ARREST SPARKS PROTESTS
Police said they planned it as a “low-visibility arrest,” designed to extract one man from a Black Lives Matter protest march Saturday in Oakland after police alleged that he repeatedly blocked traffic for the protesters, creating hazardous conditions and repeatedly refusing officers’ directions to stop.
But the arrest ended up being anything but low visibility — with armed, plainclothes officers popping out of an unmarked white van, capturing him and quickly driving off with him. Some of the confrontation was captured on video and shared widely on social media.
The man who was arrested called it “terrifying,” saying police used a ruse to lure him near the van before capturing him.
The mayor said it left him “very uncomfortable” and demanded an explanation.
And while police defended the arrest, saying the aim was to defuse an unsafe situation, Chief Scott Schubert said he knew what the video looked like — federal agents in unmarked vans arresting protesters earlier this summer in Portland, Ore.
“As a Pittsburgher and as a police officer, nobody wants to see what looks like things that happened in Portland,” Chief Schubert said. “That is not our intent. We did not do something to try to make people frightened or not understand what was going on. … That’s not who we are.”
The chief, Mayor Bill Peduto and other law enforcement officials held a news conference Sunday afternoon in Chateau outside police headquarters after reviewing video of the arrest. They spent much of the news conference saying some organizers of Black Lives Matter protests have
become increasingly antagonistic, refusing to tell police their planned routes and blocking traffic on their own, leading to what police say are unsafe situations.
The nature of the arrest also prompted around 100 people to gather at Mellon Park on Sunday to peacefully march and protest in front of Mr. Peduto’s house. Protesters wore black and held signs calling for defunding the police. Protest leaders expressed their frustration with the arrest Saturday, stating that the act was a kidnapping. Many protesters described Saturday’s protest — a weekly occurrence referred to as “Civil Saturdays” — as peaceful before the arrest.
Mr. Peduto’s response during the news conference also was met with criticism, as protesters said he was trying to shift the narrative of the arrest.
“This is about Pittsburgh not accepting that treatment,” one protest leader who didn’t want to be identified said. “It’s about Pittsburgh saying ‘no’ to government vehicles abducting us on the street. It’s about Pittsburgh saying ‘no’ to our progressive mayor rolling over every time.”
Another protester discussed on condition of anonymity how they have to remain vigilant and continue to come out to protests.
“We will continue to be out here and mobilize. We will go wherever we need to go to stop injustice and talk about it,” the protester said.
But officials also had to explain the arrest itself.
“I was very uncomfortable, just to be honest,” Mr. Peduto said. “I saw it like anybody else saw it. It’s like, why are we having plainclothes officers in an unmarked vehicle arresting somebody through a pop-out tactic? I let leadership know of my concerns today.”
He didn’t rule out the tactic in all circumstances but said it “has to be really further explained. It needs to be that the public understands that when they’re walking down the street, they’re safe” from abduction from police “jumping out of a car.”
At issue was the arrest of Matthew Cartier, 25, of Pittsburgh, during a protest march that drew about 150 people.
Police alleged in the criminal complaint that Mr. Cartier was creating a hazard by blocking busy intersections to make way for the marchers, “startling motorists” and causing them to “stop suddenly and unsafely.”
Police said uniformed officers told him multiple times to stop, saying he was creating safety hazards on the high-traffic area of Fifth Avenue, including disrupting hospital access.
Mr. Cartier is being charged with failure to disperse and disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors, and obstruction to highways or other public passages, a summary offense, according to court documents. He was arraigned at 1:35 a.m. Sunday at Allegheny County Magisterial District Court and released on his own recognizance pending an Aug. 24 preliminary hearing.
The complaint said officers “did not believe Cartier would cease his course of action” and decided to arrest him. Police confirmed he was arrested by plainclothes police using an unmarked van.
Mr. Cartier declined to comment by phone, but on his Twitter account, he said he was asked by a passenger in the van for directions around the protest.
“When I approached the van to provide directions the passenger grabbed me and multiple other men sprang out of the back of the van heavily armed to arrest me. I was driven to the busway where officers searched me and transported me to ACJ [Allegheny County Jail],” he tweeted.
“Every protester must now live in fear of getting grabbed by the police in such a violent and terrifying manner,” he added, demanding that Mr. Peduto answer for the action.
The police complaint said Mr. Cartier’s actions were recorded on an officer’s body camera and on other video.
Cmdr. Ed Trapp, who heads the police Special Deployment Division, which monitors events such as protest marches, said the aim was for a “surgical maneuver to remove the person that was the problem and allow the main protest march to continue.” But he did say officers identified themselves as Pittsburgh police and displayed badges.
They said they would resume enforcing so-called red zones, established amid protests around the time of the 2019 trial of former East Pittsburgh Officer Michael Rosfeld, who was acquitted in the shooting death of 17year-old Antwon Rose.
Those red zones, Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich said, provided space for protests but prohibited them in high-traffic areas such as certain bridges and interstate highways, and at access points to medical centers. He said police stopped enforcing the zones in the wake of the May 25 death of George Floyd beneath the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, which sparked the ongoing wave of Black Lives Matter protests.
“But safety concerns are pushing us once again to reevaluate them and to institute them,” Mr. Hissrich said.
He and other officials asked protest leaders to cooperate in such ways as telling police the routes they intend to march so that police could help control traffic.
“I understand that there’s a lot of anger towards police, and that’s OK,” Cmdr. Trapp said. “You don’t have to tell us you like us.”
But he said that for safety he asked them to inform police “where you’re going so that we can keep everybody safe.”
Leaders at Sunday’s protest discussed this remark, stating they shouldn’t need to disclose their routes.
“If we did that, it would be a police-escorted public parade,” one leader who didn’t want to be identified said. “We’re protesting police brutality, we’re protesting state violence. We’re not going to march in a state-sanctioned parade.”
Attorney Lisa Middleman announced on Twitter on Sunday that she would be defending Mr. Cartier.
“If we are to have any meaningful dialogue about the future of policing in this city and county, a better effort must be made to address the concerns of the community,” Ms. Middleman said in a tweet. “Demanding communication under threat of arrest is not an honest effort to engage in that dialogue.”
State Rep. Sarah Innamorato, D-Lawrenceville, also marched alongside protesters Sunday, stating that Saturday’s arrest was an “attack on civil liberties, potentially unconstitutional and absolutely problematic.”
Ms. Innamorato also said she’s currently working on legislation that’s centered around police reforms. She discussed how being a representative at the state level provides many opportunities for reform.
“At the state level, there’s so many opportunities to demilitarize the police,” she said. “But, ultimately, we have to have a culture change if we’re going to talk about public safety. We need to bring the community together and see what safe communities mean. What do healthy communities mean?
“And it’s going to be infrastructure outside law enforcement. It’s about housing, it’s about social services, it’s about ending poverty. We have such an opportunity as elected leaders, all of us, to facilitate that conversation. That’s what governing is, and we need to see more of it.”