Police respond to controversy over NC officer’s hand gesture in photo
A Graham police officer’s hand gesture made during a protest Tuesday — which some interpreted as a sign of white power — is not affiliated with a hate group, according to a department spokesperson.
On Tuesday, Corporal C.D. Dunnagan pressed the thumb and index finger of his right hand together as he told Black Lives Matter protesters they had to disperse due to the city’s new protest ordinance.
The image of the hand gesture quickly circulated on activist social media accounts, which interpreted the gesture as a white power sign.
But the police department said in a news release Wednesday that the image was “taken out of context.”
Capt. Daniel Sisk, a spokesman for Graham Police Department, said the department had reviewed body camera footage and interviewed Dunnagan to investigate the meaning of the hand signal.
“After a thorough internal review, it was determined that Corporal Dunnagan was gesturing his hands as a form of non-verbal communication, that the still image was taken out of context and was not associated with any affiliation to a hate group,” he wrote.
Dunnagan was involved in the arrest of two protesters on Tuesday night. They were accused of violating the city’s new protest ordinance and failing to disperse on command.
Graham’s city council passed the new ordinance last month. It replaces an extremely restrictive ordinance that the city repealed after a constitutional challenge last summer.
The new ordinance is also very strict, requiring that a notice be sent to the police department for most protests involving 10 or more people, even if the demonstration does not obstruct traffic. The law contains an exception for protests organized quickly in response to breaking news.
Wednesday night, a few dozen protesters gathered in downtown Graham to protest the killing of Andrew Brown Jr. by sheriff’s deputies in Elizabeth City as well as ongoing racial justice issues in Alamance County. They also raised objections over a North Carolina Superior Court judge’s ruling not to release body camera footage of Brown’s shooting to the public. Instead, some of Brown’s family members will be permitted to view it within 10 days, The News & Observer reported.
About a dozen protesters entered the Graham Soda Shop and Grill, owned by council member Jennifer Talley. Talley has been a supporter of the new protest ordinance.
She asked protesters not to record inside the restaurants and asked them to leave, though some had ordered beverages and were prepared to order food. She exited the restaurant to find a police officer to assist in asking protesters to leave.
After the police started asking protesters for their IDs, they left the restaurant.
On Tuesday, activists were protesting Brown’s killing and a decision by officials there to show Brown’s family only 20 seconds of footage from a single body camera.
Graham’s police spokesman did not answer a question from The News & Observer about whether Tuesday’s protest qualified for the breaking news exception.
