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Date: 8/22/2023
NORTHAMPTON — Nearly 100 people rallied at Northampton City Hall on Aug. 13 in response to an incident on video where Northampton police tackled and pepper sprayed 60-year-old Holyoke resident Marisol Driouech after she was pulled over for a broken headlight on the night of April 4.
The arrest prompted an internal review of the incident by the Northampton Police Department as well as an investigation by an outside firm. Both officers were eventually cleared of any wrongdoing, and one of the officers went through de-escalation training.
But protesters on Aug. 13 argued that this is another instance of police brutality against a person of color, and that the video recorded by the Northampton Police Department’s dashcam system shows clear evidence that police escalated a minor traffic stop for no reason.
A Northampton attorney representing Driouech is pursuing claims against the city before possibly suing for the arrest, and protesters are now demanding for the officers to be terminated and for Police Chief Jody Kasper to resign after the department’s handling of the situation.
What happened
Driouech, who was working as a DoorDash delivery driver on the night of April 4, had pulled out of a McDonald’s on King St. when Northampton Police Officer John Sellew stopped her farther up the street after he noticed she had a broken headlight.
Police dash cam footage provided to Reminder Publishing shows Sellew asking Driouech why she failed to stop for him. Driouech, whose first language is Spanish, responds repeatedly that she does not understand him. Sellew then asks for license and registration and raises his voice after Driouech was not handing over the documents. At one point she asks for the police, to which Sellew responds that he is the police.
As Sellew raises his voice, Driouech says, “no me grites,” which is “don’t yell at me” in Spanish. Sellew eventually calls for backup and orders Driouech out of the car, to which she says no. After asking a couple more times, Sellew forcibly pulls Driouech out of the car as she screams “No me toques,” which is “don’t touch me” in Spanish.
“Get out of your [expletive] vehicle,” Sellew screams before taking her to the ground. Sellew claims that Driouech was resisting arrest and grabbing his baton, and that he had the ability to “utilize strikes or possibly lethal force.”
Driouech then screams, “somebody help me,” as she is being wrestled to the ground. A second police car arrives. The second officer, Jonathan Bartlett, exits his police car to assist Sellew and sprays Driouech twice with pepper spray.
Both officers then arrest Driouech and Bartlett leads her to a police cruiser while she repeatedly asks them to clean her eyes.
According to the police report, Sellew claims that Driouech tried rolling her window up and putting her car in drive after refusing to hand over her license and registration.
Driouech was taken to the police station, and then an ambulance took her to the hospital for injuries.
She was charged with assault and battery on a police officer, attempting to disarm a police officer, resisting arrest, refusing to identify herself and a lights violation. According to the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office, all criminal charges were dismissed except the broken headlight charge. She paid a $35 fine for that.
Dana Goldblatt, the local attorney representing Driouech, said Driouech is seeking to “be made whole” after this incident.
“That means to put her in a situation she was in before this happened to her so that any injury was completely remedied,” Goldblatt said.
In a statement to Reminder Publishing, Kasper said that the situation should have been handled better and there was concern about Sellew’s verbal communication.
“Our community expects and deserves that we meet high professional standards. In this case, we did not meet those standards,” Kasper said. “Officer Sellew could have and should have done a better job handling this matter.”
Sellew went through verbal de-escalation training and remedial de-escalation training following the incident. Despite Kasper’s condemnation of the incident, an internal review conducted by Comprehensive Investigation and Consulting LLC cleared Sellew and Bartlett of any wrongdoing.
“In light of all of these factors, Officer Sellew’s and Officer Bartlett’s actions and the amount of force they used, was reasonable and proportionate considering the totality of the circumstances that they faced on that evening,” read the investigation.
In an interview with Reminder Publishing, Goldblatt pointed out the issues embedded in this determination and what is considered “reasonable and proportionate policing.” To her, how the officers reacted to a broken headlight was not reasonable or proportionate.
“I think they shouldn’t do that,” Goldblatt said, regarding the officers’ treatment of Driouech. “And the only way not to do that is to not hire police, because if we hire police, according to Jody Kasper, we have to let them do that.”
Despite the investigation finding no wrondoing, Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra said the escalation of the situation should not have happened.
“I strongly disagree with how it was handled on the scene,” Sciarra said. “It does not meet my nor the community’s expectations.”
Sciarra added that she appreciated quickly Kasper investiagted and reported the incident.
“This should not have happened, and we’re using it to discuss how we can prevent this from happening in the future,” she said.
Because of pending litigation, Sciarra said she could not comment further.
The protest
On Aug. 13, the protesters against police brutality called for the termination of Sellew and Bartlett as well as the resignation of Kasper.
“Hey, hey, ho, ho, John Sellew has got to go,” protesters chanted.
Much of the attendance at the protest included the Communist Party of Western Massachusetts, the Workers Party of Massachusetts and the River Valley Party for Socialism and Liberation.
John “J.R.” Rivera, a member of the Workers Party of Massachusetts, said he lives in the same subsidized housing in Holyoke as Driouech, where many residents are Spanish speakers. He said that, as a Puerto Rican man, Driouech’s arrest made him think about how it could have been anyone of his family members experiencing that type of abuse.
“This really racks my heart, especially when I saw the footage,” Rivera said. “This could’ve been my aunt or my sister.”
Another speaker at the protest, Linell Peralta of the River Valley Party for Socialism and Liberation, called the police violence a “horrific act.”
“I have no doubt there are community members that generally feel protected and cared for by our police department, but try telling that to Marisol and numerous other Black, Brown, and others who are disproportionately affected by NPD and police across the nation,” Peralta said.
Other speakers also decried the force used by the officers.
“What macho man are you to attack a 60-year-old person not speaking your language?,” said Northampton resident Jo Ella “Jada” Tarbutton-Springfield.
During the protest, Tarbutton-Springfield noted how watching the video was a triggering experience and reminded her of Sandra Bland, the 28-year-old Black woman who was pulled over by police while driving and died days later in jail by suicide.
“I’m really hurt by this,” Tarbutton-Springfield said, of the arrest. “I’ll tell the [police] chief myself…you’ve got to do better!”
Goldblatt, meanwhile, expressed gratitude for the public support shown to Driouech since the video of the incident surfaced.
“Police attacking her while she’s doing her job sends a message that they don’t want her in Northampton,” Goldblatt said. “But, this show of public support sends the opposite message. It says we do support you; we like you; we want you in our town.”