An 18-year-old activist in Chicago said an officer hit his teeth at a protest in the city on Friday night where protesters trying to tear down a statue of Christopher Columbus clashed with police. An anti-violence organization of which she is a part posted a video on Twitter that appears to show an officer beating her.
The activist, Miracle Boyd, was in Grant Park, where she said an officer knocked out his front tooth while recording the arrest of a protester.
“The police officer came up to me, hit me on the phone and hit me in the mouth,” he told NBC Chicago.
Boyd did not immediately respond to an interview request on Monday. He told BuzzFeed that he had finished giving a speech to a group of protesters in the park and was going home when he heard the sound of the fireworks. He headed in the direction of the sound and began recording a live broadcast on Facebook, the outlet reported.
“They were hitting a white woman with a cane,” Boyd told BuzzFeed. “They were fighting everyone. I was trying to get images of the police brutally attacking people.”
Boyd, a recent high school graduate, denied being the assailant and said she was tagged as such because she was yelling at police, BuzzFeed reported. She said she had never thrown anything or hit a police officer.
At a press conference Monday, she said she fights “every day” in her community to end gun violence and that she was “unfairly attacked by a Chicago police officer” who “valued a supremacist statue about” her life , safety and well-being. .
“The police are not serving and protecting,” he said. “In no way should I have left a bruised and mistreated protest for exercising my freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.”
Boyd said she is not a threat, a hooded rat or a rebel and that she is a dedicated freedom fighter.
“No matter what I said, no matter what I did, there was no justification for her being brutalized and attacked,” she said. “I am asking that the officer who attacked me be relieved of his duties.”
The Civilian Police Accountability Office said in a statement Sunday that it had received more than 20 complaints against the police “as a result of the protests in Grant Park” and that it had opened preliminary investigations into the most “egregious” ones.
He also said he was investigating a “widespread video” of an incident of an officer hitting a civilian. An agency spokeswoman confirmed on Monday that the video mentioned in the statement is the one involving Boyd that was posted to Twitter by firearms violence group GoodKids MadCity.
At least 1,000 people gathered around the statue on Friday after a rally in support of black and indigenous peoples, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said Monday that dozens of officers were injured in Friday’s protest.
“This is what our officers faced on Friday night in Grant Park,” he said in a tweet, linking to a YouTube video of the protest. “The criminal agitators launched fireworks, frozen water bottles and other projectiles at our officers, injuring 49 of them. This is unacceptable and we cannot bear it.”
The video shows that some officers used batons to beat people. Protesters were among the wounded, and at least a dozen people were arrested.
Chicago police did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
A group of city and state officials released a statement Friday night that referenced reports on police social media using pepper spray and excessive force against protesters.
“We unequivocally condemn Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s decision to send Chicago police to beat, arrest and terrorize protesters and journalists gathered in Grant Park tonight,” the statement said.
Lightfoot said Saturday that “it will unequivocally support and always fight for the rights of people to peacefully protest on any issue,” but said “part of the protesters turned violent.”
Several people came with frozen water bottles, rocks, bottles, cans, and other equipment to throw the officers, Lightfoot said in a statement.
“People in the crowd also threw fireworks and other incendiary devices at the police, causing injuries in several cases,” he said. “These violent acts are unacceptable and put everyone at risk.”
The mayor said that “there have also been several reports of excessive force by the police.” She called them “unacceptable” and urged anyone who believes they were mistreated by the police to file a complaint with the city’s Civilian Office of Police Responsibility.
