An incident Sunday afternoon on the block of East Clinton Street near the Ithaca Police headquarters sparked a media release from IPD referring to “criminal mischief and an assault.” Accounts and video clips from the scene suggest that members of a group of protesters successfully de-escalated the situation after an elderly couple drove their car towards the group.
A protester, at left, speaks to the occupants of a car who drove into a protest on Sunday. Still from video shared by Genevieve Rand.
A member of the protest group calmly walked up to the vehicle and suggested how the driver could safely get out of the crowd. Genevieve Rand posted a video on Facebook and has allowed us to share it.
Witness accounts at the scene suggest that a “bystander” referred to by the IPD statement was in fact attempting to instigate and escalate the situation, and was the person caught on video banging on the elderly couple’s car, causing “damage to this vehicle” mentioned by IPD.
Senior Deputy Chief Vincent Monticello, who prepared the IPD statement on Monday, declined to comment on the seeming disconnect between what video captured at the scene showed and the media release. In a later response, D.C. Monticello said Mayor Svante Myrick had reviewed additional video and would be handling all media inquiries about the case.
Mayor Myrick did not respond to an initial request for comment on the disconnect between IPD’s account and videos and statements from the scene, and did not respond to a followup request for comment after D.C. Monticello referred inquiries to the Mayor. Chief of Police Dennis Nayor did not respond to a request for comment.
In a Facebook post late Thursday morning, Mayor Myrick said, “I spoke to the motorists – a couple in their 80s – and I believe they meant no harm to the protesters. I believe that they broadly support the cause of racial equality and justice, and simply found themselves surrounded by people in the street and were unsure what to do.”
“It seems the driver and protesters were eventually able to communicate with each other, and the car was able to make it through, though it was damaged,” Mayor Myrick added. “As we saw on Sunday, even people who agree can scare each other and hurt each other. So I would urge everyone – protesters, bystanders, motorists, everyone – to be patient with each other. I’d ask us to whenever possible assume positive intent.”
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September 04, 2020 at 12:18AM
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Protesters de-escalated situation when elderly couple drove into crowd, accounts suggest - 14850
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