In Erie, a video of a police officer kicking a protester rages on

By: John L. Micek - June 1, 2020 5:45 pm

During a mid-afternoon briefing, Erie Police Chief Daniel P. Spizarny Sr. addressed the still-simmering national controversy over a viral video that appears to show a city police officer kicking a defenseless protester during a riot on Saturday night.

Capital-Star Erie Correspondent Hannah McDonald has the full story on the incident involving 21-year-old Hannah Silbaugh, of Erie, and city officials’ attempts to deal with the controversy.

Spizarny told reporters that the officer shown in the video kicking Silbaugh identified himself to the chief of police on Sunday morning after learning about the video. The department is not releasing any identifying details about the officer at this time. An internal investigation is being done to determine how to handle the situation

Erie Mayor Joseph Schember told reporters there are currently no plans to lift the state of emergency declared in the city as a result of the unrest Saturday.

Protests started in Erie.. a girl here was peacefully protesting, after 15 minutes she was maced and kicked.. #PoliceBrutality pic.twitter.com/nC6HhXMpCe

— Nick / nak5132 (@the7goonies) May 31, 2020

Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics.