After a two-week investigation stemming from a police order that a private, off-campus event sponsored by a group of University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff students be shut down last month, the Pine Bluff Commercial has been unable to determine what legal authority police were acting under when they closed the event.
Witness accounts, a statement by a police officer working security that night, and photographs taken inside the venue contradict statements by responding officers that failure to observe safety protocols prompted the action.
Shortly after 11 p.m. Sept. 18, patrol units pulled into a parking lot across the street from Anderson Event Center, at 4701 Dollarway Road, with instructions to shut down the event that was being held inside. Organizers told The Commercial that they would like to know why. They said they paid out $1,400 to rent the building for the event, hired off-duty Pine Bluff police officers to provide security, purchased hand sanitizer and followed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines for such events.
Three off-duty officers, identified as Det. Kevin Collins, Sgt. Jeremy Brown and Det. Kelsey Collins, provided security outside the event, and one civilian, Jeremiah Anderson, served as security inside the venue.
A Freedom of Information Act request submitted to the department Sept. 21 initially turned up a brief report and an explanation that the incident was under investigation. The full department response to the FOIA request was received Friday.
The police report, submitted by officer Ti Kelly and signed off on by Sgt. Kevin Patterson, said in full: “The party was shut down due to too many people being in the building and being on private property after the business was closed for the day. There were around 150 too [sic] 200 people most of them had no masks and were failing to be social distance.”
The Commercial asked to review dashboard and body camera video; any reports or internal memos regarding the incident; names of on- and off-duty police involved; what legal or safety violations triggered the police response; and records of any arrests, citations or warnings that were issued in the wake of the incident.
The Police Department response included the original incident report, internal memos related to the incident, the names of officers who worked the event and who responded to the order to shut it down, a copy of the event flyer advertising the event location, admission fee and mask requirement notice, copies of the department policies and procedures handbook sections regarding off-duty employment and command authority, an Arkansas Department of Health directive dated June 15 regarding Phase Two resumption of bar or club operations, and copies of outside employment approval request forms for two of the officers who provided security for the event.
The response did not include any references to what specific violations of state law or county or city ordinance resulted in the actions taken by the department, nor any record of arrests, citations or warnings issued. Both police and witnesses said no one was arrested, ticketed or issued a warning in relation to the incident.
The policy on outside employment requires off-duty employment request forms to be submitted for approval to the police chief, outlining the hours and duties for each venue. It said all approved requests expire at the end of the calendar year and must be resubmitted and that any change to off-duty employment conditions would have to be resubmitted and approved in a separate request.
An approved request form authorizing Kevin Collins to work security at Anderson Event Center was included, and it listed the hours as variable and the beginning date of the request as Feb. 20, 2020. It was signed by four supervisors, including Police Chief Kelvin Sergeant. There were no approved request forms included for Brown or Kelsey Collins, so it was unclear whether they had authorization to work security that night. Kevin Collins said in a memo that he had contacted the two regarding their availability and that they had agreed to work the event.
Two memos, dated Sept. 20 and Sept. 23 and submitted by Kevin Collins, were provided in the response. At 2½ pages, the Sept. 20 memo provided a detailed narrative that directly contradicted several claims made by responding officers and more closely aligned with statements from the party organizers who were at the event. The Sept. 23 memo provided clarification of remarks that were made the night of the event and outlined Kevin Collins’ understanding of department policy regarding individual police officers providing security for private events during their off-duty hours.
Brown confirmed in a brief memo to Lt. Derric Neal dated Sept. 20 that he worked security at the event. Although Brown said Kevin Collins had told him the event had received approval from the office of Mayor Shirley Washington, the mayor later said that was not the case and Kevin Collins himself contradicted that in his Sept. 23 memo.
Contacted by phone, Washington said she was aware of the event and was not unduly concerned about it as long as the safety protocols were followed, but that she had not given approval.
“I’ve never done that,” Washington said. “I don’t even know that I could do that.”
Washington said she was made aware of the event while traveling with Kevin Collins and Deputy Chief Denise Richardson, when she overheard him asking Richardson about the safety protocols that would govern such an event. Washington said that, based on what she heard, any concerns she may have had regarding the event and safety protocols were alleviated, and she said she would be supportive of encouraging similar events.
“In my mind, I would say it would not be a restricted event as long as they follow the recommended guidelines that are in place,” Washington said. “When I go to the schools, I see mass numbers of students bunched together in the hallways, and I feel like we are conflicting with our information. We just need to use common sense and make sure we have some reasonable guidelines that we follow.”
POLICE ACTIONS
A Sept. 18 memo from Neal to Deputy Police Chief Kelven Hadley said that Neal, Patterson and officers Steven Williams and Kelly responded to the scene and found 70 to 80 vehicles in the event center parking lot as well in the Walgreens parking lot across the street. Neal said in the memo that people walking into the building were not masked and were not maintaining a 6-foot distance, and that after the shutdown order, approximately 150 to 175 people exited the building with 60% to 70% of them not wearing masks.
A memo dated Sept. 19 from Patterson to Hadley said that he “responded to the party at 4701 Dollarway Rd. that wasn’t following CDC guidelines due to COVID-19 protocol.”
Patterson continued in the memo, “Due to the rapid increase of COVID-19 cases among University’s [sic] across Arkansas large events such as these are prohibited.”
In June, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced that Arkansas would move into Phase Two of reopening, allowing restaurants and other venues to accommodate up to 66% of building capacity. With a rated capacity of 500 people in the Anderson Event Center building, 200 people would amount to 40% of the building’s capacity. The Pine Bluff Police Department did not include a citation of any state law, county or city ordinance, or public health regulation that would indicate the event that was shut down Sept. 18 was, in fact, prohibited.
Organizers said that none of the responding officers entered the building, which was confirmed by police video and internal memos. Interviews with organizers who were on-site and internal police memos confirmed that Kevin Collins relayed the order to shut down the event, which, according to the Sept . 20 memo, came directly from Hadley. In that memo, Kevin Collins said he was contacted Sept. 14 by UAPB student Davion White, who requested three off-duty officers for security and assistance in compliance with CDC and Arkansas Health Department guidelines. He said he contacted Richardson for Health Department guidelines or directives on resuming bar or club operations, and that he contacted Lt. Ralph Issac for feedback. At 3:30 p.m. Sept. 18, according to the memo, he contacted Jermaine Anderson, the building owner, who confirmed that the capacity of the center’s main room was 500 people.
In the Sept. 20 memo, Kevin Collins noted that he entered the building twice within the first hour of the event to ensure that protocols were being followed, and he saw no violations. He noted that both times he entered, he saw a woman at the door checking temperatures, four men making sure everyone signed the sign-in sheet, and a security checkpoint where everyone was examined for weapons.
It was shortly after his last walk-through of the event, a little over an hour after it began, when police pulled into the parking lot across the street and commenced to bring it to a halt.
ORGANIZERS’ RESPONSE
White, one of the organizers, said CDC guidelines regarding masks, temperature checks, hand sanitizer, capacity restrictions, and sign-in lists for contact-tracing purposes were all followed rigorously. He and his business partner, Javarius Brown, said the purpose of the event was to provide a social outlet for students that didn’t involve congregating in parking lots or along city streets.
“We wanted to put something together for people to do that wouldn’t get them in trouble,” Brown said. “We actually wanted to get them away from the school because it doesn’t allow anything like this on campus. But whatever we did, we were told we would have to follow the safety protocols, so we did.”
Brown said that when the police arrived, no one went inside the building to see what the situation was, and they would not listen to anyone who was inside who could tell them.
“I don’t know which officer it was, but he said the chief said shut it down because we weren’t following the guidelines or something like that,” Brown said. “I don’t really know what he was shutting it down for.”
“They didn’t even take a look to see what was going on,” White interjected. “They didn’t even step foot inside.”
“Yeah, he never stepped foot inside,” Brown agreed. “He just said shut it down, and we couldn’t go against it.”
Jeremiah Anderson, who worked inside the main room that night, said the protocols were followed.
“I was the one who ensured that everyone had a mask on as they entered, and periodically I would go up to the DJ booth to remind people to keep their masks on,” Anderson said. “They had a list at the door to monitor capacity and all of that.”
Anderson said he overheard a phone conversation between Hadley and two of the officers on the security detail, and he said that even after Hadley was told everything was in order, he became verbally abusive.
“He told them to shut it down, and they asked if there was any specific reason why,” Anderson said. “He told them, ‘because it’s not supposed to be happening, because I said so; now shut it down,’ and he went further, talking to them in an aggressive manner: ‘Don’t you ever in your life question me. Shut it down.’”
Finally, Anderson said, officers on the scene had no choice but to comply.
“I don’t feel like that was in [Hadley’s] power to do, but because I guess he was their overhead, they had to do what he said to do,” Anderson said. “I guess he really showed his authority.”
In the Sept. 20 memo, Anderson’s account was backed up by Kevin Collins’ recounting of the conversation between Brown and Hadley from his perspective.
“Sgt. Brown stated, ‘Now why we shutting the party down again,’” the officer wrote in the memo. “Deputy Chief K. Hadley replied, ‘Don’t you ever in your life question me again.’” He wrote that Brown told Hadley that he wasn’t questioning him but was being asked by the organizers why police were ordering the event to close. “‘Because I said so’” was Hadley’s reply, the memo said.
Kevin Collins said Brown tried to explain to Hadley that the mayor was aware of the event and that all safety protocols were being followed, but that Hadley’s response was “the mayor don’t run this city and to shut it down.”
Jordan Sims, another one of the organizers, said the police response was indicative of how law enforcement officials in the city regard any social gatherings by young people. He said that unless people begin speaking out, future efforts to hold similar events will be met with the same response, regardless of the venue.
“Even if they have another party,” Sims said, “they’re just going to continue to do the same thing to us.”
Sims said he did not attend the event but was contacted by a number of people who did and who were angry at what they believed was unfair and unjustified treatment by the Police Department.
“I heard from so many youth and students who attended the party who were unhappy at the unlawfulness that happened to them while they were at the party,” he continued. “[The police] didn’t come in, check to see if anything was going on or if anything was wrong; they just pulled up to the scene and said, ‘Shut the party down.’”
Hadley declined to comment, saying that he could not speak on anything regarding police matters. He said all police matters are handled by the department public information officer and the police chief.
Sergeant did not respond to a text message Sunday afternoon seeking comment.
