and chief al Thomas Charlottesville Police Department thank you all for
being here thank you for giving us an opportunity to meet with you and answer
questions I do have some prepared remarks and following the prepared
statements I would like to take time to answer questions that you may have as
well before I begin on behalf of every member of the shoulders ville Police
Department I want to take a moment to send our deepest condolences to the
families of the three Virginia residents who lost their lives Saturday as you
know shoulders feel resident how the hire was struck down by a vehicle while
exercising her peaceful right to speech the city stated earlier that while it
will never make up for the loss of a member of our community we will pursue
charges against the driver of the vehicle that caused her death
and are confident justice will prevail
the Virginia State Police Lieutenant Cullen and trooper pilot Bates were
working with the shoulders ville Police Department this past weekend to protect
our community these men also gave their lives in the line of duty and our
gratitude to them cannot be overstated there are losses the loss for us all and
we mourn with their families and colleagues we are working with the
higher family to ensure that the safety of vigils and other memorials about a
plan for this week are safe we plan to keep the 4th Street cross over closed
until further notice as there are thousands of flowers lining the street
and that is the location of the crash site
we are also establishing a hotline for any victims or witnesses to contact
local authorities and provide information that may not have been
reported during the weekend we understand it was a traumatic weekend
for everyone we are still receiving reports of assaults and additional
crimes and we're working with our state and local partners to investigate
thoroughly any criminal or civil rights violations that may have occurred this
past weekend that have not yet been reported throughout the throughout the
entire weekend Virginia State Police Charlottesville Police Department
intervened to break up it's an altercations among those and
attendance at the rally site this began on Friday night and continued through
Sunday the city truck approximately 250 calls
for service on Saturday alone and many of the conflicts individuals which
strike and then disappear back in the crowd
State Police medics rendered a to approximately 36 and injured individuals
on Saturday including several of the traffic crash victims on Water Street
the early morning hours on Saturday Virginia State Police and Shawwal police
who are positioned and and around and across the street from Emancipation Park
in order to readily observe and monitor the actions of the crowds and respond as
quickly as possible when emergencies arose there were also state and local
police on foot patrols and at road closures at various locations throughout
the parks so we could respond to emergencies occurring beyond the
immediate area of Emancipation Park law enforcement or stage at McEntire Park as
well you can see we had a very large footprint during this entire endeavor
around ten o'clock the United rate attendees began arriving and entering
Emancipation Park we had a plan to bring them in at the rear of the park they had
agreed to cooperate with the plan unfortunately they did not follow the
plan they began entering at different
locations and around the park and we had to quickly alter our plans to help
facilitate that process other groups also began amassing along the street and
in the park gradually the crowd sizes increased along with aggressiveness and
hostility of attendees towards one another shortly before 11 a.m.
individuals in the crowd began throwing objects and spraying chemical agents
into the crowd the City and County they made a declaration of local emergency
the crowd size became increasingly violent with mutually engaged combatants
with 101 attacks following and unlawful assembly was declared and the state
police troopers began to safely move individuals out of the park and through
the streets shawwal police officers were originally on site in their everyday
uniform we were again hoping that the members of the alt-right rally would
cooperate with our safety plan of ingress and egress once the violence
began to erupt we transition our officers and to their protective
equipment we proceeded with an organized response to ensure that we could safely
restore order and and around the park no tear gas was deployed on Saturday by any
law enforcement officers there were a few incidents and some instances where
the Virginia State Police deployed OSI or better known as pepper spray on those
individuals refusing to comply with the unlawful assembly declaration to leave
Emancipation Park and I would like to take a moment and open the floor to
questions if you have any you you know able to take their story by December
12th as they're explaining if they haven't already said they're learning
multiple rallies written lessons and adhere that to the sauce I'm not sure
that information is credible but yes we have heard those rumors as well no one
has contacted us directly concerning other demonstrations in and around the
state what was the point three prophet open for 2 p.m. it was because of the
I'm not sure whether or not the 4th Street crossing was open I don't have
the action plan with me currently but I am certain that the action plan called
for the street to be closed last last month after the Klan rally we were here
you guys were there from the beginning it was a little the rally you kept the
two sides separate why did you take a different approach on Friday well this
was a completely different event from the rally on July the 8th on the entire
option action plan was different we did make attempts to keep the two sides
separate however we can't control which side someone enters the park we had
agreements and worked out a security to bring the groups in and separate
entrances again they decided to change the plant and entered the park in
different directions we've heard reports that police did not do enough to break
up fights that it appeared they were standing around letting people do get
out and some people have suggested they may have been intimidated by the
firepower beyond height can you respond to that we were certainly not
intimidated by the firepower of the alt-right however it was prudent to make
sure that officers were equipped to go out and deal directly with the violence
at hand originally we had our officers out and their everyday uniform we were
hoping for a peaceful event we urge leaders from both sides to to engage in
a non-violent demonstration once the violence erupted once the plan was
altered we had to quickly transition our officers into their protective gear once
the unlawful assembly was declared we requested the State Police mobile field
force to deploy and their right gear and our officers took a position behind them
at that point to guard their rear
I witnessed personally dozens of active violence people be insulted and other
defendants soldiers as well with police officers in sight watching who did not
intervene or helpless victims did you get any borders to police officers not
to help people who were being assaulted no as the point it turned violent why
didn't you guys clear the street completely line up any protesters at
that point to remain on street we did clear the park and we we had a wait once
the crowds were dispersed they went to many locations throughout the city at
that time we had to actually send our forces to multiple locations to deal
with the number of disturbances and around the downtown area we were it took
probably an hour to gain control of the streets we had groups that were moving
constantly we were following a number of groups ensuring that they were being
peaceful but it was a challenge it was certainly a challenge we were
right then once the group's dispersed is there any point of decision things or
thought process to say this might not be a good idea that let's see people
continue to march around these to the streets knowing that these two sides
were so agitated at that point yes we have to focus on behavior and criminal
activity not just citizens walking in our streets chief it didn't do you have
any regrets and do you wish you would have come prepared so to speak if you
knew what was coming you met with them you had a plan and
talked it out do you regret not having your officers better prepared and in
their proper gear earlier so they could have accuracy absolutely I have regrets
we lost three lives this weekend I have I have I certainly have regrets we lost
three lives this weekend a local citizen and two fellow officers which certainly
have regrets it was a tragic tragic weekend you're actually here a decision
that I explained what our regrets are we regret this tragic day we regret that we
had a tragic outcome and we lost laws you believe it if you believe that one
side was more responsible than another for instigating the violence this was an
outright rally do you believe that they're the ones who instigated around
any plane so we did have mutually combative individuals and the crowd we
try to be patient we try to give the the individuals in the crowd who want to
leave we want to make sure that they were able to leave safely we facilitated
that process we had a number of individuals who chose to remain and and
cause violence cause the services in our community thank you we have heard from
the senior law enforcement courts another County whose offices were here
then a briefing conducted her to law enforcement we have prior to deciding
when the officers were instruct to make notice about the ecliptic
approval of the Charlie filmer a law enforcement director that he would
operation by the instruction the you are the mayor or email on the various Africa
enforcement on to maker Restless approved by the man know what I'd like
to know who that officer is who allegedly made those remarks that is
simply not true folks thank you so much for your time