BRYAN, Texas — The Bryan Police Department released condensed bodycam and in-car footage of a clash that took place Sunday between civilians and officers during Independence Day celebrations.
The video was released Tuesday afternoon via Facebook. It shows multiple scenes of fireworks blasting with children and other citizens nearby. In multiple pieces of footage, fireworks can be seen thrown to the middle of the street while cars drive by and civilians run away.
The collected footage stands a little under two minutes and was released "to help the community get an idea of the safety concerns observed," Bryan police said.
"On July 4th, 2021, the Bryan Police Department received over 20 calls between 7:20 pm and 3:00 am in the area of East Martin Luther King Street and Military Drive regarding fireworks, gunfire, disturbances, criminal mischief, and threats," Bryan Police said in a Facebook post this afternoon. "Officers responded to all of these calls and observed multiple community safety concerns such as people shooting fireworks at moving vehicles, people, and structures in the area.
Ebony Peterson, a local activist and co-founder of the BCS Black Lives Matter chapter, said many neighborhoods in Bryan were setting off fireworks and didn't see any police involvement.
"For them to be in that neighborhood and another minority neighborhood during the time where everyone was popping fireworks, what else could we think or what else would we think that you know, that area was being targeted," Peterson said.
According to the Probable Cause Statement on the arrests made by the Bryan Police Department, "the Directed Deployment Team, or DDT, was tasked with maintaining order and safety in the Pepper tree and Finfeather area of the city" end quote
Bryan Police Public Information officer Kole Taylor told KAGS over the phone the DDT is like a vice unit. The team is sent out to specific areas to patrol.
As of Tuesday evening, we are still waiting for an official interview from Bryan P.D.
Watch the video below: