Local News

Raleigh police reps: 'Listen to police when they are giving commands'

Leaders of the union that represents about 500 Raleigh police officers spoke Monday about the arrest caught on camera that showed a Raleigh man fighting with officers before he was ultimately subdued with fists and clubs.

Posted Updated

By
Sloane Heffernan
, WRAL reporter
RALEIGH, N.C. — Leaders of the union that represents about 500 Raleigh police officers spoke Monday about the arrest caught on camera that showed a Raleigh man fighting with officers before he was ultimately subdued with fists and clubs.

"This situation did not have to happen," said Rick Armstrong, vice president of the union and former president of the Raleigh Police Protective Association.

"We want to emphasize the importance that citizens listen to police when they are giving commands."

Armstrong appeared Monday morning with the president and vice presidents of the RPPA to speak out in support of the six officers involved in the incident, which took place Friday at the intersection of Garner Road and Martin Luther King Boulevard.

"Our position is the police officers acted appropriately, using the necessary force to subdue the subject involved," Armstrong said.

Frederick Darnell Hall, 44, of Raleigh, has been charged with resisting a public officer and assault on a government official in connection with Friday's incident.

"He was violent and aggressive and assaulted each and every one of them," Armstrong said.

Hall is being held under a $45,000 bond. He is expected to make his first court appearance via video conference on Monday.

Videos posted to social media on Friday shows the confrontation between Hall and at least a half dozen Raleigh police officers. New video posted to Facebook on Saturday shows Hall taking multiple swings at officers before they attempt to subdue him.

The witness who posted one of the videos on Friday said, "The officers handled it as well as they could, since it seemed like nothing was going to take that guy down."

Doris Tomberlin said she does not know what led to the altercation between officers and her son, but said Hall suffers from a mental disability.

Hall's brother, who also spoke at a Saturday news conference, said Hall is on the medicine Olanzapine, which is used to treat mental disorders including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

In response to the video, Annie Schmidt, executive director of the Wake County chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said, "The incidences over the weekend are additional examples of our police needing support and our community needing more resources."

Rep. David Price (D-4), a supporter of additional funding for mental health support, said, "This one is particularly poignant, I think, in terms of what families go through, the kind of angst that mental illness involves and also the social consequences."

Matt Cooper, president of the Raleigh Police Protective Association, said officers are trained to deal with people in crisis, but in the run-in with Hall, he was so out of control that officers did not have a chance to determine his state of mind.

"He escalated the situation," Cooper said. "At that point where it becomes an active assault against the officers, that is the time where officers have to do what they do to protect themselves and the community."

The RPPA said the six officers involved – four men and two women – were still on the job and not under any investigation for their actions. Several were treated for minor injuries suffered in trying to get Hall to calm down.

Both Armstrong and Cooper expressed sympathy for Hall's family, who spent much of the weekend trying to see him.

"We pray for him and his family," Armstrong said.

But he returned again and again to a simple message: "Please listen to police officers when they give you a command. That way it does not have to lead to a violent situation."

He said officers tried first to order Hall to stop, but he did not respond.

"There were verbal commands. He refused to listen," Armstrong said.

The RPPA leaders agreed that the public needs more education about how police are trained and what they face on a daily basis.

Armstrong said he hoped Mayor Nancy MacFarlane and Chief of Police Sandra Deck-Brown would also come forward with statements of support for the officers.

The Wake County district attorney and investigators from the State Bureau of Investigation met Monday to review body cam video of the incident. They expect to release that video to the public soon.

Family: It's not the first time police beat Hall

According to his criminal record, Hall was charged in March 2016 with resisting a public officer and assault resulting in physical injury.

His mother says that incident was also a result of police overreach.

"This is the second time that they have beaten my child unconscious," Tomberlin said on Saturday.

"(They) beat him so bad, they had handcuffs on his hands, and it was swollen over the handcuff, and he had gashes in his head where they had done beat him in his head,” she said of Hall's 2016 arrest.

Hall's brother, Douglas Hall, said he was rear-ended on Interstate 540 and Raleigh police and the North Carolina State Highway Patrol were involved in that arrest.

According to a Raleigh police spokeswoman, that encounter involved only the Highway Patrol.

All charges against him were later voluntarily dismissed. Hall's only other arrest was for speeding in 1994.

His mother says he is not violent and is a manager of a McDonald's. “He works all the time, doesn't bother nobody," she said.

 Credits 

Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.