Peduto orders investigation into police actions at East Liberty protest
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Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto on Wednesday ordered an investigation into police tactics used to disperse protesters from the streets of East Liberty on Monday night.
“Without question,” Peduto said, “there is a difference of opinion about what happened that day and the appropriateness of the actions of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police.”
The order comes after Peduto was provided a written transcript of police command radio communications. The communications among police on the scene Monday night were not broadcast on a public scanner channel; rather, they were likely done via one of the bureau’s encrypted channels.
“For the past 36 hours, I have studied best practices of less lethal crowd dispersion, I have read countless comments on social media and viewed first-hand video, photographs and accounts,” he said. “The Public Safety Director provided me with the written official transcripts of all Command operations during that day and I have talked with every person in the Command rank who was on the ground or in the Command Center.”
He said he has asked the Office of Municipal Investigations to do a full investigation along with the Citizens Police Review Board in conjunction with the American Civil Liberties Unions, the local NAACP and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Officials with the Department of Public Safety could not immediately be reached for comment.
There was no reason for the mayor to announce the investigation, said Bob Swartzwelder, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Fort Pitt Lodge No. 1, the union representing Pittsburgh police officers.
“Him launching this publicly clearly demonstrates he doesn’t support his command staff and officers,” Swartzwelder said. “He’s clearly demonstrating he has no confidence.”
The hours-long peaceful protest through East Liberty fell apart around 7 p.m., and stories diverge as to which side escalated the situation.
Police officials said late Monday night that a group of protesters broke off as the peaceful protest wound down and began damaging businesses and throwing rocks at police. Authorities said Monday night they used only smoke to disperse the crowd, noting that crowd munitions were not used in East Liberty that night.
Police did not respond to a request for how the bureau defines “crowd munitions.”
A spokesman said Tuesday morning that tear gas was used – just not at the initial location of the violence, which police said was near the intersection of Centre and Negley avenues.
In a letter to the Office of Municipal Investigations, Peduto asked for investigations to look into a slew of questions related to communications, tactical operations, what took place at Centre and Negley, and any police/protester conflicts.
Among those questions is what actions were taken before the event to communicate with march leaders, and what was done during the march to assure a “safe, peaceful protests for all involved?”
He also asked about when and where gas was deployed and who requested the switch from smoke to gas. Asked similar questions Tuesday by the Tribune-Review, Public Safety spokesman Chris Togneri said anything not discussed at the Monday night press briefing was under investigation.
The mayor also asked the Office of Municipal Investigations to look into the necessity of police using less lethal operations – nondeadly force that can include gas and rubber bullets – and whether the use was proportional to the situation.
He asked for the evidence that was used to determine the splinter group was an unlawful assembly. The letter indicated that publicly available footage of the skirmishes as well as video recorded by private citizens at the scene will be available to investigators.
Peduto, in a final ask in the letter, requests “a review and evidence of the reported crimes that occurred during and after this march,” including “any and all reports of inappropriate police actions or other crimes reported by the public.”
“It is critical to understand the actual situation that was occurring … and if these reports can be backed up with evidence,” he wrote.