When Monday night’s protest ended with demonstrators and police officers hugging and walking together near the governor’s mansion, it took many people by surprise.
Protestor Malik Muhammad said afterwards, “I never in a million years thought I would embrace a cop like that. I feel like our message was heard, by some at least.”
“Extremely encouraging. I wasn’t really sure how that was going to go, to be honest.” said Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Chief Randal Taylor.
As live cameras showed smiles and handshakes on the north side of Indianapolis, there was also skepticism about what the encounter could mean.
“I’m not sure what to believe,” said Muhammad. “If that was just him de-escalating the situation, us trying to de-escalate the situation and if so great, but we need that 100% of the time.”
Chief Taylor hopes the peaceful end to Monday’s demonstration will serve as a turning point for the community.
“Hopefully what occurred last night goes to build some better relationships there and opens the door for some of those conversations to occur.” said Taylor. “When we’re allowed to talk and have those kind of conversations, things can end well. So that’s really a victory, I think for both groups. For us and for them.”
