Black-clad protesters marched through downtown Phoenix on Oct. 17, 2017, setting off smoke bombs and briefly blocking traffic before police eventually arrested 18 people in the group.
Over the next three years, the charges against those protesters escalated from minor misdemeanors related to unlawful assembly to serious felony charges for assisting a violent, criminal street gang.
Now, an independent investigation commissioned by the city has found that police and prosecutors trumped up those charges with “egregious” testimony that contained “false and incomplete information.” The inquiry also found that police exchanged challenge coins, stickers and patches that referenced “hate speech” and mocked a protester who was injured by officers.
“The injustices outlined in these reports have and will continue to destroy people’s lives if we don’t take serious and swift action to rectify these egregious harms,” Vice Mayor Carlos Garcia said in a statementThursday.
The findings come just weeks after the Justice Department announced a civil rights investigation into the Phoenix Police Department’s use of force against homeless people in the city. And earlier this year, Phoenix police came under fire after body-camera footage released in Februaryshowed officers saying they wanted to “stomp” and “gas” protesters at Black Lives Matter demonstrations last year.
On Thursday, Phoenix City Manager Ed Zuercher released two reportsthat described the police misconduct, and the city announced Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams would be placed on a one-day suspension for the missteps that led to the excessive charges. Following the release of the investigation’s findings, Williams demoted three staffers and placed Sgt. Douglas McBride, who allegedly played a leading role in pursuing the gang charges, on paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation.
To portray the protesters as gang members, police made the “dubious” claim that the demonstrators belonged to a group called “ACAB” or “All Cops Are B——s,” which officers involved in the case classified as a “criminal street gang,” according to one of the reports released Thursday. But the report tears that allegation apart, noting ACAB is not a group but rather a common protest refrain in recent years.
“We found no credible evidence to support the assertion that ACAB is a criminal street gang, that it organized the protest of October 17, or was prone to violence,” the independent investigators wrote.
The criminal cases against the protesters had already been tossed out in court after a judge dismissed the gang-related charges and prosecutors voluntarily dropped all other charges in June, the report said.
The investigation also found that Phoenix officers made light of a use-of-force incident that left a protester injured on Aug. 22, 2017. As police deployed tear gas and other crowd-control devices against a previously peaceful protest outside one of President Donald Trump’s speeches, an officer fired a pepper ball round at Josh Cobin, who was hit in the groin. Several officers publicly mocked Cobin on Facebook, the Phoenix New Times reported.
In private, at least 16 officers traded challenge coins, stickers and patches with illustrations and slogans poking fun at Cobin’s injury, according to the independent investigation. The memorabilia included phrases such as “Make America Great Again One Nut At A Time,” in reference to Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan, and “Good Night Left Nut.”
The second slogan “appears to be a play on the phrase ‘Good Night Left Side,’ which is commonly employed by alt-right or white supremacists organizations to promote violence against perceived left-wing actors,” the report said.
Investigators did not find that the police officers who bought and traded the coins knew about the phrase’s origins in hate speech. However, the other phrase was “knowingly associated with President Trump’s political campaign,” Zuercher said in a summary of the investigation.
The Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, the union that represents the city’s officers, told KSAZ-TV it is reviewing the reports “to determine whether the disciplinary actions against a number of Phoenix officers are warranted.”
The reports raised concerns among several city leaders, including the mayor.
“I’m disheartened and deeply disappointed by the findings of this investigation,” Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said in a statement. “The behavior described falls far below my expectations. More importantly, it fails to meet the expectations of our community.”
