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Dedan Waciuri speaks in west Greenville in 2019 on behalf of the National Poor People's campaign as part of a multi-state event to bring awareness to issues those in poverty face.
Danisha Rogers, 33, leads a march by Mapinduzi in Greenville. Rogers was arrested for resisting a public officer Aug. 31 on Norcott Circle after a traffic stop where she claims a Greenville Police officer fractured two of her fingers. The department has denied these claims.
Dedan Waciuri speaks in west Greenville in 2019 on behalf of the National Poor People's campaign as part of a multi-state event to bring awareness to issues those in poverty face.
Danisha Rogers, 33, leads a march by Mapinduzi in Greenville. Rogers was arrested for resisting a public officer Aug. 31 on Norcott Circle after a traffic stop where she claims a Greenville Police officer fractured two of her fingers. The department has denied these claims.
A Greenville mother of five said that she suffered two fractured fingers and further damage to her hand during a traffic stop, but the Greenville Police Department said body camera footage refutes those claims and praised officers’ professionalism.
Activist Dedan Waciuri said Tuesday he plans to address the Greenville City Council about Danisha Rogers, 33, who said she was assaulted by an officer, as well as heightened police presence in primarily black neighborhoods. Waciuri’s organization, Mapinduzi, will be filing a grievance with GPD prior to the meeting, he said.
Kristen Hunter, the department’s public information officer, said Wednesday that no complaint or report had been made into the incident, nor has evidence of the hand injury alleged by Rogers.
Rogers, a Howell Street resident and a member of Mapinduzi, said that she was driving her cousin’s vehicle with her cousin and daughter on Norcott Circle about 9:45 p.m. Aug. 31 when an officer activated the patrol car’s lights and siren.
“I’ve been in, I don’t want to say 100 traffic stops, but a lot of stops,” Rogers said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “I’ve never been in one like that.”
Rogers said when she stopped the vehicle police told her she was driving with an expired tag. She got into a verbal altercation with the officer about the tags at which point the officer told her to exit the vehicle. She said she asked to speak with a lawyer, at which point the officer began beating her hands to release them from the steering wheel, fracturing her fingers.
Hunter said Wednesday that the department had reviewed body camera footage from the officers who stopped Rogers, including the one she alleged assaulted her. Hunter said the department commends officers for “the professionalism they displayed during a very volatile verbal attack against our officers.”
Hunter said officers stopped Rogers’ vehicle for having an expired plate. She said the primary officer politely greeted the three occupants who cussed at the officer for shining a light in the vehicle. Hunter said all three occupants were verbally combative, resistant and “showed a complete lack of respect for the officers on scene.”
Rogers was asked five separate times for her license and registration but ignored the officer’s requests, Hunter said. Police asked Rogers to exit the vehicle eight times, also refusing, at which point two officers “assisted” her out of the vehicle as she gripped the steering wheel and threatened to punch an officer in the face, Hunter said. She was placed on the ground to be handcuffed.
Hunter said Rogers continued to be verbally combative and was escorted to the back of the car. In footage from officers, Hunter said, the other two occupants of the vehicle were heard repeatedly using racial slurs, with one stating “I hate white people,” and “I hope all you ... die tonight.”
Rogers said she was taken to the ground and cuffed prior to being arrested. Hunter said that at no point did officers use force beyond the necessary restraint to take Rogers to into custody and remained calm.
“It is unfortunate someone is attempting to use this opportunity to spread a false narrative about the encounter and our officers,” Hunter said.
Interim Police Chief Ted Sauls also released a statement via Hunter on the incident.
“I am extremely proud of the composure and professionalism I witnessed from the officers on scene as they were verbally assaulted, degraded and denounced for merely doing their job and protecting and serving the citizens of Greenville,” Sauls said.
Hunter added Rogers was examined and cleared by a nurse at the Pitt County Detention Center.
Rogers was bonded out of the Pitt County Detention Center by Waciuri that night. Rogers said she has video footage of the event but did not release it Wednesday.
Rogers said while she was arrested for resisting, she has yet to receive a ticket for the traffic incident. The North Carolina Judicial Branch’s docket does not have a vehicle citation for Rogers on record. She said her cousin’s vehicle’s tags were up to date.
Waciuri said Wednesday that he had no further comment on GPD’s refutation of Rogers’ claims.
The incident occurred the day after a homicide on Vance Street in west Greenville, near a GPD Substation on Fifth Street. Hunter said that in response to recent violence in Greenville, data-driven “saturation patrols” were dispersed through the city last week.
Two homicides occurred in Greenville and a third just north of town in the course of a week, including the incident on Vance.
Contact Pat Gruner at pgruner@reflector.com and 329-9566.
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