By Linh Nguyen
LOS ANGELES – Video footage has now surfaced of police officers firing projectiles and spraying Mace at people who are inside their homes.
While hundreds of videos have been aired on social media showing officers assaulting peaceful demonstrators at protests, new video footage shared to Twitter also captures officers assaulting residents following curfew orders inside their homes.
In an urban neighborhood in Los Angeles, a group of police officers patrol the streets after curfew. In one video, a man silently records officers from his upstairs balcony as sirens ring in the background. A few officers crouch around a person face down on the ground, appearing to either be arresting that individual or providing aid.
8️⃣7️⃣ Los Angeles, CA: LAPD shoots a man *in his own apartment* recording from his upstairs balcony
— T. Greg Doucette (@greg_doucette) June 1, 2020
At one point, a gunshot can be heard. An officer points at the man recording while another officer aims his gun upward in that direction.
A similar occurrence also took place on an empty street in Richmond, Virginia to a man live streaming on Facebook from his second floor apartment.
Mikhail Smith yells expletives at the passing patrolling officers, saying, “From the safety of my own home, I can say whatever the f*** I want.” Smith also yelled profane expletives at passing police cars.
As another group of officers on foot walk by, Smith repeatedly tells them that he’s in his house as they aim the bottle of pepper spray at him and spray, giving him no warning nor reason.
“They just f****** sprayed me in my house!” he yells on livestream. “Get a f****** warrant!”
Smith threatened to take the video to local or cable news media.
Shortly before Smith was sprayed, the officers also sprayed Mace at a group of three women walking down the street, as the video shows. They were told to go home by the officers, to which they retorted, “You go home,” and then they were sprayed by phone.
The Richmond Police said they are aware of the video and are investigating this incident.
Even in more suburban neighborhoods where residents stand on their porches after curfew, masses of officers and even a military vehicle swarm the residentials, as a video taken in Minneapolis shows.
Also in today's criminal justice news, National Guard and Minneapolis PD officers illegally demand taxpayers stop filming from their porch and go inside – you'll hear "Light 'em up!" as they then shoot at these people *WHO ARE ON THEIR OWN PORCH*
— T. Greg Doucette (@greg_doucette) May 31, 2020
The officers are yelling at the residents to get inside. One officer can be heard yelling, “Light ‘em up!” before shooting paint canisters at the woman filming the video.
This occurred in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, where the Minneapolis Police Department and the National Guard were enforcing the curfew order.
The curfew in Minneapolis, implemented by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, did not specifically restrict people to the indoors of their home, rather a person should be within the curtilage of their home and should not be traveling.
On June 7, 2020, the Minneapolis city council announced that they will dismantle the city’s police department and replace it with a new community-based system of public safety following the death of George Floyd and the public outrage to defund the police.
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