Michigan sheriff walks with protesters in effort to repair community relations
Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson joins Laura Ingraham with insight on 'The Ingraham Angle.'
Michigan Sheriff Chris Swanson recalled on Monday the moment he began marching with protesters over the death of George Floyd, the Minneapolis man who died in police custody after a Minnesota police officer kneeled on his neck for more than 8 minutes in a moment caught on cellphone video.
Swanson, of Genesee County, told "The Ingraham Angle" on Monday that the actions of Derek Chauvin, the officer charged in Floyd's death, were not indicative of nationwide law enforcement, and the advances made in law enforcement-community relations were erased in the time knee was on Floyd's neck.
"I would love to say that I would plan that -- would love to say that it’s part of the protocol, but we saw the boiling point that started it and, in 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the entire good of police was erased," he said.
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"All those inroads at all those things that law enforcement have done, in that moment, because of one person who wore a uniform but wasn’t one of us. And I saw those tensions build and now we saw them over the weekend: They attacked police departments and then we had our own demonstrations, Laura, and we saw people that showed up and we marched with them and it went east to west and then they turned towards the police department."
He said his officers prepared for hundreds of protesters and clad themselves with armor, helmets and batons, but that the tone changed when they got close to the protesters.
"I saw a hug and I looked over and I said we can talk to these folks. And they were just as frustrated," Swanson said. "There were just as angry as what you see... and I took my helmet off, the officers, they put their batons down, I went into the ground, the first shot collar I saw, I said come here, and I gave him a big hug. I’ve been a cop for 27 years and that was the one thing that was the catalyst right there."
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He remarked that walking into a potentially volatile crowd was one of the "least tactical things" he could do, but noticed that they wanted someone to listen to them.
Swanson said the crowd eventually chanted "walk with us" and the officers joined with them.
"You saw what happened here, you’re seeing it in Houston, Miami, Cape Coral, Green Bay, and across the nation. There is hope coming, there’s peace coming, but we’ve got to stay the course," he said, adding that those protesters involved in mass looting of property in Manhattan are not the same people as the peaceful protesters he encountered.