PALMER PARK – The FBI may be getting involved in an investigation of Prince George’s County Police conduct during the March 4 riot after a video showing police beating an unarmed student with their batons surfaced across national media outlets yesterday. But for many students, the video doesn’t tell them anything they didn’t already know.
Prince George’s County Police Chief Roberto Hylton announced yesterday police will be conducting an investigation of their own staff, after footage from the night following the Duke game was turned over to police following two students’ release from charges of disorderly conduct and assault. One officer, who county police would not identify, has already been suspended. The FBI will be conducting their own investigation as to whether the use of excessive force would also violate federal civil rights laws, Justice Department spokesman Alejandro Miyar told The Washington Post yesterday.
Although junior John McKenna, 21, and sophomore Ben Donat, 19, had their charges dropped, there are still 21 students arrested the night of the riot who may still be facing criminal charges. County police have refused to release the names of the students.
But university officials said having their charges dropped doesn’t safeguard students from being sanctioned by the university.
All students who administrators determine incited the night’s chaotic events could be subject to suspensions, expulsions or other penalties, Office of Student Conduct Director John Zacker said.
“Each case would be handled on its own merits with a full opportunity for fact-finding to occur and disposition of facts,” he said, adding facts from criminal cases can be introduced in university proceedings but cannot alone ensure students will be found innocent by the university.
Zacker said the university will not act until they have reports from police, which county officials said won’t be made available until the internal investigation, which is being handled by Capt. Tiatte Day, is over.
To date, no complaints have been filed against the county police department. Sharon Weidenfeld, a private investigator working for McKenna and Donat’s lawyer Chris Griffiths, said both students plan to file civil suits against the department.
Hylton said from the footage of the riot he has seen, there was no cause for his officers to act the way they did but added he would like to see more evidence before taking a more definitive stance.
“The 30 seconds we have seen — which I would like to see more than 30 seconds — I don’t see any inappropriate behavior by [McKenna], other than coming up. I don’t know if he was taunting the horses. If he was taunting the horses, then that would be deemed inappropriate,” Hylton said at a press conference yesterday. “Does it justify what we saw on the tape? At this point, I’m very disappointed.”
He urged those with additional footage from the night to turn it in to police, because it would help internal affairs with their investigation.
McKenna has received national media attention over the past two days after the video that spurred county police’s internal investigation aired across the country, showing McKenna on Knox Road being beaten by several baton-wielding police officers. The charging documents, filed by Officer Sean McAleavey, suggest he provoked the officers and assaulted a horse. The video shows no signs of McKenna provoking the officers or touching the horses.
Students said they were not surprised by the announcement that county officials were investigating the officers who broke up the crowd while clad in riot gear. Some said they were disappointed it took this long for officials to take action.
“I feel like it shouldn’t take a video for that to happen,” freshman letters and sciences major Curtis Holmes said. “You want to take a positive outlook on your [police] force, but you never know.”
Several students had already seen the video, which was posted on YouTube shortly after the riot.
Sophomore family sciences major Hannah Whiddon said police “couldn’t honestly believe that he was attacking the horse” based on the footage. She added that it seemed police came in with a “gang mentality” and knew exactly what measures they were going to take before they arrived at the scene.
“I don’t think [McKenna] could have said anything that could have warranted that response,” she said. “If he said anything at all, he would have said something to the mounted officer, not the one who striked him.”
Whiddon noted she was skeptical of whether police would be investigating their staff had the recording not been aired on the national news. She said she hopes the investigation is fair and complete.
“If the policeman isn’t tried as if the case were just like two men encountering each other on the street, regardless of any verbal remarks made by the student, then our judicial system is completely unfair,” she said. “He wasn’t doing anything that a police officer is supposed to do … he wasn’t protecting and serving at that time.”
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