Police swarmed Cincinnati City Council chambers on May 6, arresting one of the public speakers and forcing the mayor and City Council to recess for about 20 minutes.
Mayor Aftab Pureval, when he reconvened the meeting, said: “A weapon was snuck into City Hall.”
Police arrested a woman after she addressed the council during the public speaking portion of the meeting.
“This is what they do to citizens who speak out against Palestine, against CPD (Cincinnati Police Department), ” the woman said while an officer handcuffed her on the ground. “This is what we do. We have no freedom of speech. I’ve been arrested five times. No violent crimes.”
Who was the person arrested?
When she spoke to council, she identified herself as Al Dalton, also known as “Big Al,” of Downtown. Dalton had addressed City Council during the public speaking portion of the meetings for the past several council meetings, denouncing a proposal to lease Piatt Park in Downtown to a development group.
On May 6, she had entered the chambers carrying a black cane with an ornate silver handle. When the mayor called her up for her two minutes to address council, she informed the council that the police confiscated her cane. She then accused Cincinnati police of mistreatment and harassment, saying she had been arrested five times since January. She accused the police of “sexual assault.”
Less than a minute after she sat down, an officer had her on the ground and struggled to put her in handcuffs.
“Please don’t let them take me,” Dalton yelled in the chambers.
The mayor declared the meeting in recess as the situation unfolded.
Dozens of police entered the Cincinnati City Council chambers. After a three-minute struggle on the ground with one of the officers, she was brought to her feet and led out of the chambers by a group of officers. She protested and repeatedly asked why she was being arrested.
Pureval says a weapon was ‘snuck into City Hall’
Pureval reconvened the meeting after 20 minutes and said a weapon had been brought into the chambers. He declined to comment on the arrest.
“What we know now, right now, is that allegedly a weapon was snuck into City Hall,” Pureval said. “Once CPD became aware of the alleged weapon, they acted immediately.”
Instagram video shows cane may have been a sword
Councilwoman Anna Albi said she saw Dalton with the cane in the bathroom by council chambers.
A police officer then approached Albi with an Instagram video that appeared to show Dalton with the same cane. In the video, the person pulls the handle of the cane, revealing that it was also a sword.
“When she walked into the chambers, I recognized the handle,” Albi said.
Cincinnati police on scene wouldn’t say what the woman was being arrested for. A message to Cincinnati police wasn’t immediately returned.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Woman arrested at City Council meeting. Mayor says weapon snuck in
Reporting by Scott Wartman, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
