A community activist was arrested Tuesday after speaking at a Birmingham City Council meeting and then demanding to talk with Mayor Randall Woodfin, who didn’t attend the meeting.
Eric Hall, an activist with Black Lives Matter Birmingham Grassroots, and two other speakers addressed the council about recent deaths at the Birmingham City Jail. Two people have died in the jail since Thursday. A statement the mayor’s office released Monday said both deaths were related to what it calls “apparent self-harm” incidents and circumstances surrounding the deaths are being examined independently.
Speaking during the council meeting, Hall said inhumane conditions and neglect have caused deaths at the jail.
“All of you know that the city jail is horrible,” he said. “Our people deserve care, not cages, and what you all are doing is housing the poor.
W. "Taft" Harris, Jr., pastor of the Tabernacle Fellowship of Birmingham, also spoke, telling the council he’s been inside the criminal justice system himself and there is no healthcare advocacy there.
“I know they don't give a damn,” he said. “We've met with people for the last few days over this issue here, and we've gathered so many testimonies of people being totally mistreated, not given medications or anything like that when they are in the Birmingham City Jail. A person's mistake does not erase their humanity. So, I need to know what y'all gonna do?”
After the meeting, Hall, Harris and two others went to the reception area of Woodfin’s office and requested a meeting with the mayor. As they waited, a member of the group took a video, which was streamed on Facebook, showing Hall saying he wanted to discuss the number of people dying in the city jail under the current administration. He began raising his voice as he made accusations against the mayor.
(Video contains strong language)
As the video continued, a city staffer told Hall he was creating a disturbance and asked him to leave. He refused, citing his rights as a citizen.
Soon afterward, four police officers arrived. They surrounded him and pushed him out the glass door of the reception area. Just outside the door, as Hall was leaning back toward it, he and some of the officers went to the floor and then scrambled about 10 feet to a corner.
Hall accused an officer of threatening him with a taser.
“This is how we’re treated in Birmingham, Alabama,” he said. “I have an officer who pulled a taser on me because I’m demanding to meet with the mayor.”
Officers eventually asked Hall to stand. They told him he was under arrest and escorted him to the elevators, where they handcuffed him. He and those with him protested along the way, speaking to those viewing the video.
“Let's occupy City Hall,” Hall said. “This arrest is for those who have been killed, those who have been killed by these abusers that got me in cuffs right now.”
Outside the building, Hall waited by a police vehicle until medics arrived and evaluated him.
He then got into the vehicle after handing over his keys to one of the people who accompanied him and telling them to meet him at the city jail.
Spokespeople for the mayor’s office referred questions about the altercation and charges against Hall to the Birmingham Police Department. The department did not immediately respond.
