KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Videos of the Proud Boys rally that turned violent last month are now available to the public, the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety announced Wednesday.
This comes after a press conference Tuesday, during which several videos were played along with a timeline of events from the KDPS perspective.
The videos are presented to the public in a playlist format through the KDPS Transparency page. That can be found by following this link.
In total, there are ten different videos to view, with the first being the press conference from Tuesday. The others include police body camera footage, videos submitted by the public, traffic camera footage and more.
During the conference, KDPS officials said that the videos appeared to show members of the counter-protest group as the initial instigators of the violence. They pointed to one man in particular wearing a gray shirt as the perpetrator of the first assault, who they said had thrown a cup filled with frozen liquid at the group. Police say this escalated the situation into various assaults.
Members of the Proud Boys, identified as a classified hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, had previously spoken to other news outlets about the incident, saying that they had been attacked by counter-protesters first. Police said that they had been in contact with the organizer of the counter-protest at Arcadia Creek Festival Place, while no details were provided by the Proud Boys for their march.
Assistant Chief David Boysen said that the group had advertised their march as taking place at 2:00, when the group actually began their demonstration at 1:30 p.m. Boysen said they later learned this was done intentionally to throw off the police response.
Criticism has been aimed at KDPS and city leaders for their response to the incident, saying that there was less police presence during this incident than there was for a Black Lives Matter march that took place earlier this year. That criticism continued to be voiced during a City Commission meeting Tuesday night, during which several citizens were calling for resignation of multiple city and police officials.
Public Safety Chief Karianne Thomas says that the less visible presence was part of their strategy for the event, citing concerns that police presence would aggravate tensions.
“We had seen elsewhere and had experience that the visual of a police cruiser can sometimes cause people to damage those, and we wanted to avoid that,” Thomas said.
Assistant Chief Vernon Coakley was in the area the day of the protest, August 15. Images and footage he provided revealed counter-protesters armed with assault rifles, while others were carrying batons and other weapons. Coakley added one appeared to have a “shank” on his arm.
He said that this changed the situation.
The organizer of the counter-protest, Pastor Nathan Dannison, told WWMT on Wednesday that his event was meant to be a peaceful prayer protest. He said he did not call for help from the Michigan People’s League Defense, who were stationed at Arcadia Creek with assault rifles.
In response to having the Proud Boys leave, rather than making arrests, Assistant Chief Boysen said they wanted to get them out of town as fast as possible to deescalate the situation.
“We knew that the longer they stayed, the more fights we would have, and we just wanted them out of town,” Boysen said. “We just wanted them out of town, we did deploy officers to hold the people back so they could leave the ramp and leave town.”
Ultimately, nine people were arrested, including an MLive reporter and a Legal Observer. Charges have since been dropped in all cases except for one, which involved resisting and obstruction of police. Public Safety Chief Karianne Thomas apologized for the reporter’s arrest during a previous press conference.
Chief Thomas says that going forward, education will be crucial to prevent future media arrests. This is discussed in the subcommittee report released last month, highlighting media relations with police. A draft of that plan can now be viewed at the City of Kalamazoo website.
“These are definitely learning lessons that we have to take and figure out how we get better in these types of situations so that they don’t occur again,” Thomas said.
Charges against Proud Boys members have not been filed, but Assistant Chief Boysen said that more video footage is being investigated at this time. This could lead to separate charges at a later date. Officials added that more video material will be made to the public as they are reviewed.
Meanwhile, KDPS is urging anyone who was a victim of a crime during this rally, or who has further evidence, to come forward. A statement on the KDPS transparency page reads as follows:
“Any members of the public who were victims of a crime are asked to come forward so these crimes can be investigated. Additionally, any members of the public that have photo or video evidence of criminal activity are asked to share it with law enforcement to assist with this ongoing investigation. Please call KDPS non-emergency (269) 488-8911 to report any incidents or to provide any photos, video or other information. You may also contact Silent Observer at (269) 343-2100 or www.kalamazoosilentobserver.com.”
In a related matter, The City of Kalamazoo is conducting a full internal review and is seeking an independent investigation into how its Department of Public Safety prepared for and responded to the Proud Boys march.
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