Providence police release body cam footage from Fourth of July arrests
By: Providence police have released body camera footage from a block party on the Fourth of July, that resulted in four arrests.
Police responded at about 2 a.m. to Glenham and Taylor streets. The following day, neighbors that attended that block party who spoke with ABC6 told us about the force used by Providence Police that night.
Body cam footage obtained by ABC 6 News shows police responding to a fire, that was set by fireworks going off in the middle of the street.
Hundreds of people lined the streets, neighbors saying the fireworks were part of their annual Fourth of July block party celebration. The body camera footage released by police shows officers as they worked to put out the fire and get into several altercations with onlookers who appeared to instigate officers, with some of those interactions getting physical.
The video shows dozens of officers in the streets, making several arrests throughout the video. While making arrests, officers can be seen getting into those altercations with onlookers attempting to stop the arrests. In some of the video, officers can be seen holding down individuals being arrested, as onlookers yell for them to let them go.
You can also hear several of the bystanders yelling at officers and verbally berating officers.
According to police, two people were charged with resisting arrest, one person with obstruction charges, and another person was charged with simple assault. The police department did confirm with ABC6 that they were forced to use pepper spray on the crowd while making arrests that night.