Law enforcement officials in Florida released body camera footage of a massive weekend block party at which officers said they were punched and struck with glass bottles, a mason jar and a bar stool.
The release came after the West Volusia Beacon quoted partygoers saying that authorities had unfairly targeted black attendees, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said Monday.
“Because the majority of those in the crowd were black, and the deputies and police were white, we are now having … hard conversations about race, racism and inequality,” Chitwood said in a statement. “I don’t accept the accusations that our deputies and police are racists, or that their actions Saturday were racially motivated. It’s not true, and it’s not a fair conclusion from the video.”
“But given everything we know about our nation’s history, I also know those feelings aren’t just about Saturday night,” he added.
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The sheriff’s office estimated that 3,000 people gathered at several locations around the city of DeLand, north of Orlando. DeLand Police Chief Jason Umberger said the event was said to be a memorial, though he added that no permits were issued and it wasn’t advertised as such, NBC affiliate WESH reported.
The body-cam footage shows officers telling attendees to get out of the road and move their cars. At another point, an officer can be seen detaining a man who allegedly threw a gun before running from authorities.
At other points, attendees can be heard screaming that the people being detained didn’t do anything.
“This is what they do to black people,” one partygoer told the West Volusia Beacon. “It’s not fair.”
Chitwood said seven people were arrested at the event. Two men face charges of possession of a weapon and ammunition by a convicted felon, tampering with evidence, resisting arrest and other alleged crimes.
Other arrest details weren’t immediately available.
The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said someone in a car pointed a rifle or shotgun at officers. A man who had been at the party was later admitted to a local hospital after being shot in the foot.
Umberger said that mending the relationship between the predominantly African-American community of Spring Hill, where the event took place, and the DeLand Police Department has been one of his goals since joining the department in 2017.
“We are clearly not there yet,” he said.
He added that the city had canceled all upcoming public events because of the coronavirus pandemic, even though Gov. Ron DeSantis allowed counties to begin reopening earlier this month.
“No one should be getting together in groups of 50 or more,” he said.