No charges from confrontation at Wyatt

CRANSTON — No one will be charged in connection with a protest outside the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility on Aug. 14 that culminated in a guard driving his truck through a group of demonstrators.

Attorney General Peter Neronha briefed members of the Jewish protest group Never Again Action about the decision on Wednesday morning. Then, in an afternoon news conference, he confirmed that a statewide grand jury had decided no charges were warranted — not against the guard who drove the truck, the protesters who blocked the entrance to the prison's employee parking lot or the guards who pepper-sprayed them.

Neronha said that due to state law, there was little he could say about the grand jury's reasoning.

He described the investigation of the case as "extremely thorough," involving interviews with more than 70 witnesses and the review of about 75 pieces of video, as well as medical reports of those who said they were injured.

“The grand jury worked hard to carefully sort through all the testimony and evidence that was presented to them. From my own experience, I am sure that they had to deal with complicated legal and factual issues, including determining the intent of those whose conduct was within the scope of their investigation and whether that intent rose to the level of criminal misconduct,” said Neronha. “Often, these are not easy issues for grand jurors or trial jurors to grapple with.

“A peaceful protest — a right enshrined in our Constitution — devolved into an extremely unfortunate incident that could have been avoided had better systems been in place to ensure public safety. There is much to learn from this incident. It is my hope that we will do so.”

Never Again Action, which has been demonstrating at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices nationally, organized the Aug. 14 protest in response to the federal government's return of ICE detainees to the Wyatt Detention Facility earlier this year.

Shortly before 10 p.m., some protesters were blocking the parking-lot entrance. Video showed a truck, driven by Wyatt Capt. Thomas Woodworth, quickly approaching the group, stopping, and then pushing forward as people screamed.

In the aftermath, other prison personnel could be seen apparently deploying pepper spray.

Organizers of the protest said at least two people were injured by the truck, one seriously, and three others were treated after inhaling pepper spray.

Members of Never Again Action left Wednesday's meeting with Neronha frustrated and angry.

"They are defending their prosecutors left and right," Jessica Rosner, a member of Never Again Action, said. "They clearly had an agenda, and that was: feel free to drive a truck into a crowd."

A somber Christian Andrade — who said that he was blind in his left eye for three weeks after Wyatt guards pepper sprayed him when they emerged from the facility — said he was not surprised.

"It just shows that law enforcement is not held to the same standards that we are as citizens exercising our rights to protest peacefully," Andrade said.

"It is outrageous," said Jared Goldstein, associate dean for academic affairs at Roger Williams University Law School, who was present with his family at the Aug. 14 protest. "Later today, the attorney general will give a statement in which he will say they presented all the facts and they did a serious investigation. But the truth is anybody who sat through the grand jury knows that the prosecutor came in with an agenda. That agenda was: let these guys off."

One protester, Jerry Belair — who said he was hit by the truck and received injuries that he initially suspected to be a broken leg — said he would consider civil action, though declined to say against whom.

"I mean, the guy drove into a group of people protesting peacefully, with the intention to do harm," the retired lawyer said. "What do you need? What does a grand jury need?"

Gary Pelletier, Woodworth’s lawyer, said he’d spoken with his client, who was “very relieved that the grand jury made what we both feel was the correct decision based on the facts and circumstances of this case.”

Pelletier said his client did not, in fact, hit anybody with his truck.

“When I see the video, there are a couple of people [who] look like they’re falling down. But there isn’t a situation where the truck is actually making contact with them,” Pelletier said. “I think they were trying to get out of the way, and backed into somebody.”

Woodworth, Pelletier said, was trying to get to work, and believed that the protesters were moving out of the way when he started to pull in. Woodworth didn’t have the intent to harm or strike anyone, Pelletier said.

“Things weren’t necessarily as they appeared,” Pelletier said.

Prison leadership gave Woodworth the option of resigning or being terminated, Pelletier said. He chose to resign. Now, he is considering whether to try to get his job back.

The grand jury’s decision “certainly represents a situation where there isn’t probable cause for an indictment,” Pelletier said. “I certainly think it’s something he would consider.”

Neronha on Wednesday afternoon said his office did not ask the grand jury to consider charges against the protesters. He said that while protesters could have been arrested for blocking the parking-lot entrance, police at the scene of the protests, in an exercise of discretion, chose not to make arrests. Neronha indicated that he agreed with that decision.

About 20 members of Never Again Action demonstrated outside the attorney general's Providence office Wednesday afternoon in reaction to the lack of charges, singing, commenting into a megaphone and chanting "Up, up with liberation/Down, down with deportation."

They gathered around a large black banner emblazoned with white and yellow letters and marked with a yellow Star of David — the same visual that the Nazis deployed as they corralled populations of Jewish people before murdering them during the Holocaust.

"Never again," said the yellow lettering.

With reports from Mark Reynolds