Catrela Perkins detained during Friday Decatur protest, community reacts
DECATUR, Ala. (WHNT) — The Decatur Police Department (DPD) said Catrela Perkins was detained for a time, but not arrested amid a demonstration at a Decatur community event.
A video circulating on social media showed a protest taking place during a community event on Friday in Decatur. In the video, it appears that several people are handcuffed after briefly demonstrating and being asked to leave by police. One of the protesters appears to be Catrela Perkins, the wife of Stephen Perkins.
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Stephen Perkins was killed by police in the early morning hours of Sept. 29th, during an apparent vehicle repossession. Protestors say what happened Friday is why they’re seeking change in Decatur starting with law enforcement.
People like Danny Saafiyah say their peers were unfairly treated by DPD and the most disturbing part was seeing Perkins’ widow Catrela in handcuffs.
“They had no regard for who she was or what she was, it sparked something in me like if we don’t protect her or if we don’t protect the rest of them, then who’s going to protect them because they obviously don’t care,” Saafiyah said.
Saafiyah says Catrela was mistreated after just trying to see why her brother had been placed in handcuffs. Some community members say one officer seen in the video instigated many of the arrests. “They created the chaos that they wanted,” Saafiyah told News 19.
At one point, that officer can be seen in the video appearing to have words for Morgan County NAACP President Rodney Gordon.
Shortly after, a protestor seen in the video is surrounded by law enforcement while in handcuffs and that one officer appears to pull out a taser, something Gordon says was disturbing to witness.
“He pulled out a taser and put it in that man’s chest,” Gordon said. “The man was apprehended by police officers in handcuffs he pulled his taser out and put it in his chest that could’ve been really bad.”
Community activists say the actions of their police department is why they’re pushing for change in their city starting with the removal of DPD Chief Todd Pinion. A number of protestors say they saw officers disregarding Pinion’s orders.
Gordon says Pinion had difficulty getting things under control and his officers had no regard when it came to Catrela.
“Police policy, that’s got to be fixed, and it’s got to be implemented and enforced,” Gordon said. “When they had the cuffs on her [Catrela], he had to do it [remove handcuffs] himself they wouldn’t even do it.”
Community members say to be mistreated by DPD was displeasing, but many of them expressed major concerns with the one officer. They felt he unfairly targeted certain people including Catrela and her brother.
One man claims the officer’s relationship with Mac Bailey Marquette who was indicted for murder in the Perkins case, is why he feels things unfolded the way it did.
“The worrying part about all of it is this one officer went rogue,” he said. “He wanted to get back for his friend because him and Marquette were friends, he wanted to arrest the wife who’s husband was killed so he could make a mockery.”
DPD released a statement Friday evening regarding the incident which it said happened at 3rd Friday:
“Tonight at 3rd Friday there was an incident involving some protestors,” A department spokesperson said. “Three were arrested. There were no injuries and we’ll be reviewing footage of the incident. We will update as necessary.”
News 19 reached back out to Decatur Police Saturday morning for more information regarding the incident, but has not heard back.
Many say they will not allow Friday night’s events to stop they’re ongoing efforts for what they say is justice for Perkins.
They’re continuing their calls to the Department of Justice and the FBI to investigate DPD for what they say has been years of mistreatment toward many throughout their community.
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