A largely peaceful protest in Detroit against systemic racism and police brutality turned...
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The Detroit Police Department says it has launched an investigation after one its cruisers was caught on video plowing through a crowd of protesters that had surrounded it, sending demonstrators tumbling off the vehicle’s hood.
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Winner! Chief of police said they did exactly what they were trained to do.
Police say the officers in the area were trying to redirect the marching protesters along a faster route back to the park where the rally was held earlier in the day. The scene, they say, escalated after one of the protesters busted out the cruiser’s back window.
“There is this loud crash or bang to the rear of the police car. And again in their mind, as according to our investigation, they believed they could be shot at, or were being fired upon and because of that they had to take quick, evasive action,”
Police Chief James Craig told reporters Monday. “When you talk about training, if you run into an ambush situation the proper course is to get out for your safety and that is exactly what these officers opted to do.”
“We don’t know what broke the window – could have been a skateboard, could have been anything,” he added. “But whatever it was, it certainly created enough concern for the officers and their safety and to get out.”
Craig also said no officers were hurt in the incident and that the department wasn't aware of any other injuries.
He also said there were "repeated efforts by at least some of the 25 to 30 [protesters] to gain access to the inside of the car where the officers were located."