Video: Officers topple FANG tripods blocking entrance to Bristol County Jail

The videos and pictures are disturbing.

Yesterday The FANG Collective erected blockades to obstruct the entrances of the Bristol County Jail and House of Correction in response to the terrible conditions at the facility and the incarceration of undocumented immigrants in collaboration with United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

See: Entrances to Bristol County Jail blocked by demonstrators over ICE connection

Two people, identified by FANG as Sherrie and Anne, scaled two 24-foot “tripods” from which they dropped banners. The tripods effectively blocked traffic going in and out of the facility.

Minutes after the tripods were erected, with no emergency medical crew on hand or any help from the fire department, unidentified members of the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) and personnel from the facility toppled first one, then the other tripod. At one point an official can be heard saying, “I don’t care,” in answer to cries from onlookers that, “You’re going to hurt her!”

The video below was provided by the FANG Collective:

“We have to clear the entrance ways and exits for emergency vehicles,” said Jonathan Darling, BCSO public information officer. “So if people are setting up structures like that they’re going to be taken down and removed so emergency vehicles can get through. This is a correctional facility, not a city hall.”

I arrived after the video above was shot. When I arrived Sherrie was on the ground, on her back, still attached to the heavy metal poles that had toppled on top of her. According to FANG, Sherrie said that officers used “pain compliance” on her.

There was still no medical personnel on site. No one checked to make sure Sherrie was not suffering from neck or back injuries from her fall. Instead, after extricating her from the fallen poles, Sherrie was lifted from her prone position and dragged to the side of the driveway, where she was stripped of her equipment, searched, and arrested.