There’s been a good deal of discussion about police conduct during Saturday’s unrest in Charlottesville, but complaints of inaction are coming from both sides.
As James Fields was arraigned for murder in a downtown courtroom one of his defenders stood outside, blaming all of the violence Saturday on Charlottesville and its police. Mathew Heimbach is a prominent extremist who has railed against Muslims, African-Americans, homosexuals and Jews. He says everything that was done by white nationalists was in self-defense.
“The nationalists defended ourselves again thugs in a battle that was brought by this city that wanted a blood bath!" he shouted. "The police were given a stand-down order!”
Charlottesville lawyer Jeff Fogel didn’t see it that way. He thought the police were even-handed in their lack of action. “I saw people being assaulted, I saw things being thrown at them," he recalled. "I’m not saying it was all on one side, but there were people being hurt, and the police decided not to do anything."
That was a view shared by New York cameraman Michael Nigro. "To watch the police let people attack each other was one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen in a protest," he said, "and I've been covering protests for years."
And Montae Taylor, a student who had come from Old Dominion University, surveyed a line of state police and concluded they could have done more. “I just think that they could do their job a lot better, other than standing around like what you see right now or getting ready to shoot tear gas. That's all they do."
State police have been silent on the subject, but Charlottesville Police Chief Al Thomas told reporters Monday that it was tough to make arrests.
"In many of the conflicts individuals would strike and then disappear back into the crowd," Thomas said.
He denied that police were afraid to tangle with white supremacists who had come heavily armed to Charlottesville. “We were certainly not intimidated by the firepower of the Alt-right, however it was prudent to make sure our officers were equipped to go out and deal directly with the violence that was at hand. Originally we had our officers out in their everyday uniforms.”
Once they had put on protective gear, the crowd began to disperse, and Thomas says it took but an hour to get control of violence on the streets, because officers were spread thin. Now, he says, police are taking reports of assaults and will investigate.
To report an incident to police, e-mail cvillerally@charlottesville.org or call 434-970-3280.