ST. JOHNSBURY — Police Chief Tim Page says the woman who tumbled down the steps of his department Wednesday — after an officer pushed her out of his way — was “not an innocent little girl.”
“All she had to do was not be there,” said Page, explaining that the woman was blocking officers from entering the station as they tried to book four people arrested during a protest against police violence that afternoon.
The confrontation, captured on video and shared widely in the day since, marked a flashpoint during the downtown demonstration on police brutality against black people — inspired by the nationwide unrest over the May 25 death of George Floyd after a Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee on his neck for several minutes.
Between 150 and 200 people turned out for the St. Johnsbury event, one of several recently held across the state. Among the participants was Brian McCann, a 58-year-old town resident and one of those arrested.
McCann said he was working on a porch down the street around 1:50 p.m. when he heard the demonstration and decided to participate. After joining the crowd, he said he noticed Page not wearing a body camera.
“I just kept at him,” McCann said, referring to Page.
After peppering Page about the lack of a body camera, the chief turned and said, “I don’t answer to you,” according to McCann, who faces a disorderly conduct citation.
Page could not be reached Thursday evening to respond to McCann’s comments, which came after the chief first spoke to VTDigger.
McCann is shown in videos being pushed by an officer and trying repeatedly to get in front of the officer. He can be heard asking about the cameras.
Confirming the police account of the incident, McCann said the arrests began when a man refused to leave the roadway.
Page said he had asked the man to move, and that the man replied he wouldn’t unless he was arrested. So the chief arrested him, he said.
McCann didn’t like how that was handled. “It seemed like they put (him) in handcuffs as a show, honestly,” he said.
The rest of the crowd didn’t like it either. McCann said that’s when people started yelling at officers.
Page said their actions went beyond words. “They refused (to leave the road), they started chanting, they surrounded me,” he said.
Then, he said, people in the crowd began pushing and elbowing police, blocking their path and stepping on their toes.
That’s why he is disturbed by the amount of public and media attention in the clip of the woman being pushed atop the department’s steps, he said.
McCann said he didn’t see anything physical in the scrum prior to the incident with the young woman.
“There was a lot of yelling,” he said. “I didn’t see anyone get hit. I didn’t see anyone hit anyone.”
McCann is shown in videos of the confrontation between the police officer and the female protester. He wears a blue shirt, brown pants and a cap.
He is facing the station door, only a few feet away, when the contact happens.
Videos from multiple angles show the officer put his hand in the woman’s underarm area and shove her away from the door. He then continues to try to escort the arrestees. Page said the officer did not intend to throw the woman down the stairs.
McCann didn’t see the contact itself because of where he was standing, but “what I heard was like this complete, surging roar from everybody,” he said.
Videos captured the crowd’s outrage — and also show McCann suddenly hop the railing of the stairs before being chased down and handcuffed by police
He said he was afraid the crowd would trample him in the small space of the stairway, so he jumped to the ground for safety.
Footage from the moments afterward shows protesters screaming at police as they struggle to move the arrested people into the building.
“We tried to be peaceful,” yells one protester. “You’re the ones that aren’t peaceful.”
At least one officer appears to fight for control of the door before it finally shuts. As an obscenity laced chant begins, a protester sitting nearby whacks the glass door with a cardboard sign.
Inside the station, said McCann, police put him and two other arrestees in a cell. The handcuffs were too tight, he said, and at some point an officer loosened them.
Ten or 15 minutes later, he said, he was released with an order to appear in court in July.
The escalation spurred anger on social media in the hours after the protest, spreading amid a slew of other widely publicized examples of police aggression toward protesters and journalists across the country. The woman who tumbled down the stairs did not respond to an interview request with VTDigger.
The arrests were an unnecessary step, McCann believes.
Page said he had spoken to the protest organizers ahead of time and that they had agreed not to block the road or crowd on sidewalks. He said he had also been told only a few people would show up. And he said the four protesters arrested had either been in the road or had pushed or harassed police during the fallout.
An organizer of the protest did not respond to a request for comment.
Late Wednesday night, Town Manager Chad Whitehead sent out a statement saying officials didn’t take what happened lightly and would be conducting an investigation.
Whitehead on Tuesday wouldn’t comment on the video of the altercation — which he had seen — but he said the investigation would be conducted by DT Investigators of South Hero. The private outfit is run by Daniel Troidl, a former high-ranking member of the Vermont State Police.
Whitehead said the investigation would likely begin next week and take perhaps a week to finish.
“We’re going to obviously take things seriously,” he said. “It’s a sensitive climate out there right now.”
Page said he suggested Whitehead commission an outside investigation, adding that his officers acted professionally and he’s “sure any investigation will bear that out.”
Whitehead and Page said the demonstration had been going well before the arrests. At one point early on, Page took a knee with the protesters at their request.
“It’s unfortunate it had to fall apart the way it did,” Whitehead said.
Read the story on VTDigger here: St. J chief says protester who tumbled down stairs is not ‘innocent little girl’ .