June 1, 2020 Richmond, Virginia Police fired tear gas at demonstrators kneeling at the Robert E. Lee Monument 20 minutes before curfew.[234]
June 1, 2020 Riverside, California News broadcast footage purported to show police smashing a car window. The sheriff’s department claimed windows were not broken.[235]
June 1, 2020 San Luis Obispo, California Police used tear gas on protesters. A report noted that protesters had only one way to disperse from the standoff, to turn around and go back. One protester stated they were hit in the foot and leg by a canister.[236]
June 1, 2020 Seattle, Washington As she broadcast live on-air, NBC reporter Jo Ling Kent was struck by a flash-bang grenade from police.[237]
June 1, 2020 St. Matthews, Kentucky Police pushed and held down a pastor during a march. The pastor was released after officers learned he was a pastor. He later filed a lawsuit against the city and its police department.[238]
June 1, 2020 Syracuse, New York An officer shoved a news photographer from Syracuse.com to the ground.[239]
June 1, 2020 Topeka, Kansas Police used tear gas on protesters. Some members of the media were also caught in the tear gas.[240]
June 1, 2020 Walnut Creek, California Police fired tear gas and sicced police dogs on protesters. One woman was struck in the head by a rubber bullet.[241][242]
June 1, 2020 Washington, D.C. An Australian Seven News crew conducting a live broadcast, were battered by police using a riot shield and clubs, while the cameraman was punched in the face. The incident prompted comment from the Australian Prime Minister and Opposition Leader. The reporter later testified in front of US Congress.[243][244]
June 1, 2020 Washington, D.C. Despite clearly showing press credentials, complying with police instructions, and the curfew not yet being in effect: an MPD officer; unprovoked, charged a BBC cameraman with a riot shield, knocking him backwards.[245][246]
June 1, 2020 Worcester, Massachusetts An officer tackled a protester walking home.[247]
June 1, 2020 Worcester, Massachusetts Video appears to show a riot officer repeatedly stepping on a woman’s phone as she was arrested. The woman can be heard on video claiming police are punching her boyfriend.[248]
June 1, 2020 Worcester, Massachusetts Police tackled and arrested a freelance journalist. The journalist was charged with disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, and failure to disperse, but the charges were later dropped.[249][250]
June 2, 2020 Asheville, North Carolina Police were filmed destroying medical supplies.[251]
June 2, 2020 Brockton, Massachusetts Police pepper sprayed a reporter from The Boston Globe while moving a crowd of protesters back.[252]
June 2, 2020 Charlotte, North Carolina Protesters claimed police deliberately kettled and tear-gassed them. Multiple lawsuits were filed against the city and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.[253]
June 2, 2020 Clayton, California Police used tear gas and smoke grenades on protesters.[254]
June 2, 2020 Colorado Springs, Colorado Police tackled two women and slammed one to the ground. One of the women was later awarded a $175,000 settlement for an excessive force lawsuit.[255]
June 2, 2020 Colorado Springs, Colorado A woman was pepper sprayed multiple times by police. The woman later filed a lawsuit against Colorado Springs and five police officers.[255]
June 2, 2020 Los Angeles, California A pedestrian was arrested at gunpoint.[256]
June 2, 2020 Los Angeles, California A wheelchair-bound man was shot in the face with a rubber projectile.[257]
June 2, 2020 Milwaukee, Wisconsin During a six-hour peaceful march from Bay View to the District 1 police station, police officers declared an unlawful assembly after empty water bottles were thrown by individual members of the crowd towards the police, and issued a ten-minute dispersal warning before firing tear gas and rubber bullets on the crowd of protesters.[258]
Earlier that same day, a group of protesters led by local organizer Frank Nitty II marched onto the I-794 bypass ramp, and were confronted by law enforcement officers, primarily from the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Department. The group was ordered to halt and dispersed with deployments of tear gas and rubber bullets; Nitty was singled out from the group, had a firearm pointed in his face, was physically assaulted and dogpiled by officers “leaving him bleeding from his right elbow, hand, and wrist, and left arm”. Officers tightly bound his wrists, cutting off circulation to his hands, and he was arrested and held in jail. No charges were brought against Nitty other than a County citation for walking onto the freeway; he pled guilty, paid the citation, and was released, before suing the officers involved in the incident.[259]
A water bottle thrown at police near the District 1 station that afternoon was later pictured and described as a “molotov cocktail” on the Milwaukee Police Department’s Twitter profile; this drew widespread rebukes and was ultimately quietly corrected by MPD leadership.[260]
June 2, 2020 Milwaukee, Wisconsin Video showed an officer restraining a protester with his knee. The Milwaukee Common Council called for an investigation into the incident.[261]
June 2, 2020 New York City, New York During a protest in Park Slope an NYPD inspector was filmed stepping on a man’s neck. In 2023 the Civilian Complaint Review Board determined the inspector used excessive force and recommended he be terminated.[262]
June 2, 2020 Portland, Oregon Police fired at least 138 chemical munitions in an 18 block area, far exceeding federally-recognized safe levels of CS gas concentration. This included three types of tear gas.[263]
June 2, 2020 Providence, Rhode Island An officer fired a non-lethal projectile at a non-protester in a vehicle. The man claims he lost an eye because of the incident. The officer involved was placed on administrative leave.[264]
June 2, 2020 Richmond, Virginia A group of officers were filmed as one of them appeared to repeatedly spit at a woman in handcuffs.[265]
June 2, 2020 San Jose, California A protester filed a lawsuit against the San Jose Police Department claiming an officer tripped him before other officers fired non-lethal projectiles at him.[266]
June 2, 2020 San Juan, Puerto Rico Police used pepper spray on protesters after curfew.[267]
June 2, 2020 Vallejo, California 22-year-old Argentine-American Sean Monterrosa was killed at 12:30 AM while kneeling with his hands raised above his waist when he was shot and killed with five bullets by a police officer. Police stated they mistook a hammer in Monterrosa’s pocket for a gun. Police were responding to reported looting.[268]
June 3, 2020 Huntsville, Alabama Tear gas and rubber bullets were used on peaceful protesters.[269]
June 3, 2020 Iowa City, Iowa Police used tear gas and flash bangs on protesters. The city council later passed a resolution indicating not to use tear gas and less lethal projectiles on peaceful protesters.[270]
June 3, 2020 New Orleans, Louisiana A woman was struck in the head by a tear gas grenade. The woman later sued the city of New Orleans and its police department.[271]
June 3, 2020 St. Johnsbury, Vermont A woman fell down the steps in front of the St. Johnsbury Police Department after an officer pushed her out of the way.[272]
June 3, 2020 Tampa, Florida An officer on a bicycle knocked down and detained a journalist from the Tampa Bay Times. The journalist was released after 10 to 15 minutes. Tampa mayor Jane Castor later issued an apology to the journalist.[273]
June 3, 2020 Valdosta, Georgia A brief scuffle occurred after the Lowndes County sheriff attempted to take a sign from a protester.[274]
June 4, 2020 Buffalo, New York Martin Gugino, a 75-year-old man with a cane, was left bleeding from the head after approaching police officers and being shoved to the ground by the police. A video of the encounter shows an officer leaning down to examine him, but another officer then pulls the first officer away. Several other officers are seen walking by the man, motionless on the ground, without checking on him.[275] In February 2021, a grand jury declined to indict the officers, and in April 2022 they were cleared of wrongdoing.[276][277]
June 4, 2020 New York City, New York During a protest in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx, police kettled protesters and beat them with batons. A class-action lawsuit was settled in 2023.[278]
June 4, 2020 San Diego, California After a protest, a woman was forcibly dragged into an unmarked car by unidentified men in civilian clothing. Unwilling to reveal where the woman would be taken, one of the assailants threatened bystanders: “You follow us, you will get shot! Do you understand me?!” The San Diego Police Department later confirmed the individuals were law enforcement officers and claimed the woman had hit police with a protest sign.[279]
June 4, 2020 Portland, Oregon A freelance reporter was hit with a baton and pepper sprayed.[280]
June 5, 2020 Lakewood, California Police used pepper balls on protesters. Police claim that an object was thrown at them, but protesters disputed this.[281]
June 6, 2020 Sydney, Australia Police pepper sprayed a crowd of protesters at Central Station. Police also grabbed and restrained a man.[282]
June 8, 2020 Seattle, Washington At the East Precinct, a 26-year-old protester was shot in the chest with a blast ball as she stood 25 feet from the police line. Her heart stopped and street medics raced her unconscious body away on a makeshift stretcher as flash grenades exploded around them. Following chest compressions she was revived then taken to Virginia Mason Hospital. Though she went into cardiac arrest again at the hospital, doctors were able to keep her alive.[283][284]
June 12, 2020 Austin, Texas The day after Austin Police Department Chief Brian Manley announced that the department would no longer perform chokeholds or neck restraints, an officer detaining 19-year-old Jarrid Cornell knelt on his neck while he was already pinned to the ground by two other officers.[286]
June 12, 2020 Beverly Hills, California Police used tear gas and sponge-tipped bullets on protesters after an unlawful assembly was declared.[287]
June 12, 2020 East Meadow, New York As a protester walked surrounded by multiple officers, one of the officers stopped abruptly, causing the protester to bump into them. The swarm of officers then pulled the protester to the ground and placed him under arrest.[288]
June 13, 2020 Las Vegas, Nevada Police arrested multiple legal observers. One legal observer claimed police threw her to the ground.[289]
June 13, 2020 Richmond, Virginia A police vehicle hit several protesters near the Robert E. Lee statue on Monument Avenue.[290]
June 15, 2020 Louisville, Kentucky Police shot at a courthouse security guard as he filmed protests from inside the building.[291]
June 16, 2020 Portland, Oregon An officer hit a theft suspect with an unmarked police van during a protest. The officer was later indicted.[292]
June 18, 2020 Compton, California Sheriff’s deputies used flash bangs on protesters while clearing them from the rally.[293]
June 18, 2020 Raleigh, North Carolina Police dragged a teenager to the ground and zip-tied her after she was falsely accused of assaulting an officer. A police motorcycle ran over the teenager’s foot prior to the incident. In 2022 a settlement was reached between the girl and the city of Raleigh in a lawsuit.[294]
June 21, 2020 Columbus, Ohio A double-amputee was sprayed by police.[295]
June 25, 2020 Portland, Oregon A woman sued the Portland Police Bureau for firing a rubber ball distraction device at her.[232]
June 26, 2020 Portland, Oregon An officer was filmed knocking several people to the ground after emerging from behind a police line.[232]
June 27, 2020 Tempe, Arizona Police pepper sprayed protesters and tackled three demonstrators.[296]
June 28, 2020 Aurora, Colorado Police used pepper spray to disperse a violin vigil for Elijah McClain.[297]
June 28, 2020 Detroit, Michigan A police SUV drove through a crowd of protesters. Multiple people were injured.[298]
June 28, 2020 Nashville, Tennessee A State Trooper was seen shoving a protester climbing an eight-foot wall.[299]
July 1, 2020 Des Moines, Iowa Police arrested several people, including Indira Sheumaker. In June 2022 two officers sued Sheumaker—who had since been elected to city council—and other protesters, accusing them of assaulting officers and putting one in a chokehold. Sheumaker later countersued, accusing officers of putting her in a chokehold and shoving her.[300]
July 1, 2020 Miami, Florida An officer grabbed a woman’s breast as she was arrested.[301]
July 5, 2020 Milwaukee, Wisconsin As a photographer tracking a protest march passed the Old German Beer Hall restaurant, an off-duty police officer and his wife objected to being photographed, threw beer into the crowd, and fought the group of protesters, resulting in property damage, concussions, and charges of battery and misconduct.[302]
July 5, 2020 West Haven, Connecticut After a woman drove through a crowd of protesters, police attempted to disperse the crowd, and one man was tackled from behind, tasered, and maced. According to hospital records the man has a fracture in his spine following the incident.[303]
July 11, 2020 Lexington, Kentucky Police put a man in a chokehold and threw him to the ground. The man filed a lawsuit but a judge dismissed it in 2022.[304]
July 12, 2020 Portland, Oregon Federal officers shot a protester in the head with an impact munition.[305]
July 15, 2020 Portland, Oregon In two separate incidents federal law enforcement agents grabbed protesters and forced them into unmarked vans. Both of the protesters were later released.[232]
July 18, 2020 Portland, Oregon Federal officers were filmed beating Navy veteran Chris David with batons and spraying him with pepper spray. David says he walked over to the officers to talk to them.[306]
July 18, 2020 Portland, Oregon Police threw a man to the ground. When the man attempted to get up, officers knocked him to the ground again. The man filed a lawsuit that was later settled by the city.[307]
July 21, 2020 Portland, Oregon The chair of Lewis & Clark College’s history department was hit in the head with an impact munition and tear gassed.[308]
July 27, 2020 Overland Park, Kansas Police pulled a man to the ground and arrested several people.[309]
July 25, 2020 Anaheim, California A police cruiser hit a protester and drove away. The Anaheim Police Department claimed the cruiser hit the man by accident and that the officer drove away because of approaching protesters.[310]
July 25, 2020 Hoover, Alabama During a protest police arrested a chaplain. Video showed an officer putting his forearm on the back of the chaplain’s neck while arresting him.[311]
July 28, 2020 New York City, New York Police were filmed taking a protester into an unmarked police van. The protester was later released.[312]
July 29, 2020 Springfield, Oregon Police dragged a man on the ground and hit him in the head as he was being restrained.[313]
August 8, 2020 Stamford, Connecticut An officer was filmed grabbing a protester from behind. Other officers were filmed throwing a photographer to the ground and shoving a woman on her knees.[314]
August 10, 2020 Nashville, Tennessee A state trooper forcibly ripped a protester’s face mask off. The trooper was later charged with and pleaded no contest to assault.[315]
August 12, 2020 Tampa, Florida A Black Lives Matter activist was hospitalized after police kneeled on her shoulder.[316]
August 14, 2020 Portland, Oregon An officer with a nightstick knocked a woman down. The woman later filed a lawsuit.[317]
August 18, 2020 Portland, Oregon An officer hit a protester in the head with a baton. The officer was later indicted for fourth-degree assault.[318]
August 26, 2020 Madison, Wisconsin A Dane County Sheriff’s Deputy fired tear gas at protesters as they left a protest. According to the Dane County Sheriff, Madison Police did not authorize the use of tear gas.[319]
August 31, 2020 Portland, Oregon A police officer broke ahead of a police line and tackled a protester who was running away, before repeatedly punching them.[320]
September 5, 2020 Portland, Oregon Police used tear gas at a protest. When a homeowner told police gas had seeped into his house, where his son and son’s friend were, another officer struck the homeowner in the back of the head with a baton.[321]
September 23, 2020 Laramie, Wyoming A police sergeant hit a protester with her vehicle.[322]
September 23, 2020 Portland, Oregon An officer shoved a protester to the ground from behind. In 2022 the district attorney announced charges would not be filed against the officer.[323]
September 24, 2020 Seattle, Washington A police officer was filmed pushing his bicycle over the head of a protester lying on the street.[324]
October 24, 2020 Ithaca, New York Police pepper sprayed and arrested several protesters outside the police station.[325]
October 29, 2020 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Video footage showed a slow-moving SUV being surrounded by police. Officers with batons surrounded the vehicle, broke its windows, pulled its driver and a passenger, Rickia Young and her teenage nephew, from the car, threw them onto the ground, and then pulled Young’s 2-year-old son from the backseat. Young had to be taken to the hospital for injuries sustained in the arrest and was later released without charges. The Fraternal Order of Police posted a photo of a policewoman holding Young’s son to Twitter and Facebook, claiming that the child had been found wandering the streets and that they were protecting him. The posts were later deleted.[326] The city settled out of court for $2 million in September 2021.[327] One of the officers was later fired and charged with assault, but was acquitted by a jury in 2023.[328][329][330]
URGH, that was a pain. But please if you find a list of police casualties during these protests/riots I would love to see them since I can not find them. Oh and if you want to say they stopped the riots, the buildings still burned while the police watched.
Earlier that same day, a group of protesters led by local organizer Frank Nitty II marched onto the I-794 bypass ramp, and were confronted by law enforcement officers, primarily from the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Department. The group was ordered to halt and dispersed with deployments of tear gas and rubber bullets; Nitty was singled out from the group, had a firearm pointed in his face, was physically assaulted and dogpiled by officers “leaving him bleeding from his right elbow, hand, and wrist, and left arm”. Officers tightly bound his wrists, cutting off circulation to his hands, and he was arrested and held in jail. No charges were brought against Nitty other than a County citation for walking onto the freeway; he pled guilty, paid the citation, and was released, before suing the officers involved in the incident.[259]
A water bottle thrown at police near the District 1 station that afternoon was later pictured and described as a “molotov cocktail” on the Milwaukee Police Department’s Twitter profile; this drew widespread rebukes and was ultimately quietly corrected by MPD leadership.[260]
URGH, that was a pain. But please if you find a list of police casualties during these protests/riots I would love to see them since I can not find them. Oh and if you want to say they stopped the riots, the buildings still burned while the police watched.