Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
Hartford investigating after apparent federal employees deploy pepper spray, drive through protesters, mayor says
“We’re in uncharted territory, but we're going to treat it like any other crime that happened in the City of Hartford,” Mayor Arunan Arulampalam said.
Apparent federal employees who drove through a group of protesters attempting to block their exit, striking one, and who deployed pepper spray in the incident last week in Hartford could face criminal charges, the city’s mayor said.
“We’re in uncharted territory, but we’re going to treat it like any other crime that happened in the City of Hartford,” Mayor Arunan Arulampalam said. “We’re going to investigate it, we’re going to determine who was involved, and if they violated the law here in the City of Hartford, they’re going to face consequences.”
Around 200 people had gathered at a vigil for Renee Good, the mother fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, in Connecticut’s capital outside the Ribicoff Courthouse on Main Street Thursday evening, officials said during a press conference.
Advertisement:
A group of attendees then saw apparent federal employees exiting the rear of the building, Arulampalam said, and attempted to obstruct their vehicles. Hartford officials said one vehicle made contact with a protester and knocked them to the ground. Another protester then shattered the rear window of that same vehicle.
When asked, Arulampalam said city officials “suspect” the people involved in the incident are federal agents, but they “can’t confirm.” He said police would launch a criminal investigation into the alleged hit-and-run and assault incident.
“We will be investigating what appears to be a hit-and-run incident by what we believe to be a federal employee, as we would any other hit-and-run,” he said. “We will investigate what appears to be assault two by an unknown individual with pepper spray being used on attendees of the vigil last night, as we would any other unlawful use of pepper spray in a public space here in Hartford.”
Advertisement:
An spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that the group of protesters, which they called “a mob of radical agitators,” attempted to obstruct federal law enforcement officers and broke a vehicle window.
“Make no mistake – obstructing federal law enforcement officers during the performance of their duties is not only dangerous but also illegal,” the spokesperson said. “Secretary (Kristi) Noem has been clear: Any rioter who obstructs, impedes, or assaults law enforcement will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
ICE called on “sanctuary politicians to stop encouraging radical activists to confront and impede ICE and Border Patrol agents.”
What happened as protesters tried to stop the vehicles?
In a video shared by Connecticut Public, dozens of protesters can be seen trying to block two vehicles coming out of a parking garage. Some rub their eyes after a man appears to deploy pepper spray. After the vehicles drive through the crowd, a protester shatters a back window of the second vehicle, a white van.
“About halfway through the rally, one of the speakers, after having just spoken, grabbed the mic again and announced that ICE was at the back of the building and was threatening people with pepper spray,” CT Public reporter Daniela Doncel said in an interview with her publication. “They were back there because they had heard that an ICE vehicle, that they believed was an ICE vehicle, was leaving the building and that they had a detainee in that vehicle. One of the people that I spoke with told me that they believed that they just wanted to stop the car to keep that individual in Connecticut.”
Advertisement:
After the protest dispersed, Hartford police and the city “were made aware of allegations of pepper spray being deployed. The Hartford Police Department didn’t themselves deploy pepper spray and weren’t aware of the incident as it occurred,” Arulampalam said.
The individual struck by the vehicle declined medical attention, Arulampalam said, and is unknown to the city.
“What we saw last night was a peaceful vigil in the City of Hartford turn violent, and that violence didn’t come from the City of Hartford,” Arulampalam said. “That violence is a direct result of the lawlessness and recklessness of the Trump administration that has occurred over the past year.”
This article was updated to include comments from ICE.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com