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Buttigieg, for Second Time, Returns Home to Deal with Police Shooting Aftermath Pete Buttigieg Leaves Campaign Trail After Fatal Police Shooting. Reality Rears its Head.
(about 3 hours later)
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Pete Buttigieg’s effort to return to the Democratic presidential campaign was abruptly aborted Friday as a crisis over a police killing called him back home to Indiana and threatened to overshadow recent momentum in his 2020 candidacy. SOUTH BEND, Ind. — While his 2020 rivals mingled with large friendly crowds at a Democratic fish fry in South Carolina Friday night, Mayor Pete Buttigieg found himself somewhere very different, wading into an emotional knot of protesters at the South Bend Police Department, some of whom cursed him, interrupted and shouted a list of demands through a megaphone feet from his face.
Mr. Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., withdrew from the South Carolina fish fry hosted by Representative James E. Clyburn, the most influential Democrat in the state, to attend a protest on behalf of the black man shot by the police last Sunday. Mr. Buttigieg abruptly pulled himself from the presidential campaign trail on Friday for a second time this week, after a South Bend police officer fatally shot a black man last weekend.
“It’s very sensitive right now,” Mr. Buttigieg told reporters before heading home after a presidential candidates forum in Miami, hosted by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. At a time when candidates prefer their events as staged and predictable as possible, the result was a chaotic show of raw emotion and anger with grieving black residents shouting down the preternaturally calm 37-year-old mayor.
“Part of my job is to promote healing,” he added, explaining that he needed to address questions from “members of the community, especially the black community, who are concerned with whether they can trust the police.” And during a week when Congress held hearings on reparations for African-Americans and rivals attacked former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. for his remarks about civility and segregationists, a racially explosive crisis at home threatens to upend Mr. Buttigieg’s significant primary momentum days before the first Democratic debates.
It was the second time since the shooting that Mr. Buttigieg canceled national appearances, mainly fund-raising events, to return to South Bend, where criticism of his handling of bias within the police department threatens to erode black support for him, already a problem for his campaign, days ahead of the first debates. “Part of my job is to promote healing,” Mr. Buttigieg told reporters before dropping off the campaign trail in Miami on Friday morning, explaining he needed to engage “members of the community, especially the black community, who are concerned with whether they can trust the police.”
The mayor planned to attend a protest Friday evening at the South Bend Police Department. Community activists said the protest would be led by family members of the dead man, Eric Logan, and it was meant to pressure the St. Joseph County prosecutor to bring in an outside prosecutor to examine the shooting. Once he arrived at the protest on a charter flight, around 6:30 p.m., healing was far from the minds of most in the crowd, a mix of bereaved relatives of the dead man, Eric Logan, family members of others injured or killed in police encounters and masked protesters in black waving signs reading, “Who do you call when police murder?”
“This evening is one of those when the city just needs its mayor,” Mr. Buttigieg said. “You’re running for president and you want black people to vote for you? That’s not going to happen,” shouted Sherika Logan, a niece of Mr. Logan.
Oliver Davis, a black member of the South Bend City Council who planned to attend the protest, pointed to more than half a dozen episodes since Mr. Buttigieg took office in 2012 of police misconduct, some resulting in fatalities, that Mr. Davis said had shredded trust in the police. “Ma’am, I’m not asking for your vote,” Mr. Buttigieg said.
The mayor maintained his composure throughout the encounter, responding point by point to the 10 demands, agreeing to some — such as requesting the Department of Justice appoint an outside prosecutor — and coolly explaining reasons for rejecting others. “The first demand concerns the firing of police officers,” he said. “The laws of the state are, that’s decided by a board of safety.”
When he was interrupted, he replied, “Could I continue responding?”
Mr. Logan’s mother, Shirley Newbill, was ushered in front of the mayor.
“Y’all ain’t doing a damn thing about me or my son or none of these people out here,” she told him.
Before Mr. Buttigieg could respond, another woman demanded, “Are you really here because you care about blacks, or are you just here because you want to be the president?”
“This is my home, too,” Mr. Buttigieg replied.
Mr. Logan, 54, was fatally shot by an officer responding to reports of a man breaking into cars downtown. Authorities said the suspect flashed a knife and lunged at the officer, who shot him once in the abdomen. But the officer had not activated his body camera. Mr. Logan’s family questioned why he was taken to the hospital in a police car rather than an ambulance.
A lawyer for the dead man’s family said this week he planned to file a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of South Bend and the officer involved. He also said, in an interview, that he had advised a daughter of Mr. Logan’s, who has become a point person for the family, not to speak with Mr. Buttigieg.
Oliver Davis, a black member of the South Bend City Council at the protest, pointed to more than half a dozen incidents since Mr. Buttigieg took office in 2012 of police misconduct, some resulting in fatalities, that Mr. Davis said had shredded trust in the police.
“This is what people feel: We’re tired,” Mr. Davis said.“This is what people feel: We’re tired,” Mr. Davis said.
He acknowledged that in recent days, Mr. Buttigieg has been more proactive in reaching out to the city after taking criticism for dropping from public sight for 48 hours, and seeming not to engage with Mr. Logan’s family. But he acknowledged that in recent days Mr. Buttigieg has been more proactive after receiving criticism for dropping from public sight for 48 hours earlier in the week
On Wednesday, Mr. Buttigieg spoke to Mr. Logan’s mother at a public gathering to protest gun violence. At one point, a woman asked: “Do you believe black lives matter? Can you say to us today in front of all these cameras that black lives matter?”
On Thursday, as the legacy of racism boiled up in a Congressional hearing on reparations, and in controversial statements about working with segregationists by former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., Mr. Buttigieg sent a lengthy email to his list of national supporters, in which he decried the history of racism in policing. In one of his only heated replies of the night, Mr. Buttigieg nearly shouted, “Of course black lives matter.”
“When someone sees police car lights in his neighborhood and is filled with fear instead of reassurance, that should move all of us to demand a change in how policing is done,” he wrote. “Fire your cops!” a man answered.
Mr. Logan, 54, was shot fatally by an officer responding to reports of a man breaking into cars downtown. The authorities said Mr. Logan flashed a knife and lunged at the officer, who shot him once in the abdomen. But the officer had not activated his body camera. Mr. Logan’s family questioned why he was taken to the hospital in a police car rather than in an ambulance. “What matters about a black life to you, Mayor Pete!” a woman shouted.
After leaving the campaign trail on Sunday, the day Mr. Logan was shot, Mr. Buttigieg flew from South Bend on Thursday for a fund-raiser and volunteer event in Boston. He was in Miami on Friday morning for the meeting of Latino elected officials. After the protest at home, he planned to head back to South Carolina for the state Democratic Party convention on Saturday. Michael Patton, president of the South Bend N.A.A.C.P., who stood quietly aside, praised the mayor, a Rhodes Scholar who is mostly known as a whiz kid versed in data and policy, for displaying empathy to both the Logan family and the police officer who shot him, Ryan O’Neill.
“I think we saw the human side of the mayor,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Patton told CNN that Mr. Buttigieg had his endorsement for president. “He’s led our community, South Bend, well, and I believe, I have full confidence he could lead our nation as well,” he said.
After nearly an hour, the group of about 100 set off on a march to the County-City Building downtown, which houses the 14th-floor mayor’s office. Mr. Buttigieg, in suit pants, white shirt and a blue tie, walked at the head of one group while across the street other marchers shouted profanities about police. Emotions cooled somewhat by the time the crowd reached City Hall.
“I want you to know we’re serious about fixing this,” the mayor told the crowd. He promised new policies would be developed and implored people to attend a town hall event he would lead.
“You’ve got to show up, not just online,” he said. “And when you show up, you will be heard.”
There was some applause.