Cops Lie

Constantly.

The footage, requested by WHYY News, does not appear to otherwise corroborate accounts of violence circulated by Mayor Jim Kenney’s office in justification of the tear-gassing. Officials said demonstrators, who were protesting systemic racism and police brutality in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, had trapped the lone trooper and begun rocking his vehicle. In the dashcam video, law enforcement can be heard describing the protests as “peaceful.”

“While on the roadway, the crowd surrounded a State Trooper, who was alone and seated in his vehicle, and began rocking the vehicle, with the trooper having no safe means of egress,” said Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw in an initial statement, released on June 1, the day of the event.

Even as described it wouldn't have justified the gassing, but...