Video appears to show police stomping on Clark grad's smartphone after riot arrest

WORCESTER – A video captured by one of the people arrested at the June 1 protest in Main South appears to show police stomping the woman's phone as she narrated her apprehension.

"This is a criminal offense, and I believe charges need to be filed," Joseph F. Hennessey, the woman's lawyer and a former Ashland police officer, said Friday.

In the video, riot police can be seen rushing toward Glynn Crum, a recent Clark University graduate who was streaming the protest live to the internet via her iPhone.

Crum drops her phone as police rush her, but it continues recording with its camera facing the sky, and she continues to narrate as she's arrested.

"Police are punching my boyfriend repeatedly in the back!" Crum shouts, at which point a boot can be seen stepping on the phone.

Over the next couple of minutes, the phone captures what appears to be a riot officer stepping on the phone repeatedly, to the point where cracks in the screen become visible.

"A policeman just stepped on your phone," Steven Crum, the woman's father, commented on Facebook. By that time, his daughter had been taken away toward a police wagon.

Crum, 23, was charged with disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace and unlawful assembly. Officer David Green alleged in his police report that she was "given several commands to stop resisting" before being cuffed.

Crum was not charged with resisting arrest. Green's report makes no mention of her phone.

Crum said her friends watching on Facebook Live were able to retrieve the phone, which appears to have been kicked into some bushes, after officers left the area.

"I thought this was gone forever," she said of the video and her phone, which still works despite a cracked front screen.

Crum and several friends with whom she was arrested say they were appalled at the actions of police that night and were recording to ensure a record.

"I think they didn't want lasting evidence," Crum said regarding her phone apparently being stomped. "I think it was cleaning up a mess they didn't want on camera."

Crum spoke to a reporter Thursday at the law office of Hector E. Pineiro, who is working with Hennessey to defend many of the 19 people arrested at the protest.

Pineiro and Hennessey said multiple other clients have footage that disproves assertions made by police in their reports. They noted that destroying a phone is malicious destruction of property, and that police are also obligated to preserve, not destroy, potential evidence relating to an arrest.

"If there are actions by the police, or anyone, to try and get rid of exculpatory evidence, that's concerning," Jacqueline M. Dutton, the head of the public defender's office in Worcester, said Friday.

The June 1 protest that preceded Crum's arrest was sparked by nationwide outrage over the videotaped police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota.

Dutton noted that videotaping police – whether that be through civilians or by police themselves – is increasingly being used as a way to determine the facts in disputed police encounters.

The Worcester police, to the dismay of defense lawyers, have yet to implement cruiser or body cameras, Dutton said, making videos such as the one Crum took important to preserve, not destroy.

"It's disturbing as both a public defender and a member of the community, to see something visually like that and hear, in real time, the tone of people's voice, what people are saying, what people are yelling," Dutton said.

While Crum is white, Dutton said many of the people her office defends, and who tell versions of events at odds with police narratives, are people of color. She said some of those people tell defenders they recorded the events but report their phones being taken or looked through by police, with the video no longer there.

"It's something that sprinkles through the cases that we have throughout our office, and it has over the years," she said. "How frequently, it's really hard to know.

"It's certainly not all the time, but it does happen."

In Crum's case, the first boot strikes the phone around the time she alleges her boyfriend, fellow Clark graduate Lyndsay deManbey, is being punched.

The video appears to show multiple officers walking over the phone and moving through the area as arrests are being made.

DeManbey, 23, alleged in an interview that four to six officers punched and kicked him as they arrested him.

"Some guy called out, 'Get your hands out of your pocket,' " said deManbey, adding he didn't have his hand in his pocket.

"I think they just wanted to rough me up," he said.

The pair were arrested around 12:30 a.m., hours after police had ordered people to disperse and called in officers dressed in riot gear.

The couple said they live in the area and came outside to record earlier in the night when riot police were marching down the street. Videos they and friends posted online show the group expressing the need to ensure any police violence was caught on camera, with several expressing sharply critical views of police tactics.

Police officials have said the riot police were called in after protesters surrounded a police cruiser. Video of the protest shows people becoming unruly after riot police arrive, with some setting fires and throwing rocks and other objects at police.

One man seen pacing a roof was arrested with Molotov cocktails in his backpack, while store owners reported damages to windows and theft of thousands in merchandise.

Crum and deManbey said they believe police were in the wrong. They said many people came out of their homes when police in riot gear showed up, precipitating conflict they allege police continued to escalate by using pepper-balls and smoke grenades.

The couple said none of the police officers who rushed them told them to disperse. They said they were arrested while trying to film another person, who turned out to be one of their friends, being arrested steps from his home.

DeManbey's arrest report makes no mention of him resisting arrest, nor was he charged with that. It does not mention any officers using force against him.

Photos deManbey gave the T&G show scuff marks on his cheek along with bruises on his side, legs and arms. Crum alleged a large officer referred to him as her "loser boyfriend" in lockup when officers were trying to identify which officer had arrested whom.

"The man who identified me is not the man who took me down or handcuffed me. I even saw the man who did arrest me later in the evening," Crum said. "To me this is further evidence of the department's cavalier attitude towards accurate reporting and honesty in their work."

Police spokesman Lt. Sean Murtha declined to comment for this story Friday, saying police do not comment on open cases.

Crum's lawyers have for years accused police of dishonesty in police reports, among other misconduct. The T&G is suing the city for records relating to those allegations.

City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. declined an interview request regarding the lawsuit last week, instead issuing a statement that failed to answer questions about whether the public is entitled to the disciplinary records of police officers.

Contact Brad Petrishen at brad.petrishen@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BPetrishenTG.

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