Starting Saturday afternoon and into early Sunday, an estimated 3,000 people gathered across DeLand for a party or parties that spanned several locations. While the daytime was relatively uneventful, things started getting out of hand as day turned to night.
Volusia Sheriff’s Office deputies working alongside DeLand PD encountered several issues: A long gun pointed out of the passenger window of a passing vehicle, a loaded gun handed off from one convicted felon to another, agitated crowds of bystanders and bottles, jars and bar stools used against law enforcement as weapons or projectiles.
Many in the crowd recorded video of their perspective of events.
Today, in a story headlined “Police, citizens clash after peaceful DeLand memorial block party,” The West Volusia Beacon published quotes from some members of the crowd:
“This is what they do to black people,†one party participant said. “Have a block party Downtown and see what happens. … It’s not fair; it’s not fair.â€
“Can we enjoy ourselves? No,†one woman said, adding, “We are human too — black lives matter. Every life matters.â€
She asked, “Why do they try to take our humanity? Our pride? It’s not fair to us — we’re all human. We all bleed the same blood. When he us, he made y’all.â€
***
Sheriff Mike Chitwood responded today by releasing video footage of the events and defending the deputies and police officers who were surrounded by agitated crowds and hit by glass bottles and other objects.
Around 10:30 p.m., a passenger in a vehicle pointed a rifle or shotgun out of an open window, in the direction of a deputy and pedestrians gathered at a gas station at Beresford and Spring Garden avenues. The vehicle continued northbound on Spring Garden at a high rate of speed. Deputies and police searched for the vehicle with negative results.
As crowds grew in multiple locations, impeding traffic flow and causing safety hazards, deputies and DeLand police officers began ordering vehicles out of certain areas. As crowds dissipated in one location, new problem areas would arise.
One of those areas was the 1200 block of South Delaware Avenue, where a crowd of about 1,500 pedestrians and vehicles formed on the street. Shortly after midnight, deputies were walking southbound on Delaware and observed two men (Alphonso Parker and Charles Turner) exchanging a firearm. A deputy approached giving commands to drop the gun, and Turner ran away. The deputy ran after him; Turner threw the gun and kept running, but he was taken to the ground nearby.
Deputies recovered the firearm (Ruger 9mm, 15 rounds with one round in the chamber and the hammer cocked). Several other deputies responded to help secure Turner, who was resisting. He was charged with two counts of possession of a weapon/ammunition by a convicted felon, tampering with evidence, inciting a riot and resisting an officer without violence.
Turner, who was already out on bond on other charges, has a criminal history that includes 25 felony charges with 5 convictions and 28 misdemeanor charges with 13 convictions.
Parker was arrested on many of the same charges as Turner, with the exception of tampering with evidence. He was also charged with possession of a concealed firearm.
After securing Turner and Parker, two deputies were hit with a cup of alcohol. While the person who threw it was being taken into custody, one of the deputies was sucker punched by another male subject who immediately fled the area. Another deputy and DeLand PD officer were hit with a bar stool and mason jar by other members of the crowd who immediately fled. Glass bottles were also being thrown at patrol vehicles in the street while arrests were being made.
One deputy sustained a minor knee injury and a DeLand PD officer had a minor head injury when he was hit with the jar.
The behavior that occurred here overnight was dangerous, senseless, unacceptable and an embarrassment to our community.
None of it will deter law enforcement from coming back when we’re needed.
** (Disclaimer: This video content is intended for educational and informational purposes only) **
I can't. I just can't anymore. These pigs are worthless. Keep earning the hate, idiots.
Would anyone have gone to jail without police interaction? Right to peaceful assembly. Is the only thing violated.
Police create crime.
For the record I'm white and this is b.s.
If you were white in a Wisconsin bar… You'd be ok…Or armed militia in Michigan….oh and also white
Every seemed fine until the cops started grabbing people…
Bareback the blue…
Just like other situations it's calm and cool and then the pigs start controlling things and all hell breaks loose. And as usual the pigs blame the citizens. Too bad more stones, bricks and bottles weren't thrown. Knock these pigs out take their tasers and tase the ful out them, then handcuff them face down in the dirt and then…..haul ass out of there. Just MHO.
I have been taking shite from you pigs and the government for long enough. You have been warned that people are about to snap. Yet you pigs just think we are your servants when you are ours. I knew it was only a matter of time until the bricks, stones, bottles and other things were going to start flying.
Do they want to start a revolution? Tbh I wouldn’t these guys think Kevlar will keep them safe from that mob? Lmao they could rip them limb from limb
With a town named D-Land, why is it not a gay mecca? 🤔ðŸ˜
How can any cop sleep at night…
The bad ones are sociopaths so clearly they Have no problem sleeping
But it’s the “good†cops that bug me more…. don’t they sincerely know that the vast majority of what they do is ruin people’s lives by enforcing unjust laws with excessive punishment, while constantly violating people’s rights
.
But the number one thing police do more then anything is steal money from hard working people, they’ve become leg breakers for the government… why any human would want to be a cop is beyond me, it’s so crystal clear what their job really is for.
It’s not to protect and serve.
This is why the “good†cops are practically worse in my opinion, because they are either so brainwashed and stupid that they believe their “protecting and serving†or worse, they know the truth and are willfully ignorant… at least the bad cops are transparent.
People are getting fed up man… we
Do not need or want police…. at least certainly in the sense of what they’ve become today, any true violent crime can be handled by militia of men
All they had to do is leave these people alone and all would have been fine. I am glad to see people exercising their freedomsIt wasn't until the cops came that things went bad.
I wish these people would've pushed back!
Yes we all need people with guns telling us what to do NOT FTP
How is that every time a black community gets together to have a good time the police have to come mess with them. Police are the problems in this country, not the citizens.
Hmmmmmm?? All white cops? Wonder where this was goin?
The Trayvon Hoax https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAw5ykIPOBM&feature=youtu.be
What's up with this? Everything was fine until the cops showed up!!😲🤔
More weak ass order followers
Mental note- 'dont move there'
Have you ever wondered where the law of "Resisting Arrest Without Violence" came from? It's a law that was enacted and passed by the police apologist legislators all over the country to give the police the ability to pile on charges when arresting a citizen. Resisting arrest without violence cannot be defined specifically, it's an arbitrary and subjective charge that guarantees more jail time and excessive costs for a lawyer, fines, and court fees. More laws to fuck over the enemy (citizens) (sarcasm intended)!
Escalate, escalate, escalate. When watching this, I seriously wanted the entire crowd to beat the shit out of the cops. That is not right on my part, but I have seen WAY TO MANY instances of cops taking their adrenaline rage out on citizens!!!
Aaaaa….more of the murderers who killed a man who did NOT have a weapon with 80 rounds…also by ONE officer 60 – 80 yds away THROUGH his windshield…even though there were 3 vehicles IN FRONT OF HIS VEHICLE!!!
It's amazing so many cockroaches showed up in the light.
If everyone there was armed as well as the cops, and willing to use them, there would have been no arrests.