8 hours Ago
By LNP, Lancaster Multiple Lancaster county community groups have signed an open letter calling for the termination of several Lancaster city police officers after a video circulated on social media showing officers arresting three people in downtown Lancaster. The video does not show the circumstances that led up to the events of the arrest. The video, which was shared Friday evening on Facebook, appears to show a Lancaster city police officer kneeling on the back of a person who is screaming for help as he lies on his stomach on the sidewalk.
Another officer repeatedly tells the person filming to back away from the scene and says if they don’t, “you’re going to go in cuffs.” A Facebook account where the video was posted says the incident occurred on Sunday, March 2, near North Duke and Chestnut streets in Lancaster city. The account holder says several of his friends were stopped by Lancaster police for riding bikes at night without front lights and reflectors.
He says he came to the scene, and his friends were being detained “with no care.” He was also maced by police, he says. The account holder did not respond to a request for more information Saturday.
Lancaster Stands Up, Black Voter Outreach, Lancaster Bail Fund, the Party for Socialism and Liberation and Lancaster Changemakers Collective released a joint statement Saturday morning calling for city officials to terminate the officers involved in the incident. “The children followed the officers' commands and still ended up with a knee in their back and their wrists in cuffs and one was maced,” the statement read. “These officers did not engage in any de-escalation tactics: they were the main aggressors and agitators.
” The statement asked residents to attend the Lancaster City Council meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 11, at City Hall — Polite Council Chambers, 120 N.
Duke St. In a statement sent Saturday, Lancaster city police said all use-of-force incidents undergo a review process. “As part of our standard protocol, each incident is thoroughly evaluated by the officers' supervisors, the training cadre, the Office of Professional Standards (Internal Affairs), the Division Captain (Patrol), and ultimately the Chief of Police,” a police spokesperson said.
“We won’t be making further comments on this incident until the review process is complete.” Wyatt Behringer, the Deputy Chief of Staff for the mayor’s office, said they are deferring to the police department’s statement at this time..
