A day after the arrests of four protestors during a demonstration at the Alamance County Jail held Tuesday, the fog of confusion has started to lift for at least two of those involved.
Katherine Cassette and her husband Nicholas Cassette were among those arrested. The other two, Magdalene Blunk and Dionne Liles, were both speakers and organizers at the demonstration.
Each protestor is facing charges, some more serious than others. Liles is facing second-degree trespass, resisting a public officer, and assault on a government employee, while Blunk is facing disorderly conduct and resisting a public officer. Nicholas Cassette is facing second-degree trespass, resisting an officer, and misdemeanor riot while Katherine Cassette is facing disorderly conduct.
After having more than a day to think about the arrests and subsequent charges, Katherine Cassette maintains the reasoning employed by law enforcement is flimsy.
"I'm just upset that I saw my husband, who is a person of color, get dramatically arrested and I did not have the space to be scared or have those feelings," Katherine Cassette said, referring to the particulars of her arrest.
The disorderly conduct charge against Katherine Cassette stems from her use of an expletive after watching officers arrest her husband.
"I just thought it was really cruel, to arrest all of us, but ... why did they arrest me for being upset they arrested him?" Katherine Cassette asked. "It's just another area of police reform that I would like to see addressed. Dealing with loved ones who witnessed their loved ones traumatically arrested and letting them process these emotions, or talking to me or pulling us aside to talk. I just don't understand why I got arrested for saying a bad word."
While officers on the scene maintained that profanity in a public place is illegal in Graham, Katherine Cassette finds it interesting that officers selected her out of dozens of people screaming obscenities.
"I really feel like they just wanted to know who I was," Cassette said. "Get my name, get my fingerprint, get my mugshot. Part of me feels like I was targeted; they came in a crowd and grabbed me. I had been yelling [a profanity] and they did not arrest me then."
Cassette said deputies only took steps to arrest her after she identified herself as Nicholas Cassette's wife.
"I was so shocked and I remember asking the officer, 'What am I being arrested for?' And they said for foul language. ... I wasn't in their face or shouting. I was just with everyone else."
While Katherine Cassette isn't too concerned about her upcoming Sept. 28 court date, she can't say the same for her husband.
"Rioting, I'm a little concerned about that. That sounds really serious," she said.
Although nursing a few cuts and bruises, Nicholas Cassette said he is doing fine.
"My right knee was swollen for a long time yesterday," he said. "Today's it's sore. My left knee is sore. My shoulder blades are a little tight from when they were pulling my arms behind me."
Nicholas Cassette detailed confusion in the moments leading up to his arrest.
"Some officers came up and they were screaming," he said. "It was hard to hear what they were saying because they were yelling and also protestors were yelling."
Deputies told Nicholas Cassette to get off of the parking lot, which he did by stepping on the sidewalk closer to the Alamance County Jail. Police had meant for protestors to stay on the sidewalk away from the jail, so the parking lot would serve as a sort of buffer.
"I thought, OK I'm on the sidewalk," Cassette said. "I was stopped by an officer who said go to the parking lot and I said, 'OK I am.' Two of them got in my face and made it hard for me to go where I was going, then they grabbed my arms and starting to force me I don't know where. That impeded my ability to follow their directions."
The Cassettes, Liles and Blunk were processed that day. All four, who had been protesting the jail's procedures for mitigating COVID-19, received first-hand experience on the prison's COVID protocol.
"We were never offered hand sanitizer or anything like that," Katherine Cassette said. "I had to ask for it when I got there. They were looking around for it. In the holding cell there was a toilet and sink with no soap. I remember we were asking for soap and they said they didn't have any."
Blunk echoed Katherine Cassette's description.
"We weren't given hand sanitizer or soap, anything like that," Blunk said. "After we've been there for 30 minutes, one of the officers tried to confiscate my mask. I was told the surgical mask that I had on had a metal tip in it. I asked if I gave you my mask can I get a different one, and they said no. Luckily the mask that I had on had a plastic part to it and so ... luckily I was able to keep it. But it was pretty nerve-racking that they were going to take it and not give me a new one."
Jail staff eventually found a bottle of soap for the cell Katherine Cassette shared with Liles and Blunk. Jail staff put Nicholas Cassette in another cell, to keep genders separated. Nicholas Cassette said there wasn't soap in his holding cell either.
All but one of the jail staff wore masks, according to Katherine Cassette.
"He was typing our information on the computer," Katherine Cassette said. "His [mask] was around his chin and I know [Blunk] had to say to him a few times to put your mask up. He said, 'Oh, it's just really hard to talk.'"
Jail staff, according to Cassette, eventually offered them additional masks.
"It smelled like Clorox, which means they were washed, which was fine," Katherine Cassette said.
Alluding to recent protests in Graham, Katherine Cassette said there is something wrong with town officials and their unwillingness to allow residents to protest.
"As long as you agree with their ways, it's fine, but if you are protesting your rights are extremely restricted," Katherine Cassette said. "You can't go places, you can't say words, you can't be [loud]. We are highly oppressed and controlled when we try to speak out."
Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
This article originally appeared on Times-News: Demonstrators arrested at Alamance County Jail discuss ordeal
