A Worcester City Councilor asserts that people on Eureka Street who protested the May 8 arrest of a Brazilian mother made the situation worse, claiming they should have focused their efforts on helping the mother’s daughters.
Councilor-at-Large and Public Safety Committee Chair Kathleen Toomey released a statement on Monday addressing the recently released body camera footage from Worcester Police officers who were present during Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) arrest of Rosane Ferreira-De Oliveira.
People who protested the arrest “crossed a line,” and were accused by authorities of obstructing and physically assaulting ICE agents and Worcester Police officers at the scene, Toomey said in her statement.
She also claimed the protesters did little to help the mother’s two daughters, 21-year-old Augusta Clara Moura and a teenager, both of whom were present during the arrest.
“The videos I saw reinforced for me that had the protesters stayed on the sidewalk and not interfered with federal officers, we would be in a very different space,” Toomey said. “However, they exacerbated the situation, and instead of focusing their efforts [on] supporting the daughters of the woman apprehended, they crossed the line by obstructing and physically assaulting both ICE and WPD officers, which is unacceptable.”
The body camera footage and audio were released on May 16 following pressure from the public, including a May 13 protest at city hall where protesters accused Worcester Police officers of assisting ICE in their arrest of Ferreira-De Oliveira.
The footage and audio are taken from body cameras worn by officers Juan Vallejo, Patrick Hanlon and Shauna McGuirk.
Along with releasing the footage and a recording of the 911 call from that day, City Manager Eric Batista issued an executive order to establish “guidelines for local response and involvement in federal enforcement of immigration laws and operations, including investigations and civil detainments performed by ICE officers.”
“We are a nation of Laws,” Toomey wrote. “We do not have the ability to choose which we follow and do not follow. As citizens, we are required to follow the laws. As elected officials, we have taken an oath to follow and uphold those Laws. If you do not like them, there are appropriate ways to protest and change them.”
Two other city councilors have also released statements after the release of the body cam footage.
In a statement released last week, District 2 Councilor Candy Mero-Carlson wrote that the Worcester Police Department did not aid ICE in detaining the mother.
“The footage released today confirms this: Worcester Police officers did not aid ICE in any detainment,” Carlson said. “Instead, they responded with professionalism, compassion and restraint in a complex and challenging situation.”
Councilor-at-Large Thu Nguyen, however, said in an Instagram post Sunday, they could not believe the city administration and the Worcester Police Department’s recounting of the events on Eureka Street. They also demanded the release of all police incident reports.
“We will not stop holding WPD accountable,” Nguyen wrote. “We must abolish ICE.”
‘Do not touch me’
Shouts and screams were heard on the morning of May 8 as ICE agents arrested Ferreira-De Oliveira.
Body camera footage from Officer Hanlon captured the ICE agents arresting the mother.
In the footage, District 5 Councilor Etel Haxhiaj is shown walking toward the officers and Ferreira-De Oliveira. Haxhiaj grabbed Ferreira-De Oliveira’s arm and pleaded with the agents not to take her. Two of the ICE agents then proceeded to fling the councilor off Ferreira-De Oliveira.
As the agents moved to a gold Ford SUV, Haxhiaj then reached out for Ferreira-De Oliveira. Hanlon grabs her hands to pull her back and tells her to stop.
“I cannot stop!” Haxhiaj yelled at the officer.
Clara Moura, who is being held back by School Committee Candidate Ashley Spring, reaches out to the vehicle and says no multiple times. Hanlon responds by saying that ICE will offer an explanation.
Haxhiaj and Spring yell that the agents will not explain, with Spring telling Hanlon that ICE does “not have a judicial warrant.”
At around two minutes and 25 seconds into the footage, an ICE officer says, “We do not need a judicial warrant for this arrest.”
In both Hanlon and McGuirk’s footage, some residents can be seen standing right next to the hood of the SUV.
At the two-minute, 20-second mark in McGuirk’s footage, the officer approaches Haxhiaj, who is standing by the passenger side door of the vehicle.
The councilor appears to be talking with someone about a warrant when McGuirk extends her hands out to her and touches her arm.
Haxhiaj responds by telling McGuirk, “Do not touch” me.
At the 2:37 mark, Haxhiaj is still at the passenger’s side of the vehicle, this time with Clara Moura. Agents and McGuirk tell both of them they need to move away from the vehicle.
McGuirk then grabs Clara Moura’s arm, telling her she needs to “come on.” Clara Moura looks down at her arm and says, “no, no, no, no.”
The officer then lets go of her arm, and an agent warns Clara Moura and Haxhiaj that they both could be charged.
Haxhiaj then says, “I don’t understand,” and tells McGuirk that she has the right to be there as the district’s councilor.
McGurik then pulls Haxhiaj away from the vehicle by her back, resulting in Haxhiaj’s hands pushing against her body.
“Do not touch me!” Haxhiaj yells as she is pulled away from the SUV.
At around the 3:54 mark, a man wearing a green shirt standing in front of the vehicle is pushed away by an ICE agent.
Daughter and Spring arrested
During the ICE operation, the daughter and Spring were also arrested by Worcester Police officers.
Body camera footage from Hanlon and Officer Juan Vallejo showed Ferreira-De Oliveira’s 17-year-old daughter run up to the side of the SUV’s front passenger door.
Police later claimed she tried to kick the door, but it is difficult to confirm this due to the shakiness of the cameras and the large police presence.
Vallejo and other officers surrounded the girl and moved her to the ground on the street.
During the arrest, an officer yells, “You’re under arrest for disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace.”
Police officers saw Spring push and shove other officers trying to arrest the daughter, according to a police report.
“Officers also observed Ashley directly point at and spray an unknown liquid in a bottle at officers that were on duty attempting to conduct their job,” the report read.
It turns out, however, that the “unknown” liquid was water.
At the 2:30 mark in the video, Vallejo approaches Spring and points his finger at her, listing charges for another officer: “Disorderly, disturbance, and she sprayed me in the face with water.”
As he moves away from her, the audio catches Spring saying, “It was water.”
Spring was charged on May 9 with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon — that being the “unknown liquid” — along with charges of assault and battery on a police officer, disorderly conduct and interfering with police officers.
Lt. Sean Murtha of the Worcester Police Department told MassLive on Saturday that he was not aware of the department dropping any of Spring’s charges, despite police saying the liquid was water in the video.
The daughter, meanwhile, was charged with reckless endangerment of a child, disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, according to the Worcester Police Department.
After her arrest, she was released from custody and is currently staying with family friends along with her 21-year-old sister, Augusta Clara Moura, Clara Moura’s 3-month-old son and her other sister, who is also a minor.
In a statement on May 16, Worcester Police Chief Paul Saucier announced that the Worcester Police Department is requesting that the court dismiss the case against Ferreira-De Oliveira’s daughter.
Even though the department wishes to have the case against the daughter dismissed, Saucier noted, however, that “it is important to emphasize that assaulting or interfering with law enforcement officers as they carry out their duties is never acceptable.”
Ferreira-De Oliveira is currently being detained at the Wyatt Detention Center in Central Falls, Rhode Island, according to ICE’s Online Detainee Locator System.
