Pawtucket still hasn't released video of Black man's arrest May 2. The ACLU weighs in.
PAWTUCKET – The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island is calling for the release of police body-camera footage of a May arrest at a senior housing project that led to a tense exchange between the police chief and a City Council member.
Pawtucket police arrested an 83-year-old man on May 2 at Fogarty Gardens after a manager at the apartment complex reported that the man was berating fellow residents at a tenants' association meeting and refusing to leave.
State Rep. Cherie Cruz, whom the defendant called after his arrest, and Councilman Clovis Gregor went to the police station and attempted to see the man. When officers declined, the two elected officials left business cards and departed.
That appeared to be the end of it until Gregor, during a council meeting, said he was concerned about the arrest of an elderly Black man coming after a city employee was fired for racist social media posts.
Police Chief Tina Goncalves wrote a letter to the council saying the body-camera footage supported officers' accounts of the arrest, and she accused Cruz and Gregor of launching "politically motivated attacks" against the Police Department.
But in the weeks since the arrest, police have not released the body-camera footage Goncalves referred to in her letter.
"The footage, as acknowledged by your letter, is both clearly relevant and technically ready for public review," ACLU Rhode Island Executive Director Steven Brown wrote in a Thursday letter. "In recent years, we have seen police departments across the state expeditiously – sometimes within a day or two – release body camera footage of controversial police-civilian encounters in order to promote transparency. It seems to us that this highly publicized incident, made even more public by your letter, similarly warrants prompt release of the video evidence."
The Journal filed an Access to Public Records Request for the video on June 5. On June 1, an outside legal counsel for Pawtucket charged the Journal $120 to produce footage from the nine officers who responded to Fogarty Manor.
The Journal is appealing the charge to Attorney General Peter Neronha.
The incident is being closely watched by political observers because Cruz is facing a primary challenge this year from Elizabeth Moreira, a former city health director backed by Mayor Donald Grebien.
In addition to calling for the body-camera footage, Brown wrote that he was "deeply disturbed" by Goncalves accusing Cruz and Gregor of using their positions to "gain favor" when they tried to check on a constituent.
"Respectfully, having two public officials check on the condition of a constituent who had been arrested after a violent struggle – regardless of who was at fault – and then leaving their contact information is a sign of themdoing their job, not a 'politically motivated attack'," Brown wrote.
Asked for a response, Grebien's office released an email from Goncalves saying her earlier letter "stated the facts of the situation that occurred at Fogarty Manor, in addition to the incident that took place at police headquarters with Representative Cruz & Councilor Gregor. There had been some allegations of misconduct being spread by Councilor Gregor at a previous council meeting."
"In terms of releasing the bodycam footage, as the ACLU indicated in their own letter, we can not release it while an investigation/prosecution is still ongoing," she said. Pawtucket police "will release the video when we can."
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: ACLU calls on Pawtucket to release video of arrest of Black man, 83
