Activists helping teen detained by police pepper sprayed in Cleveland

Activists fresh from the weekend national conference of Black Lives Matter held in Cleveland aided an allegedly intoxicated black teen who was in police custody on Sunday.

Accounts differ on what happened about 4:40 p.m. but a video of the incident showing an officer from the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) pepper spraying the crowd that surrounded the teen while he was being held by police quickly went viral on social media, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer and other local media.

On Sunday night, an investigation was underway by the RTA police with the Cleveland Police Department assisting, according to newsnet5.com, the local ABC affiliate.

Witnesses told newsnet5 that “officers slammed the teen to the ground while making the arrest and pepper spray was used.”

People rallied to area where the teen was being held.

"Folks were asking what is going on? Why are you trying to arrest this young man? All of us just saw what happened to Sandra Bland in Texas so forgive us if we are a little concerned," said Edward Little, criminal and juvenile justice consultant to WKYC.com, the local NBC affiliate who attended the Black Lives Matter conference.

By all accounts, the crowd grew.

"I was told the police are pepper spraying people down the street and I'm seeing people run for milk so they can be protected from pepper spray all because people are asking what happening to a young man," Rhonda Y. Williams, history professor at Case Western Reserve who had been at the conference, told WKYC.com. "When we have an officer who comes out of nowhere and is pushing people and then takes out and just starts spraying with his pepper spray, that's not de-escalation."

The crowd surrounded the police car where the teen was being detained, and despite the melee, he was released to his mother and there were no arrests.

Last year, Cleveland police shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice, after the preteen was approached by police for brandishing what turned out to be a replica gun that fires plastic pellets.

In May, Cleveland agreed to an overhaul of the city’s police department under the auspices of a federal monitor, in a settlement with the Department of Justice over a pattern of excessive force and other abuses by officers.

The Cleveland settlement coincided increasing scrutiny over police treatment of black Americans after the deaths of several unarmed black people at the hands of police —including Michael Brown, and Eric Garner — sparked nationwide protests. None of the officers involved in those cases have been charged, part of the push behind the Black Lives Matter movement.

On Sunday “After a weekend of grieving and healing and strategizing on our black future, movement-wise, it was pretty frustrating to see this happen,” said Jamal Lewis, an activist from Brooklyn who attended the conference. 

He said the crowd surrounded the police, recording them and asking questions because people wanted to ensure the teen’s safety.

Lewis added, “It was also very beautiful and powerful to help get him free.”

The RTA released a statement saying officers “peacefully removed an intoxicated 14-year old male from a bus. Police said the juvenile was intoxicated to the point where he was unable to care for himself. “

Officers took the teenager to a nearby transit stop but as the crowd grew “For the safety of the juvenile, Transit Police moved him from the open shelter into a police cruiser,” the statement said.

“The crowd kept the police car from leaving the area. A Transit Police officer used a general burst of pepper spray in an attempt to push back the crowd, to no avail,” according to the statement.

“The juvenile was escorted from the police cruiser to a waiting EMS unit to be examined at the scene. He was then released to the custody of his mother at 5:47 p.m.”

Al Jazeera with The Associated Press and additional reporting by Renee Lewis