Amidst nation-wide concerns and protests over policing, an incident took place in Bangor’s Pickering Square which provoked questions about Bangor Police Department’s actions and statements.
On Friday, August 7th, Scott Hall of Bangor was attempting
to erase chalked messages that he claims targeted the LGBTQ+ community in
Pickering Square when he was issued a No Trespass Notice for the square
by Bangor Police Officers Jarid Leonard and Allen Jones. Three days later, on August
10th, the Department released a statement to the media and on
Facebook signed by Sergeant Wade Betters, the Public Information Officer,
responding to the situation. Due to public information requests filed after the
incident, documents and video have been uncovered which demonstrate that many
of the claims within Bangor PD’s statement are false or misleading.
The statement, which appears to have been drafted by Police
Chief Mark Hathaway according to internal emails, reported as fact a
range of claims concerning the actions of both Mr. Hall and the local church
group chalking the messages, as well as the content of the calls the Bangor
Police received about the incident
1)
Claims about the content of the calls to
Bangor PD concerning the incident
The Bangor Police statement begins: “On Friday evening, shortly after 8:00p, the police were called to the area of Pickering Square as two men were reportedly arguing. The first caller reported an argument between two men. The second caller indicated the two men were screaming at each other.”
-According to the transcript of the first call, the first caller never reported an argument, only stating that
a man who was “helping write the chalk” was screaming at the man cleaning it up
(presumably Mr. Hall) about how “Christians are being prosecuted”. The caller never
states that the other man (Mr. Hall) engaged in an argument, or even that there
was a two-sided argument, contrary to the BPD statement.
-According to the transcript of the second call, the second caller reported that Mr. Hall was cleaning up the chalk, and when asked by the dispatcher whether he was “yelling or causing any sort of scene at all” specifically said that he was not. While the BPD statement claimed the second caller “indicated the two men were screaming at each other”, according to the transcript, the caller never mentioned anything of the kind.
-Transcripts of the two calls and the Police report show that, in contrast to the statement’s claims, police were called to the area of West Market Square and followed the church group to Pickering Square based on the caller’s information.
2)
Claim concerning Mr. Hall following a church
group member
The BPD statement claims that Mr. Hall followed one of the
church group members when that member “left to avoid further confrontation”. The
statement indicates this as transpiring after the Officers spoke with both men,
making the location Mr. Hall allegedly followed the man from Pickering square.
-This claim, aside from not being mentioned in the Police
report written by officer Leonard, is also contradicted by video of
security cameras located on the nearby parking garage (Camera 1 and Camera 2). It is clear from these videos that when the church group departs
Pickering square, Mr. Hall remains and is still talking to the Officers. In
fact, the only time Mr. Hall leaves Pickering square before he is issued the No
Trespass Order is, according to Mr. Hall, when he goes to refill his water container
from a nearby business. It is clear from the security cameras that the officers
are still talking to the church group member in Pickering square when Mr. Hall
leaves and returns, making it impossible for Mr. Hall to have been following
the man when he left.
3)
Claims that Mr. Hall “harassed” a church
group member by scrubbing chalk messages as they were being written
The BPD statement claims multiple times that Mr. Hall “harassed”
one of the church group members. In context, this claim seems to be derived
from the false claim that Mr. Hall followed that member, and that he was
scrubbing messages “in the moment” they were being written.
-From video of the security cameras previously mentioned, it is clear that Mr. Hall was only scrubbing
completed messages at what appears to be a distance of about 15 feet from the
church group members upon his arrival. At no point does it appear that Mr. Hall
approaches the church group members, and instead the group members walk over and
appear to confront Mr. Hall while he is scrubbing.
4)
Claim that “the officers attempted to
resolve the issue through conversation”
The BPD statement states that before Mr. Hall was issued the
No Trespass Order, “the officers attempted to resolve the issue through
conversation.”
-While Officer Jones did speak to Mr. Hall at West Market
Square earlier that evening, there is no indication in the report that
the officers attempted to resolve the alleged dispute in Pickering Square
through conversation. Instead, contrary to the statement, the report doesn’t
reflect that the officers attempted to speak to Mr. Hall in Pickering Square at
all before issuing the No Trespass Notice. This claim is also not reflected in video
Mr. Hall published of part of his interaction with the officers, though it
does not cover the entirety of the incident.
5)
Claim that Mr. Hall “escalated the
situation”
The BPD statement says: “The man who remained uncooperative,
continued to escalate the situation and engage in active behavior was told to
leave the area so to avoid continued confrontation.”
-While it was true that Mr. Hall did not cooperate with the
Officers’ directives to leave the area until he was trespassed and threatened
with arrest, there is no evidence that Mr. Hall “escalated the situation” in
any way. It is not stated in the police report that Mr. Hall “escalated
the situation” and it appears that both in the security camera video and in Mr. Hall’s video that he simply
continues scrubbing the chalk and interacts with the Officers with a seemingly
calm demeanor.
The city of Bangor rescinded the No Trespass Notice
against Mr. Hall on August 14th, but Mr. Hall is pushing for an
apology for the actions of the Bangor Police Department, and in a Bangor Daily News op-ed, encouraged people to express their concerns during a City Council meeting on Monday, September 14th. When reached for
comment on August 8th, the day after the incident, Lieutenant Myron
Warner of the Bangor Police Department defended the content of the chalked messages,
saying, “I don’t think it was anything offensive, I think it was just bible
verses.” The Bangor Police Department has not responded to a request for comment concerning their August 10th statement.
Compiled Resources:
Bangor Police Department Statement
Internal Emails Concerning the Release of the BPD Statement
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