#greg drumright

“Melanie Mitchell said her 5-year-old and 11-year-old daughters were pepper-sprayed just after the moment of silence. She said Graham police approached the crowd assembled in the street and told them to move onto the sidewalk and soon began spraying pepper spray toward the ground. Mitchell’s 5-year-old took off running, she said. Both kids threw up.”

“Veronica Holman said her 3-year-old great-nephew also threw up after being pepper-sprayed. They had been sitting on a brick wall across the street from the courthouse, she said. ‘They didn’t warn us or anything,’ she said. ‘We were just sitting on the wall.’”

“Another video posted on social media showed a woman in a motorized wheelchair reacting to pepper spray that was released about 10 feet from her.”

“Scott Huffman, who is challenging Republican Rep. Ted Budd in North Carolina’s 13th District in the U.S. House of Representatives ... said he was affected by the pepper spray that was deployed.”

At least twelve people were arrested and jailed, including the event organizer, Reverend Greg Drumwright of the Citadel Church (who happens to be African-American). The police also arrested the campaign manager for Dreama Caldwell, Democratic candidate for county commissioner, and “many activists associated with the group People for Change.”

Oh, and one more fellow: Alamance News reporter Tomas Murawski, who was covering the march. According to the newspaper’s publisher, Tom Boney Jr.:

“Murawksi was taking photos on the street when he was arrested. ‘When I spoke to him on the street, while he was in police custody, he said they ordered them to move out of the road way,’ Boney said in an interview with the N&O. ‘He was doing so, while still taking photos, but apparently not fast enough for [the police].’

“Murawski was charged with resisting, delaying or obstructing a public officer, Boney said, adding that the reporter was being accused of pulling away from an officer. The reporter, however, was adamant he was not resisting the officer, Boney said. A video of the incident shows no sign that the reporter was resisting.”