The police commissioner ordered an investigation into the officers’ actions.
A Boston police sergeant has been put on administrative leave and an investigation is underway after body camera footage was released on Friday showing officers violently colliding with protesters during a Black Lives Matter rally in May.
In one of the videos, an agent is seen bragging about hitting a protester with his vehicle.
The video was posted by The Appeal news site and showed officers using maces on protesters, commenting on how they attacked and charged protesters during the May 31 event, shortly after George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis. .
In one of the videos, an unidentified agent is seen talking to another about hitting a protester with his vehicle. When the agent finds out they are being recorded on a body camera, they begin to change their story.
Lawyer Carl Williams, who represents some of the protesters who were arrested that night, obtained the images as part of the discovery in his case against the city and agents and provided them to The Appeal.
Boston Police Commissioner William Gross released a statement Friday in response to the videos and said he ordered the Bureau of Professional Standards to conduct an investigation.
“I have put a sergeant involved in this incident on administrative leave and will take any additional action I need when the investigation is completed. I want to encourage people to make us aware of these matters so that we can investigate them properly,” Va. said Gross in a statement.
The Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, the union that represents Boston police officers, issued a statement Saturday and said the images do not tell the full story, as they say “hundreds” of officers were “treated for trauma and injuries” they received from protesters.
“The effort and insult that alter reality aside, it is still true, the violence and hatred perpetrated against our officers and our city that night will always be etched in the minds of our officers,” he said. union in a statement.
The BPPA accused Williams of editing the images, and Williams responded, stating that he gave the camera images of the body unedited. The appeal said Williams received 44 videos and more than 66 hours of filming as part of a discovery file in his case.
“I haven’t put together any fragments,” Williams said he tweeted. “And why do you all hate anarchists so much? Do you just think it’s acceptable to have a prejudice against specific political beliefs?”