For a second night, video shows Charlotte protesters and CMPD captain in physical clash
A Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department captain and a group of protesters got into a physical confrontation Monday, with the officer and protesters ending up tussling on the ground.
Videos from journalists and bystanders near the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center show Capt. Brad Koch being shouted at and motioning for protesters to yell louder, before he walks away and briefly talks with protesters. Then, a scuffle breaks out.
It happened just as a protest group of nearly 200 people was beginning to form outside of the government office building around 4 p.m. For several minutes, protesters shouted at Koch — who has been marching almost nightly alongside demonstrators — to leave. The night before, Koch similarly had tense encounters with protesters who wanted him to leave.
One WFAE video from Monday shows Koch surrounded by at least 30 people, some holding protest signs. Koch is drinking from a coffee cup and motioning with his hand to his ear for people to be louder. As Koch moves away from the group, he’s seen in videos throwing something away in a trash can. As he turns from the can and walks, the protest group advances toward him and he bumps into a protester, face-to-face, while holding two hands out. Someone yells for him to “stop touching people.” Seconds later, a person is seen moving quickly toward him and the person appears to collide with Koch, prompting the police captain to tackle him.
Multiple videos show Koch taking down the person who ran at him and attempting to pin him to the ground while at least a dozen people surround the two on the grass. Some protesters can be seen pulling on Koch’s clothes and legs while others attempt to separate him from the person pinned to the ground. It’s unclear whether anyone was arrested or injured. Protesters are seen in videos leading away the person who confronted Koch.
About an hour later, CMPD officials on the department’s Twitter called the confrontation as “assault” in “broad daylight.”
The encounter happened about 18 hours after a similarly tense encounter involving Koch and protesters Sunday night.
Police captain confronted on Charlotte street
That confrontation began on Fourth Street near the Mecklenburg County jail. A group of 50 to 100 protesters were gathered and Koch was standing alone nearby, intermittently talking with protest attendees. Some shouted at him to leave. Others encouraged the group to leave him alone.
Shortly after, the group began to walk and Koch moved with them, according to video footage and witnesses. Video shot by bystanders shows between three to seven people at different moments attempting to surround and block Koch as he walks away from the protesters and attempted to cross the street. Some attempted to push fellow protest attendees away from Koch, the video shows.
In an interview with the Observer Monday before that afternoon’s confrontation, Koch said one of the people blocking his path Sunday night “charged” at him and collided with him.
Police officials on social media called the encounter an “attack” but witnesses and protesters involved say Koch was not assaulted. Koch said of the word used in CMPD’s social media post on Sunday: “I think at the time of the tweet it was pretty chaotic and we clarified ‘the incident’ in the second tweet.”
The Sunday confrontation, which ended with some officers using pepper spray and arresting two people, caused anger as Charlotte headed toward its 11th night of demonstrations on Monday. Protest activity in recent days has been largely peaceful and CMPD’s prescence during most of Sunday was lighter than in the early days of the demonstrations.
At first, Sunday’s scene was similar to previous nights: A group of protesters gathered on Fourth Street, about an hour after larger gatherings and a march from Romare Bearden Park to police headquarters had ended. Koch stood nearby. Koch has been marching alongside protesters near the front of the line for several days. He has said he aims to “peacefully facilitate the protest” and communicates to other officers on his radio about what streets to close.
Both Tasha Groberg and Justin Hansil for the Facebook page “Keep Charlotte Boring” were live streaming when a group of around 50 to 100 people started to walk on Fourth Street around 10 p.m. Other large gatherings and a march against police brutality and racism had ended about an hour earlier in uptown.
The confrontation captured in video begins when a few protesters shouted at Koch, saying they did not want him to continue walking with them. In Groberg’s video, a protester is heard saying “you can’t march with us.”
“They started chanting ‘Go home Brad. F— off Brad,’” Groberg said.
Glo Merriweather, an activist with Charlotte Uprising who was later arrested, had been working at the jail support table nearby when they saw Koch and asked him to leave. While other protesters may consider his presence a safety measure, Merriweather does not believe he is there with good intentions.
Tensions were starting to rise and Groberg said she stood as a physical barrier between Koch and the protesters, which angered some protesters. She was afraid the situation might escalate and wanted to protect both Koch and the protesters.
“You’re not even black. Go home,” someone is heard saying to Groberg on the video.
“It’s not my place. I’m not black. I’m mixed race, but I also didn’t want anyone to get shot last night,” Groberg said in an interview on Monday.
At one point in Groberg’s livestream, she asks Koch if he is OK. “Oh, I’m great,” he responds.
In the videos, Koch walks toward McDowell Street and then across the street toward the county jail. To Groberg, she said he looked like he was trying to walk away from the crowd but a few people followed him and tried to block his path. Both Groberg and Hansil said Koch kept his calm.
As tensions rose, around two dozen officers on bicycles and motorcycles swoop in and surround Koch, pushing back the protesters toward the courthouse. Officers discharged “OC Spray” or pepper spray at protesters, according to witnesses and CMPD. Koch is standing behind the officers.
CMPD officers did not order the crowd to disperse before using pepper spray or making arrests. A CMPD spokesman on Monday said that dispersal orders are not necessary for an arrest and that none of the protesters was charged with failing to disperse.
Four or five officers tackled Merriweather, Merriweather said, causing scratches and bruising.
A CMPD spokesperson said on Monday that anyone who “feels they have been mistreated or observed the mistreatment of another” should file a complaint to launch an internal investigation through CMPD’s website.
CMPD arrested Tomeka Hayes and Merriweather. Both were charged with resisting a public officer and Merriweather was also charged with assault on a government official, according to public records.
Describing what happened
In a tweet late Sunday night, CMPD said “Captain Brad Koch who has walked more than a hundred miles with protesters this week fended off an attack by several angry protestors uptown.”
Hansil said in a statement that he did not think attack was the right word and that Koch seemed “at no time in danger” and was especially safe after the officers on motorcycles and bicycles arrived. He also said that the pepper spray was “not only unnecessary but dangerous.”
“I never went to hit the officer,” Merriweather said. “I was told (I was charged with) an assault that was very shocking.”
Groberg said in the moment it was hard to know what was going to happen but hates that that organizers got arrested.
“Everyone saying that attack is a strong word and I would agree, but (protesters) were doing a lot of interrogation and they were trying to get a rise out of (Koch),” Groberg said.
Charlotte Observer staff writers Anna Douglas and Alex Andrejev contributed.
This story was originally published June 8, 2020 at 5:28 PM.
