'Senseless' and 'wrong': North Carolina mayor condemns police destruction of medics' tent
Mackensy Lunsford Asheville Citizen TimesASHEVILLE, N.C. – The Asheville Police Department's aggressive dismantling of a volunteer medical station 15 minutes after curfew has set off calls for accountability across the city and beyond.
Video by the Citizen Times of the Tuesday incident shows Asheville police officers in riot gear and holding shields, forming a protective circle around officers stomping and stabbing water bottles. Other officers destroyed medical supplies such as bandages and saline solution.
For some, officers' actions are emblematic of the very brutality protesters were railing against during protests of George Floyd's death at the hands of police.
Mayor Esther Manheimer called it "senseless," in a Thursday speech.
Fact Check: Police did destroy a medic area during protests in Asheville, North Carolina
In a Wednesday statement, Police Chief David Zack said the medical supply area "was not permitted by the city of Asheville and was located on private property, without the permission of the property owner."
Zack said water bottles were destroyed because protesters had used them as weapons.
Police destroyed other items because they were looking for explosives, according to the statement. Among the supplies were tampons and granola bars.
Manheimer, in a Thursday speech on downtown Asheville's Church Street, also spoke of accountability.
She said police destruction of the medics' tent was "wrong, it was senseless, and it only serves to reinforce those feelings of mistrust, hurt and anger."
"We need a society where people can trust, where they can have faith and be able to believe that they will be governed fairly, with respect, with dignity, and those in power will not abuse their positions and cause others to suffer," she said.
Zack echoed Manheimer's tone, asking the community to continue to hold him accountable. "Please help us in fixing what's wrong," he said.
He stayed largely focused on Floyd, but also spoke in general terms about how the officers on his force are tasked with keeping order and peace.
"Some of this is us having to be a part of the system," Zack said. "But that's what has to be addressed: the system."
'Good kids, volunteers'
Business owner George Frangos was bothered by Zack's assertion that the volunteers were not given permission to be on the property.
Frangos expressly allowed volunteers to use the alleyway shared by his restaurant, One World Brewing and Salsa's.
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"They were just good kids, volunteers," Frangos said. "And they were almost protecting our building. In a sense, they almost provided protection to the alley, which has a history of no good happening there."
Sean Miller, a UNC Asheville student who is head of communications for the medical team, said the group ensured all volunteers had medical training.
"We had doctors, certified nurses, EMTs and military combat medics, and we also had other people who were CPR and first-aid certified," she said.
She also said they had a verbal agreement with APD to be present, even after curfew.
On Wednesday, the day after police dismantled the medical station, the medics tried to set up again, but were stopped by police.
"They said they had received a notice from the owners of property that they did not want us there," Miller said. "So APD had to come in and tell us we had to leave per the owners."
Farm Burger general manager Sara Burton said the medics began staging on Farm Burger's patio on May 31 and left the area in a "leave-it-as-you-found-it condition" each night.
"The Asheville Police Department could have easily asked them to disperse on the night of June 2 before any conflict arose," she said. "However, they chose to destroy their supplies and push them out of the alley around 8:15."
Burton said Farm Burger staff stayed after their shifts to help medics clean up the mess the APD left behind — piles of plastic water bottles and scattered food — before going home for the night.
"We believe that, had we given the medics permission to be stationed solely on our own patio, the same result would have culminated," she said.
Who owns the alley?
Asheville Fire Department spokeswoman Kelly Klope said the volunteers were warned not to set up in the alley.
"The Fire Marshal did walk over there and let them know that, because it's not a public space, but egress for three different businesses, they are not allowed to have any kind of anything set up there."
The alley in question is shared and maintained by three businesses for multiple uses, including as an entrance for One World Brewing, which owner Lisa Schutz said has been shut down for several months because of state-mandated COVID-19 restrictions.
It's also used as an outdoor dining option for Salsa's, which was not open at the time of the protests.
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Farm Burger was the only business open. The restaurant mainly uses the alley to access a dumpster.
County records show half of the alley belongs to Pack Square Property, an arm of the Savannah, Georgia-based investment company Wicker Park Capital Management, which owns the Salsa's building and numerous other properties in the city.
The principal there did not respond to emails sent on Thursday.
The other half belongs to the Leader Building, owned by Atlanta-based Collaborative Partnership Properties, LLC. An owner there declined to comment on the situation.
Joanne Badr Morgan, a commercial real estate attorney with Ward and Smith, P.A, said determining alleyway rights can be complicated.
Optimally, legal documents spell out the joint owners' right to use and maintain the alleyway, she said.
"If there is no such agreement in existence, the owners of a private alleyway have a shared right to use and maintain the alley, and their use cannot restrict one another's use and access to the alleyway," she said.
When there is no written agreement, owners can negotiate their respective rights, she added. "When that isn't possible, the owners can litigate over those rights."
She said a tenant's use of a shared alley depends on the lease arrangement.
Frangos said he didn't know the specific terms of his lease. But he said this shouldn't come down to alley rights.
He also said he appreciates the work police have to do.
"From my point of view the police, like anyone else, have to be accountable for their actions and treatment of people," he said.
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