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Why Dallas Police Chief Reneé Hall made the call to use tear gas at George Floyd protests

The Dallas Police Department used tear gas, a chemical weapon, on a large crowd on Friday and Saturday nights.

Dressed in riot gear and holding shields, Dallas Police officers gathered in a defensive line downtown, confronting the latest round of protesters Saturday.

For the second day in a row, police in this city deployed a technique not used in recent memory — shooting tear gas into the crowds.

The only verbal warning?

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“Get back,” a few officers yelled Saturday, and then moments later, they pushed up the street, releasing pepper spray and firing tear gas to disperse the crowd.

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The decision quickly drew backlash from protesters, who had held peaceful demonstrations in front of Dallas Police Headquarters on South Lamar Street on Friday and at City Hall on Saturday before marching through downtown. The protests were in response to deadly police force incidents across the country — most recently the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, a black man who died while a white officer pinned him to the ground with a knee on his neck.

At Dallas City Hall on Saturday, Police Chief U. Reneé Hall defended her decision to use tear gas the night before as a way to try to disperse protesters who she said were vandalizing property.

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“We will not tolerate tearing up our cities, our communities,” she said.

A spokesman with the department, who has spent more than 30 years with the force, said he could not recall the last time the department used tear gas.

A review of The Dallas Morning News archives found city police officers have used tear gas in standoffs and car chases, but only with a small number of people — not crowds.

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Hall said the decision was made to deploy the non-lethal chemical weapon at Griffin and Young streets on Friday night after bricks were thrown at officers and tires were slashed on police squad cars, including Hall’s SUV.

“As I tried to defuse the situation — along with the officers — we were not successful, and to ensure that no one was harmed or injured, we made the decision to deploy this,” Hall said.

The department was still assessing damage to police property, Hall said, adding that two squad cars were set on fire while tires on dozens of others were slashed and windows were broken.

Andy Harvey, a former Dallas Police major who is the Ennis Police chief, said officers must take into account several factors before using tear gas: weather, open space and a way out. Harvey said he couldn’t recall in his experience with the police department whether tear gas had ever been used.

“We are usually overly cautious to do so,” Harvey said. “We always went above and beyond to allow protesters to do so safely.”

DPD has kettled protestors and escalating downtown Dallas

Posted by Lee Daugherty on Friday, May 29, 2020

Lee Daugherty, 41, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, a progressive political organization, and owner of Alexandre’s in Oak Lawn, filmed Friday’s events at Young and Griffin streets on Facebook Live.

Without verbal warning, officers launched a canister of tear gas into the crowd around 10 p.m. People began coughing and running. As they yelled, police threw several more canisters. One person tossed one of the canisters back toward the police line and later, a man kicked one back at officers.

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Daugherty said he was hit with tear gas from officers. As he fell, ,trying to get away from the haze, a man knelt by him. Protesters were pouring milk on people whose eyes were burning.

“There’s no reason for this. It was a simple march,” he said as he filmed the scene that unraveled.

Daugherty described Hall’s version of events as “not true.” He said the tear gas further escalated the crowd. In his video, police squad cars are seen surrounding protesters at the intersection with their sirens blaring.

“It created an environment where people didn’t know what’s going on and there were no instructions,” he said.

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Another video from Friday night showed Dallas police throwing a canister near a person’s car on Field near Main Street, filling it up with the irritating smoke. A woman who was in the car jumped out and ran away.

Jordan Spotser holds a sign as Dallas police deploy teargas to disperse protesters at the...
Jordan Spotser holds a sign as Dallas police deploy teargas to disperse protesters at the corner of of Griffin and Young Streets as they march against police brutality on Friday, May 29, 2020, in Dallas. The protest was organized by in response to the in-custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.(Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)

According to the department’s general orders, non-lethal forms of force are used by officers when met with resistance from crowds.

Tear gas, according to the orders, is a lower form of force than impact weapons such as bean bag rounds or rubber bullets, which are non-lethal ammunition.

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Last year, police deployed a PepperBall gun into a crowd after days of intense protests when former Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger shot and killed 26-year-old Botham Jean, a black man, in his apartment after she’d mistaken it for hers.

Hall requested an investigation into the incident, which found that the officer who fired the non-lethal rounds needed to update his certification. The finding determined that he ultimately used the PepperBall gun in a way that was “consistent” with the department’s general orders after demonstrators started to walk on the freeway.

Hall admonished protesters Saturday: “We will be out in full force, and we will enforce the laws.”

Staff writer Corbett Smith and researcher Owen Prout contributed to this report.

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Correction: A previous version incorrectly stated Andy Harvey’s rank with the Dallas Police Department and a word in a quote. Chief U. Reneé Hall tried to defuse the situation with protesters, not diffuse the situation.