RICHMOND, Va. — The Richmond Sheriff’s Office is withholding information about what happened at a Turnstile concert at Brown’s Island two weeks ago when now-viral video appeared to show a deputy pepper spray a fan. Witnesses said it happened during a part of the show when the band was inviting people on stage.
While Sheriff Antionette Irving said an internal review of the incident is still ongoing, she has not answered questions as to why the officer used this kind of force. According to the department policy and video of the incident, law enforcement experts told CBS 6 that using spray in this situation may have been unwarranted.
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Experts react to deputy pepper spraying fan at Richmond concert
To get a better understanding of what happened and why, CBS 6 filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with the sheriff’s office. FOIA allows members of the public to access government records with some exceptions.
But the way Sheriff Irving responded to the requests, in which she mostly declined to provide the requested records, doesn’t fully comply with the law, according to FOIA expert Megan Rhyne with the Virginia Coalition for Open Government…