I got tear gassed around 6 times, each time was not caused by good reason. My first interaction I ever had with Fort Wayne Police was getting tear gassed and then running through the park which was clouded entirely of tear gas they shot at us even though we were retreating. I also witnessed someone be tackled off their bike by police officers. towards night is when the tear gassing got more frequent, which included throwing it directly at us and directly at oncoming traffic. At one point we got on our knees with our hands up asking them to please not shoot and they proceeded to tear gas us again.
When it started to get dark armored trucks lined the entire road and we were ordered to leave. I was walking with a woman and her child to ensure the child didn’t get hurt, and then they proceeded to demand we leave now and started firing rubber bullets in my direction and then macing the street, which lead to me getting maced and almost throwing up due to the power of the mace. This experience has given me anxiety around any law enforcement, along with draining me emotionally and mentally and the tear gas and mace have left me physically harmed as well. My lungs and eyes still hurt even after more than a week. Me and my friend seem to experience PTSD like symptoms as well from this. The FWPD has left me traumatized and refuse to acknowledge what they did to me and my friends .
Community-submitted accounts of police brutality during the 2020 George Floyd protests in Fort Wayne, Indiana.