ACLU calls for ‘full, transparent’ investigation of Quakertown ICE protest

ACLU of Pennsylvania is calling for a “full and transparent investigation” of an off-campus ICE walkout that resulted in physical confrontations with local police against Quakertown high school student protesters that have been widely shared on social media generating national attention.

The civil rights organization is in touch with the student demonstrators, ACLU Legal Director Witold Walczak said in a statement Monday. The organization did not confirm if it will take legal action. The incident is under investigation by the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office.

“At this point, we’ve only offered some guidance to some of the students as far as securing representation,” ACLU spokesman Ian Pajer-Rogers said. “I can’t comment on this point about anything else we may do beyond that.”

The ACLU statement Monday called the actions of Quakertown Police Chief Scott McElree, who has come under wide public scrutiny with his department but has also found support since the incident, a “stark violation” of the job of law enforcement, and noted “by all accounts” there were no issues at the demonstration until police arrived “and incited violence.”

“In abandoning his job and mission on Friday afternoon, Chief McElree effectively was acting as a counter-protester, albeit one with the ability to arrest people,” Walczak said. “Quakertown deserves better.”

The civil rights organization is the latest group supporting the Quakertown Community High School students who participated in the Feb. 20 Immigration Customs Enforcement protest where a police confrontation with teens turned violent and students were arrested.

Multiple students and witnesses reported that police grabbed, manhandled or tussled with students, leaving at least one teen and the police chief bloodied. Five to six students and one adult were arrested, according to police.

McElree, 72, who also appeared injured in videos, has come under fire with community and civil rights groups demanding he be removed after he was identified as an adult male captured on video charging into a crowd of students.

McElree was out of uniform, and witnesses said that he did not identify himself as a police officer when he physically confronted the teens including placing a 15-year-old girl in a chokehold before taking her to the ground as other students. Others students tried to free the girl and were scene hitting and punching the chief.

A petition circulating over the weekend on Change.org had gathered nearly 7,000 signatures as of Monday calling for McElree to resign saying his actions have “severely undermined” critical community trust with police.

Community members say they will demand the Quakertown Council immediately suspend McElree, who is also borough manager, and implement other police reforms at their Feb. 23 work session.

Neither McElree, Quakertown police or council members have responded to multiple messages and emails left for him seeking comment since Friday.

Quakertown Police allege some of the 35 to 60 students who participated in the demonstration displayed disruptive and dangerous behaviors. Police allege students threw snowballs at vehicles, kicked tires, damaged at least one vehicle, ignored officer directions to not walk in the street and assaulted police officers, including McElree.

The students protesters left the high school campus after the administration canceled a planned demonstration outside the high school hours before it was scheduled to take place due to threats received, according to the district.

Multiple witnesses, student participants and abundant cellphone video of the protest appear to show the protesters peacefully marched into the downtown business district, where they were confronted with police on Front Street.

Student protesters alleged they were harassed by other students who also left campus and followed them. A cellphone video that has since been removed from social media showed one male driver apparently following the students yelling taunts and slurs at them.

The protest ended violently outside Sunday’s Deli Restaurant as police confronted students, though the many details of what happened when students left school grounds remain under police and district attorney investigation.

The students are scheduled to appear at a detention hearing in Juvenile Court on Tuesday. Community and civil rights groups are calling for the criminal charges to be dropped against the juveniles, who have been held in custody since Friday.

A legal defense fund has been established for the accused students, who remained in custody over the weekend; it has raised more than $28,000 as of Monday afternoon.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: ACLU calls for ‘full, transparent’ investigation of Quakertown ICE protest

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

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