Boston Police body cam footage shows confrontations during the protests following the death of George Floyd

Almost a year ago, demonstrations in downtown Boston on May 31, 2020 turned into violent clashes between protesters and police. Reporter Yuriko Schumacher tracked key moments between protesters and police that night using body camera footage revealed by The Appeal.

Yuriko Schumacher, Reporter | May 13, 2021

On the night of May 31, 2020, a week after the death of George Floyd, crowds of people took to the streets in downtown Boston to protest against police brutality.

Peaceful demonstrations turned into violent clashes as the night went on, with news outlets and witnesses reporting an extensive use of tear gas, pepper spray and physical violence by the police.

The Appeal, a news and commentary website about the justice system, exclusively obtained a copy of Boston Police officers’ body camera footage.

Timeline of May 31, 2020

Yuriko Schumacher is a journalism graduate student at Northeastern University's School of Journalism.

BPD's body camera footage was exclusively obtained by The Appeal. For this project, videos were downloaded from the article's author Eoin Higgins's YouTube account and cut into smaller footages.

According to The Appeal, the times on the bodycam footage are set for UTC and they are translated to EST. Locations are identified by using Google Street View. Locations on some video clips are estimates.

Special thanks to Journalism Professor Dan Zedek for editing and providing feedback on story ideas and design.

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