Chaos ensued when the Chattanooga Police tried to break up a gathering outside Erlanger. Police suffered numerous injuries during the scuffle, which was documented on video, and pepper-sprayed protestors who would not disperse. The Chattanooga police officers and Hamilton County sheriff's deputies who clashed with a group of civilians at Erlanger hospital in October -- deploying pepper spray, Tasers and batons -- say they walked away with injuries of their own that night, according to a new internal affairs report.
A police department investigator also concluded in the report that officers used appropriate force to control and disperse the crowd of about 40 or 50 people -- most of them black -- who gathered outside Erlanger on Oct. 20, 2014.
One officer dislocated three ribs and others sustained scratches and a shoulder injury during the riot-like incident, according to the report.
The investigator's conclusion, issued on Jan. 8, will be reviewed by a civilian board and members of the police chain of command before landing on police Chief Fred Fletcher's desk for a final decision. He could overrule the investigator's findings or confirm them.
Cellphone and police dashcam video gathered as part of the internal affairs investigation shows a chaotic scene: Many people mill about outside the hospital, some screaming and shouting, as officers wrestle people to the ground, yell warnings at the crowd and wave batons.
"They going down," says one unidentified woman who recorded an arrest on a cellphone. "I'm going to videotape this ----. They beating him."
The crowd congregated at the hospital after Apprentice Berry, 20, was shot and taken to Erlanger for treatment on Oct. 20. Police say the crowd outside became unruly when Berry was pronounced dead in the hospital.
Deputies with the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office and Chattanooga police officers formed a human barrier to keep the crowd out of the hospital, pepper sprayed the crowd when people refused to leave, and arrested four people -- including Berry's sister, Akeyllya Berry, and his brother, Jaqua Davenport.
Immediately after the brawl, Akeyllya Berry and other civilians said police used too much force, and Fletcher initiated a fact-finding internal affairs investigation to discover whether officers acted improperly.
"This was launched by us to make sure we learn from our experience and hold ourselves accountable for any potential misconduct," he said, emphasizing that he could not comment further because the report still has several levels of review to go through before it is finalized.
But Erlanger staff praised police. The surgeon who treated Apprentice Berry wrote a letter of commendation to the police department.
Chattanooga police officers stand near the door of the emergency room at Erlanger hospital."The crowd that gathered outside the Emergency Department quickly became loud and boisterous," Philip Smith wrote on Oct. 23. "Civilian traffic was unable to proceed toward the ER entrance because of the size and actions of the crowd. But within minutes; literally MINUTES, the street was covered with patrol cars disgorging officers to help quell what was rapidly a growing disturbance."
At least 18 officers from the sheriff's office and police responded to the scene just after midnight, dashcam video shows. At one point after the crowd calms down, an unidentified officer recaps what happened to another officer.
"I said, 'OC, OC, OC!'" the officer says, referring to the department's pepper spray. "And I got him, well I don't know if I got him, but he backed up. And then everybody started spraying. Downwind, too."
Much of the internal affairs report centers on the arrest of Akeyllya Berry, who told the investigator that officers punched her in the face, pulled her hair and called her racial slurs while arresting her.
But she also admitted to trying to pull Davenport away from police as he was being arrested and agreed that she did kick and punch officers when they then attempted to arrest her.
She was taken into custody by a deputy with the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office who was assisted by Chattanooga police officers. One of those police officers told the internal affairs investigator that he did strike Akeyllya Berry in the face, but only when she tried to bite him.
He said it was more of a defensive strike than a punch. The investigator noted that Akeyllya Berry's mugshot after her arrest did not show any visible injuries to her face.
The officers also told the investigator that the crowd was combative and that at one point Samuel Campbell, 22, swung his fist at the officers, threatened to fight them and swore at them. He was later arrested.
The internal affairs investigator concluded that the officers used "only the minimal force necessary" to protect themselves and take suspects into custody, according to the report.
"The facts in this case appear to show that several people in the crowd during this incident refused to obey police commands to disperse and then became aggressive," the report concludes. "These actions left officers with no option but to respond with force and arrests."
Contact staff writer Shelly Bradbury at 423-757-6525 or sbradbury@timesfreepress.com with tips or story ideas.