Police work faulted in deadly Va. protests
Report cites failure to keep rival sides apart
A flawed law enforcement plan failed to maintain order and prevent injuries and death at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in August that erupted in violence, according to a highly critical reviewof the incident released Friday.
Hundreds of counter- protesters clashed with white nationalists at the “Unite the Right” rally onAug. 12, originally scheduled to protest the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue from Emancipation Park.
Skirmishes between the two groups led to dozens of injuries as disorganized police stood on the side. A car driven by a white nationalist supporter later rammed into a crowd of counter- protesters, killing Heather Heyer.
“This represents a failure of one of government’s core functions — the protection of fundamental rights,” reads the 220- page report from
Timothy Heaphy, a former U. S. attorney who reviewed the protest for the City Council. “Law enforcement also failed to maintain order and protect citizens from harm, injury and death.”
Heaphy’s team reviewed hundreds of thousands of documents and interviewed hundreds of people. Among the report’s findings:
Charlottesville police didn’t ensure separation between counterprotesters and so- called alt- right protesters upset with the council’s decision to remove the Robert E. Lee statue.
Officers weren’t stationed along routes to the park but instead remained behind barricades in relatively empty zones.
City police didn’t adequately coordinate with Virginia State Police, and authorities were unable to communicate via radio.
State police didn’t share a formal planning document with city police, “a crucial failure.”
Officers were inadequately equipped to respond to the clashes, and tactical gear was not accessible.
One bright spot in the report found that those injured were treated quickly.
Charlottesville Police Chief Al Thomas said in August that he was proud of how the department handled the event.
Thomas directed subordinates to provide Heaphy’s team only with information regarding planning, not the events themselves, according to the report.
Thomas didn’t immediately respond to an email requesting comment on the report.
The report provided recommendations for future protests, including:
Preparing better for civil disturbance, with police gathering more intelligence for comprehensive operational plans.
Creating a secure perimeter around a potentially volatile protest, with designated points of entry and enforced separation between groups, a so- called stadium approach.
Having the Virginia General Assembly criminalize the use of open flame to intimidate and enact reasonable limits on carrying firearms at large protest events.
Similar white nationalist events in Charlottesville before August didn’t devolve into chaos.
In May, white nationalist Jason Kessler, a local resident, and national organizer Richard Spencer convened a daytime march for about 100 people and a nighttime event with torches. Participants carried flags and chanted Nazi slogans, with speakers suggesting that the removal of Civil War monuments was part of a broader war against white people.
In July, a Ku Klux Klan group conducted a demonstration to protest the removal of monuments and “stop cultural genocide.”
But city officials organized alternate events, and there were no arrests and only minor disturbances, according to the report.