Detroit — Demonstrations that drew thousands downtown turned violent Friday night as marchers amassed downtown and police in masks and shields stood in formation to try to stem violence.
Nine people were arrested by midnight, many who were not Detroiters, and a police commander was struck by a rock and taken to a hospital, police said.
The situation remained tense as officers near Randolph and Congress formed a line as protesters approached, arms uplifted, chanting "Hands up, don't shoot." Officers during what appeared to be face-off moved the line back. Protesters threw bottles as others leaned out of upper levels of a parking garage, cheering the action.
Police stood ready with zip ties and ordered the crowd to disperse or face arrest. Tear gas was deployed by police as they pushed protesters back in an attempt to regain ground. Traffic backed up down side streets as the scene played out on Randolph.
What began as an afternoon march calling out police brutality against African Americans prompted Detroit police Chief James Craig in a late-night press briefing to decry outsider agitators who came into the city to cause mayhem.
One command officer was struck with a rock and was transported to a local hospital, Craig said as the sound of sirens could be heard downtown.
"We're not going to tolerate criminal acts," Craig said during the briefing following relatively peaceful protests throughout the afternoon and evening Friday.
A second officer on bike patrol was targeted by a driver in a pursuit on the freeway, but he was not injured.
Craig said his officers also were pursuing a man from outside the city who he said ripped out the windshield of a Detroit squad car, saying "he's still out there, but we know who he is." Several other police cars sustained varying degrees of damage, he said.
"I will not stand by and let a small minority ... attack our officers and make our community unsafe," Craig said.
The first several hours of the demonstration were peaceful, he said, until a "small faction" came in late and "began taunting officers."
"We know that the individuals from outside the city of Detroit who converged at the protest location don't represent this city," he said. "I'm just asking for all Detroiters to continue to support us. Let's peacefully protest."
The demonstrations earlier played out as similar scenes sprang up across the U.S. following the death of a black man after he was restrained by police in Minneapolis.
"I'm tired of marching," said Detroit City Council President Pro-tem Mary Sheffield, who led the gathering in chants earlier in the day. "We are demanding justice. We are demanding it."
A demonstration in Detroit followed a calmer one earlier in Pittsfield Township and others nationwide after the videotaped arrest of George Floyd, who died on Memorial Day after four Minneapolis police officers stopped Floyd, who was black. A white officer knelt on his neck for eight minutes. Three days of protests, some violent, led to the torching of Minneapolis' 3rd Precinct station on Thursday night.
In Detroit, thousands marched through the police headquarters parking lot to the streets around downtown, chanting "no justice, no peace" and calling for new leadership for the country.
Young children held their parent's hands, some who had fists raised in the air chanting "no justice, no peace." Others marched with dogs on leashes, rode bikes or pushed baby strollers. Police officers on bikes and in patrol cars blocked off streets to allow the marchers to pass through the streets.
A passenger window of a patrol car was broken during the protest, said Sgt. Nicole Kirkwood of the Detroit Police Department. There were no reported injuries during the hours-long demonstration, she said as of 8 p.m.
Many wore masks to follow pandemic safety orders. Some demonstrators wore blue surgical facial coverings which had "I can't breathe" hand-written across the fabric.
"We're going to do the work of the people," said Victoria Burton-Harris, a Detroit attorney running for Wayne County prosecutor. "This is what we were built to do. We will get justice by any means necessary."
Others called for more controls over how police deal with African Americans.
"Detroit is on simmer. What we saw in 1967; it could happen again," Detroit Police Commissioner Willie Burton said. "We have to push for strong police oversight, accountability and we've got to fight for greater transparency."
By 8 p.m. Friday, demonstrators were back at police headquarters as the protest continued.
The Detroit protest came the same day as another protest over police treatment of a black woman as well as Floyd. Sha'Teina Grady El was given an administrative release by the Wayne Circuit Court on Friday after she was arrested this week in Ypsilanti Township. Video showed a Washtenaw County Sheriff's deputy punching Grady El, 45, in the head during her arrest.
By Friday afternoon, Grady El was leading a crowd in protest against police brutality outside the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office.
"If everybody treated people as they want to be treated," she said, there'd be no need for a protest."
Much of the country's outrage sparked after Minneapolis officers investigated Floyd, 46, as a suspect in a grocery store forgery case and claimed he resisted arrest. Video captured one of the officers kneeling on Floyd's neck as he begs, "Please, please, please, I can’t breathe. Please, man."
A white officer who knelt on Floyd's neck was arrested on murder charges Friday and accused of ignoring other another officer's concerns about Floyd, who was handcuffed and on the ground.
Derek Chauvin, 44, was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. More charges are possible, the prosecutor said Friday. The investigation into three other officers is ongoing, said Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman.
The death of Floyd and the actions of the officers, who were fired from the department after Floyd's death, have sparked a national discussion of racial bias by police and prompted Detroit police Chief James Craig on Thursday to hold a press conference to reassure the community "we are a constitutional police department."
Craig called Floyd's death "murder" and said if the incident had happened in Detroit, the officers involved would be in jail.
News of Chauvin's arrest followed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz's acknowledgment of the “abject failure” of the response to the city protests.
Minneapolis protests drew the attention, and ire, of President Donald Trump. Trump threatened via tweets early Friday to bring Minneapolis "under control," calling the protesters "thugs" and tweeting a warning that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, meanwhile, called for "a thorough and timely" impartial investigation into Floyd's death.
"It's incumbent on every one of us to stand up for what is right," Whitmer said during a press briefing Friday. "We have to hold people accountable. People that perpetuate these abhorrent actions.
"George Floyd's death in the deaths of many others — Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, Renisha McBride — they are not isolated incidents, but they're a part of a systemic cycle of racial injustice in our country."
Craig said Thursday that within 48 hours of seeing the news of Floyd's death, he put out a memo to his officers reminding them that the choke-hold the Minneapolis officers used on Floyd is banned in the city.
During Friday's protest in Detroit, Bradley Williams, 55, said his father always told him to be cautious around police, and as a father of three sons, he taught them the same.
"Something has to be done. It’s your job to protect your partner’s back," said Williams of Redford Township, referring to the officers who watched Chauvin kneel on Floyd's neck. "You’re responsible for each other. You can’t control your partner and he gets out of hand, it’s just really sad.
"It starts from the top. If we start holding each other accountable, that’s where it starts."
cferretti@detroitnews.com
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