Florida police laugh after shooting protesters with rubber bullets
By Kelli Kennedy
Associated Press
July 2, 2020
FORT
LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Newly released body camera footage shows
Florida police officers laughing and celebrating after shooting rubber
bullets at a protest last month in which a Black woman was shot in the
face and seriously injured.
Fort
Lauderdale police posted a video on its official YouTube channel
Wednesday taken from the body camera of Detective Zachary Baro, who was
leading the department’s SWAT team unit on May 31. At one point in the
video, Baro can be heard saying, “Beat it” and using a profanity, after
officers shot the less-lethal projectiles.
“I
just didn’t want to think that the police did that,” she said. “I still
want to understand why ... not having those answers, it does leave me
in a place of frustration.”
LaToya
Ratlieff was hit in the face with a rubber bullet during what had been a
largely peaceful demonstration less than a week after the death of
George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.
The 34-year-old said she suffered a fractured skull and required 20 stitches. She couldn’t eat for a week and still has trouble seeing out of one blood-filled eye.
The 34-year-old said she suffered a fractured skull and required 20 stitches. She couldn’t eat for a week and still has trouble seeing out of one blood-filled eye.
She’s
asked to sit down with the police department to discuss reform and make
sure there’s accountability going forward. However, her spokesman, Evan
Ross, said the city has not yet accepted her invitation.
“I’m heartbroken. We deserve better,” she said in response to the latest video.
A
Fort Lauderdale police officer was charged with battery during that
same protest after video showed he pushed a kneeling woman to the
ground. Witnesses said the peaceful gathering took an angry turn after
that and protesters responded by throwing bottles. The officer’s
colleagues quickly pushed him away from the woman and down the street.
During
another section of the new video released Wednesday, Baro incorrectly
tells another officer that his camera is not recording and the two
officers begin laughing and joking about the people they had shot with
rubber bullets.
Fort
Lauderdale Police Chief Rick Maglione said the department was
conducting an exhaustive review of nearly 8,000 minutes of body camera
footage, with a report to be completed within the next month.
“The
entire video clearly demonstrates our officers were under attack by a
group of people who chose to use violence instead of peace to antagonize
the situation,” Maglione said in a statement. “Although the language is
extreme, and offensive to some, our officers were dealing with the
chaos of a developing situation.”
Several
disturbing videos have emerged from that protest in recent weeks.
Ratlieff said they’re traumatizing and make her feel like she’s reliving
the moment. She often turns them off.
One
graphic witness video shows Ratlieff wearing a bright pink backpack,
bending over and coughing from the tear gas. As she walks away from
police, they fire a rubber bullet and a protester grabs her hand and
tries to hurry her. A second shot cracks loudly through the air and
Ratlieff crumples to the concrete with a bone-chilling cry.
“She’s
hurt, she’s hurt. She’s bleeding,” a witness screams frantically, as
several gather around her and blood is seen pouring onto the ground.
A stranger tore off his shirt and applied pressure to her head as another stranger drove her to the hospital.
Ratlieff
has an attorney, but hasn't filed a lawsuit, saying it's not about
money. She testified this week before the U.S. House Subcommittee on
Civil Rights & Civil Liberties during a briefing on government
violence against peaceful civil rights protesters.
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