Some Lincoln residents are calling on the city council to make significant changes to its police department and in many cases, they pleaded to defund it.
“I witnessed first hand unaggravated brutality from police as people were on their knees with their hands up as tear gas was unloaded,” said one testifier.
Residents spoke for nearly an hour during the public comment portion of the meeting. Many expressed outrage over what they called police violence and brutality during recent protests.
“How can we have a protest against brutality, and have police brutality be the response? Is that not insane to you? We shouldn’t even have to protest at that point. We all saw what happened at that point,” Kerion Wislon, a testifier questioned.
Some also wanted medical bills paid.
“If you can afford these rubber bullets that you mercilessly shoot at us, if you can afford seven barrages of tear gas, I’m pretty sure you can afford to pay people’s medical expenses,” Wilson said.
Testifiers also asked for charges dropped for breaking curfew and more resources poured into economically disadvantaged areas.