footage, CMPD said it “proactively petitioned the court asking for the release of the videos because it is critical that the community has the opportunity to see the way that they’re served.”

The department went on to say that it has concluded that the actions taken by their officers that night did not violate any policies at that time, but have since made several policy updates since June 2.

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Here are some of those policy changes:

• Additional dispersal orders will be given if time elapses before officers use pepper spray or other chemical agents
• Exit routes will be announced before police deploy those agents
• Officers will not block exit routes so demonstrators can get away safely
• Riot control agents -- like tear gas and pepper spray -- will not block exits

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Jennings also said they had identified a supervisor in the footage who made “unprofessional, insensitive and unacceptable comments” during the demonstration and that he has been disciplined within the department policy.

Jennings said that the supervisor, a sergeant, made the comments in a private conversation. He was suspended for two weeks and will not be eligible for promotions for the next two years.

Channel 9 reporter Mark Becker sifted through the videos Wednesday afternoon and found the footage of the sergeant who Jennings spoke about. In the video, he can be heard telling another officer about a plan to gas protesters on 4th Street.

“We’re gonna push their (expletive) straight up, straight up 4th. As soon as they get up on 4th because we have a bottleneck now, (inaudible) squad is going to step up and hammer their (expletive),” he can be heard saying in the video. “Wave goodbye. They’re all about to get gassed.”

In the final seconds of the footage, the sergeant’s hand comes up and then the video stops.

(WATCH: Below is a portion of the CMPD body cam footage from June 2)

BODY CAM VIDEO: Portion of CMPD body cam video from June 2

Moments later, officers fired tear gas into the crowd.

Channel 9 asked officials why the video ended abruptly and we uncovered that the sergeant was not only disciplined for what he said, but also because sources tell us he physically turned off his body worn camera.

CMPD sent us a statement saying, “These actions were a part of the internal investigation and discipline determination.”

Under the department’s policy, those cameras are supposed to be on when officers encounter the public.

“We’re human, we’re always, there’s always gonna be mistakes that are made,” Jennings said. “I think what we need to be judged by is how do we get better after mistakes are made and how do we better serve our community.”

Initially, after the incident, police had said they did not deliberately bottle up the protesters on 4th Street before they fired tear gas. After watching the video, and specifically hearing what that audio, many said it’s clear that was the plan.

Becker also got his hands on exclusive radio transmission that revealed it wasn’t the sergeant who was calling the shots, but instead officers at police headquarters.

“We’ve got both sides of 4th on college. If they continue up College, we can still do what you had in mind,” an officer says over the radio.

Once the chemical agents were deployed, an officer can be heard saying, “Command looks like you got them on the run. Yes sir, it was a good push.”

The radio transmission paired with the body cam video further confirm that officers knew what was coming as the protesters marched up the street.

‘We’re not done': New CMPD chief lays out policing policy changes

Robert Dawkins of Action NC told Channel 9 it raises more questions about trust between police and the community.

“When you listen to the sergeant, he says, ‘What we’re going to do is bottleneck them, and then we’re going to fire on their (expletive),’ so it shows that it was premeditated and what I believe is, aside from policing, what it shows is this was a reactionary response because they didn’t like the way the protesters were protesting,” Dawkins said.

Jennings has outlined specific changes in the department’s policies after the June incident in an effort to make sure it doesn’t happen again, but Dawkins said he’ll have to see that in action, and that currently, he has trouble trusting that the change is real.

Getting access to body warn camera videos isn’t easy. By state law, a judge has to decide to release them to the public.

North Carolina Senator Jeff Jackson has been really outspoken about the June incident and believes the current law makes it too hard to view the video.

“I have looked at all the available evidence, and it appears to me to be an obvious, excessive use of force. So, i am going to involve myself in the situation, respecting everyone’s authority and where that authority lies. I will also take some responsibility for state laws that need to change -- one being the one we just mentioned- the body camera law. That is something i am personally going to work on.”

Judge: CMPD can use chemical agents against protesters Judge: CMPD can use chemical agents against protesters

Cox Media Group