The Richmond cops appeared to be winding down from a shift of pepper spraying protesters when they came across three women walking towards them on the sidewalk.
The trio did not appear threatening at all but that did not stop the cops from pepper spraying them, forcing them to run away.
It was all caught on video by a man recording from an upstairs window who then began yelling profanities at the cops.
A cop responded by pepper spraying him as well, forcing him back inside coughing.
Richmond Police Chief William Smith told local media he was aware of the incident and encouraged the man, who has been identified as Mikhail Smith, to file a complaint.
According to VPM:
Mikhail Smith captured the video. He was inside his home early Sunday after protesting Saturday night, when he saw the group of Richmond police officers pepper spray the three women outside his window.
“They sprayed them in the face unnecessarily multiple times,” Smith said. “This was Saturday night. There was no curfew in place. They were not breaking any laws.”
He yelled at the officers, and then one of them pointed his pepper spray towards Smith and sprayed him through the window. Smith says the spray reached both him and his girlfriend, causing them to cough and feel like their faces were burning.
Video footage shows police continued using pepper spray on protesters Sunday night while Richmond was under a citywide curfew — the violation of which was subject to misdemeanor. Claire Gastañaga, the executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, says police should be issuing warnings and summons before resorting to such measures.
“They are simply taking the position that anybody out after curfew deserves to be tear gassed, pepper sprayed and arrested, and that is just not right,” she said.
Although the chief on Sunday acted concerned about the allegations, his officers on Monday shot tear gas at 200 peaceful protesters, prompting the chief to issue an apology, which indicates he has no control of his officers and they will just do as they please.
The video above shows the cops pepper spraying the women and the man. The video below shows them shooting tear gas into a crowd of peaceful protesters.
