The Emory Wheel obtained incident and arrest reports from the three police agencies that responded to protests on April 25 on the Emory University Quadrangle and at the Candler School of Theology: the Georgia Department of Public Safety (DPS), the Atlanta Police Department (APD) and the Emory Police Department (EPD). The reports shed new light on how police responded to the demonstrations.
The incident reports contain summaries of each unit’s response in addition to officers’ personal descriptions and justifications of actions taken during the protests. In the reports, officers are named only by their position, badge number and last name. The Wheel has arranged the information from the reports in chronological order as they reportedly occurred on April 25.
Before arrests
According to one of the EPD supplemental case reports, a groundskeeper called EPD around 7:42 a.m. and said people in masks were beginning to take down yellow tape barricades around the Quad in place for Commencement and setting up tents.
EPD’s report shows the department responded to the encampment soon after.
“Around 0917 hours, the Deputy Chief of Emory University attempted to make contact with the subjects,” the supplemental report states. “He gave loud verbal commands that the group had ten (10) minutes to leave the area. During this time the group began to bang on plastic buckets and chant ‘Cops off the lawn.’”
According to the supplemental report, EPD’s deputy chief made three more attempts to order the protesters off the Quad. Wheel reporters witnessed EPD make multiple attempts to move demonstrators off the Quad before arrests were made.
“Due to the individuals’ actions and refusal to confirm their connection to Emory, officers with the Atlanta Police Department and Georgia State Patrol were called to provide further assistance,” an EPD report states.
However, Noëlle McAfee, philosophy department chair and professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, said that some people who were on the Quad had just come in and had not heard the order to disperse. McAfee was among the protesters arrested on April 25.
“A lot of people who had come out to the Quad, including me, had been out there for maybe five minutes,” McAfee said. “At least one or two of the people who were arrested had simply come out of the building right at the moment that it was all happening.”
The EPD report also claims that social media accounts unaffiliated with the University called for “non-Emory community members” and “pedestrians in the area” to join them in a protest and occupation of the Quadrangle.
However, the president of Emory Students for Justice in Palestine (ESJP), who was also on the Quad during the arrests, said that Emory-affiliated groups posted the “public call” on social media referenced in the EPD report. The president requested to remain anonymous out of fear of being doxxed.
“First of all, Emory Stop Cop City posted it,” the ESJP president said. “[ESJP] posted it. Emory [Students for Socialism] probably posted it. It was definitely Emory-affiliated accounts calling for Emory students to join us.”
The EPD report states the department issued an alert through the Emory Emergency Notification System advising community members to keep clear of the Quad area around 9:23 a.m.
Ending the encampment
Reports from the Georgia State Patrol (GSP) and the Motor Carrier Compliance Division (MCCD) — both of which are DPS agencies — as well as reports from APD note that officers responded to the encampment around 9:00 a.m. The GSP report shows EPD and APD called the agency for assistance around 9:02 a.m. After assembling on the Quad, officers from all agencies began arrests.
Officers received an order to begin arrests at approximately 10:30 a.m., according to the MCCD report. The report does not specify who gave the order. EPD later processed all arrests.
“EPD issued multiple verbal warnings at different intervals advising individuals in the encampment that they were trespassing on private property and instructing them to leave,” EPD’s report states. “When those requests were ignored, Atlanta Police and Georgia State Patrol officers assisted Emory Police Department with dispersing the crowd and taking individuals into custody for criminal trespass.”
McAfee said that she had heard that some protesters were arrested while trying to disperse.
“I’ve heard anecdotally … that some were running away, trying to disperse, and then the police attacked them and dragged them down,” McAfee said. “So this other claim that people would not disperse, even after the GSP arrived, I don’t see how that can be backed up.”
According to the GSP and MCCD reports, during the Quad arrests, GSP and MCCD officers deployed rounds of LIVE-X PepperBall irritant ammunition in front of the crowd on the ground. GSP Sergeant First Class McAdams stated in the GSP report that he used PepperBalls in an attempt to disperse the crowd from the encampment.
PepperBall ammunition works by having pressurized air propel a thin plastic ball containing a concentration of PAVA pepper powder at hard surfaces, and the ball bursts and disperses the irritant pepper powder, according to the manufacturer’s website.
“After several combative subjects were arrested by numerous officers from the mixture of law enforcement agencies that were present, an attempt was made to move the crowd out of the area,” McAdams wrote in the GSP report. “During this attempt, the crowd became combative, once again. In an attempt to gain compliance with the large crowd and to divert their movement, I deployed approximately 10 rounds of Live X munition on the ground in front of the hostile crowd. … This cloud of PAVA was effective and accomplished the goal of gaining compliance with the crowd. No injuries were reported during this PepperBall deployment.”
ESJP’s president disputed the claim that there were no injuries.
“Many people got hit on their legs and stuff,” the ESJP president said. “A lot of people got bruises and everything, and that’s why it’s so crazy to me that they were like, ‘There were no injuries reported from the PepperBalling.’ … I saw students, their entire face was red, crying.”
MCCD Officer Truitt and MCCD Sergeant Hilley both reported that they were told the group on the Quad were not students at Emory. From the MCCD report, it is not clear who told them this. Hilley stated he was advised that there were “45-50 non-student protesters” on the Quad.
“Apparently they arrived at 0745 hours and set up an encampment that included tables, chairs and tents among other miscellaneous items in the grassy area,” Truitt wrote in the MCCD report “They also fake bloodied bodies wrapped in blankets all over the lawn. We later found out that these people were non-students and did not have permission to be on the campus.”
The Wheel has previously reported that 20 of the 28 people arrested on April 25 were Emory community members.
During the initial arrests, MCCD officers subdued and tased a protester while he was on the ground. MCCD officer narratives in the report claim the protester was non-compliant with arrest leading up to the tasing.
“As we began to surround the crowd, I approached a tall Black male with a cloth wrap around his head and black mask on,” Truitt wrote in the MCCD report. “He also had on green shorts and a red shirt with a brown backpack. He appeared to be leading a portion of the group as many were following him to a corner of the encampment where bystanders were watching.”
According to Truitt, the protester was initially compliant until the crowd around him began chanting to let him go. Truitt said that the protester then began resisting arrest by attempting to pull his hands away as Truitt tried to zip-tie them together. Wheel reporters observed protesters begin chanting to let him go but cannot confirm if the protester being arrested had become noncompliant.
“The situation was tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving knowing this man was taller than me along with supporters surrounding me,” Truitt wrote. “I decided to act swiftly by using wrapping my arms around him and using my body weight to guide him to the ground in the grass. We then struggled in the grass as I tried to get him to turn over to his stomach for me to gain control of his wrists and effect the arrest.”
Truitt wrote that after the protester was on the ground, Hilley and McAdams came over to assist in the arrest. Both Truitt and Hilley stated in the MCCD report that they advised the protester multiple times to stop resisting. Both officers said they tried pressure point tactics to gain compliance but were unsuccessful.
“Due to the violator continuing to struggle with us and attempt to pull away, I then moved on to the next option that was available to affect the arrest,” Hilley wrote. “I pulled out my taser 7 and placed it on the rear side of the violator’s right shoulder. I advised him several times that I was going to tase him if he did not comply. … I then gave a three second countdown and warned the violator that he was going to be tased. I then activated the Taser 7 and performed a drive stun. This had no effect on the violator, and he continued to resist after a full five second cycle.”
Truitt wrote in the report that he applied three more taser warning and stun cycles to the protester’s right shoulder, right abdomen and right thigh before the officers were able to handcuff him. In total, DPS tased the protester four times.
After the arrests
After the crowd had dispersed from the Quad, law enforcement agencies disassembled the encampment. Police officers pushed the crowd back down toward the Callaway Memorial Center before cordoning off the Quad.
Officers then began processing detainees in the parking lot next to the Administration Building. At that point, a crowd began to form around the area up against the police line.
“I stood by as we formed a line to keep people off the Quad while they cleaned up the trash and tents,” Truitt wrote in the MCCD report. “At that point a large crowd formed by the command post and was starting to chant and yell at officers as they tried to book suspects. Once, they were able to leave out of the area with the transport vans, all state units were ordered to leave the campus and return to headquarters.”
As protesters were being detained, Associate Professor of Philosophy Dilek Huseyinzadegan spoke to a Wheel reporter, saying that Emory community members had “begged” University administration not to bring police to campus for that day’s protest.
Associate Professor of Religion Ellen Gough also told the Wheel on April 25 that one of her students told her about the protest. Police later arrested that student, Gough said. She added that the University’s behavior was “inappropriate and unacceptable.”
“There were about … 35 peaceful protesters drinking coffee, eating snacks, chanting on the lawn,” Gough said. “They were absolutely non-violent. This is an institution of learning and dialogue. That’s exactly what they were participating in.”
According to the EPD report, officers made additional arrests after people intentionally crossed the police line surrounding the area where arrestees were being processed.
“Individuals intentionally crossed the line and refused to return to the other side of the caution tape, thereby attempting to interfere with the police to include interfering with the transport of the arrestees, creating unsafe conditions for both officers and the arrestees,” the EPD report states.
ESJP’s president said that the crowd pushed some protesters, causing them to fall across the line and get arrested.
All arrestees were then transported to the DeKalb County Jail, according to EPD’s report.
Confrontation at Candler
Protesters gathered on the Quad at about 5:30 p.m. after most police officers had vacated the area. According to another GSP report, roughly 300 protesters were present by 6:00 p.m., when the group moved from the Quad to Candler and attempted to access the building while GSP and EPD officers stood in front of the door. A group of protesters had been sitting inside the building in view of the glass front windows. Protesters inside the building demanded divestment, dropped charges and an apology from the then-dean of Candler, Jan Love.
The GSP report states that both EPD and GSP officers were pinned to the glass at Candler. Wheel reporters witnessed protesters pinning EPD to the glass but cannot confirm if they also pinned GSP officers.
According to GSP Sergeant First Class Moremen, EPD requested a GSP return response to campus around 6:00 p.m. GSP Sergeant Youngblood said in the report that members of the GSP Crime Suppression Unit (CSU) were a part of the response.
“Upon arrival, Emory University was actively requesting assistance with a mixed group of students and agitators,” Moremen wrote in the GSP report. “The group remained stationary on the commons until approximately 2030. They moved from the commons to the large glass-front library. Members of GSP and Emory PD became trapped and cornered by a progressively aggressive group displaying outward aggression to law enforcement (LEO) for the inability to access campus buildings. Emory PD formally requested that no access be allowed to the protest for fear of destruction.”
GSP Trooper First Class Tennant stated in the report that he was advised via radio that the protesters had pinned down EPD officers near the Candler building, before being told by GSP Corporal Gonzalez to “step it up.” Youngblood said that law enforcement began to give orders to back away from officers and the front of the building.
“The demonstrators refused to follow our commands and became more agitated and appeared to become more violent,” Youngblood wrote in the GSP report.
Moremen said that after the group was told not to enter Candler, they showed “extreme aggression.”
“Large groups attempted to pin law enforcement with homemade wood signs and began throwing full bottles of water haphazardly at LEO,” Moremen wrote in the GSP report. “Members of CSU mobilized to the library to assist the LEOs who were pinned with no access to escape. Some members of CSU were equipped with Pepper Ball launchers and others with flex cuffs. Approximately 15-20 rounds of pepper balls were deployed into the ground approximately 5 feet in front of the aggressive agitators.”
Youngblood stated in the report that the PepperBall deployment was successful, and that afterward they “gained some ground” and the demonstrators returned to the Quad.
After the group moved back to the Quad, Moremen said that a “large showing of manpower” from law enforcement disbanded the protesters for the night.
ESJP’s president said that the Candler protest got a “little rowdy.”
The Wheel’s previous reporting states that after protesters returned to the Quad around 8:32 p.m., they linked arms to form a circle as approximately 50 officers lined the Quad. Protesters then began to set up another encampment with a few tents and sleeping mattresses in the center of the Quad, but protest leaders eventually told the crowd to leave peacefully, and demonstrators then cleaned up the encampment and left the Quad around 8:56 p.m.
