WATCH: Video shows 'inexplicable' police use of force during 2020 protest response
Video footage obtained by the Des Moines Register shows multiple instances in which police used force without apparent provocation during the May 2020 protests that followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The video comes from a surveillance camera overlooking the intersection of Court Avenue and Third Street in the early morning hours of May 31, 2020. Over the preceding hours, police had clashed repeatedly with protestors and rioters in a series of confrontations starting outside the Iowa Capitol and moving west toward downtown Des Moines.
Judge calls out 'inexplicable police conduct' in downtown clash
U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher cited the footage in a recent order in a lawsuit brought by 13 people. They allege they were wrongfully detained, pepper-sprayed and otherwise mistreated by members of the Metro STAR tactical team who flooded the Historic Court Avenue District in response to property damage at the Court Avenue Hy-Vee store.
Locher's lengthy April 19 opinion resolves hundreds of outstanding motions, some for the plaintiffs and others for the officers, establishing which claims have sufficient evidence to proceed to trial.
But Locher also in his order described additional police actions against people present downtown who were not part of the lawsuit and criticized the actions of the officers captured on surveillance footage.
"Video footage captures instances of inexplicable police conduct near the 3rd and Court intersection shortly after 2:40 a.m. For example, at one point, video shows an officer pepper-spraying a man from close range without provocation while the man crossed the street," Locher wrote. "The man then ran away without being pursued. A few feet away, a different officer kicked a man twice who was already kneeling on the ground. The man similarly rose and ran away without being pursued.
"The video also shows officers surround a middle-aged man near an intersection. Officers outnumbered him roughly ten-to-one, and he did not appear to be doing anything threatening. Nonetheless, an officer abruptly pepper-sprayed him directly in the face from close range, causing him to fall to the ground in agony.
"Officers then ignored the man while he laid in the intersection as cars passed until, eventually, he stood up on his own and walked away without being arrested."
Highlighted video shows conduct described, and more
The Register has obtained a copy of the video and edited it to highlight the specific uses of force Locher described.
The video also appears to show several other uses of force not specifically mentioned by the judge, including a second person pepper-sprayed in the crosswalk near the top of the camera view and two people standing against the fence at Annie's Irish Pub who are pepper-sprayed by police walking past them.
Police have not disclosed any internal investigations or disciplinary action taken against officers for actions during the response to the Floyd protests, including during their efforts to clear the Court Avenue district on May 31 or for the pepper-spraying of a Register reporter on June 2, 2020, outside the Capitol.
William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com, 715-573-8166 or on Twitter at @DMRMorris.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Questionable police use of force shown in 2020 protest video
