Beverly Hills Officer Takes A Knee With Protesters

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — “Taking a knee” has become one of the defining acts of the George Floyd protests. At nearly every demonstration, protesters congregate in a public place – often a normally busy traffic intersection – and silently kneel for eight minutes and 46 seconds, the amount of time that Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin placed his knee over George Floyd’s neck.

But it’s not often that you see police officers kneeling with the protesters.

On Tuesday, Sgt. Donald Chase of the Beverly Hills Police Department knelt with protesters in a peaceful march on Santa Monica Boulevard in the city’s downtown business district. His action was greeted with widespread cheers from the crowd.

Beverly Hills Councilmember and former Mayor Lili Bosse reposted a video of the event of her Facebook page, saying that the moment "touched her deeply."

While Chase was kneeling, a protester can be heard telling him, "Thank you for doing this - we appreciate your honesty, and we feel like this s* is not in vain."

The crowd then erupted into chants of "Chase! Chase! Chase!

“The protesters began to chant ‘take a knee’ and I did so without hesitation,” Chase told Patch in an email. “I mostly listened to their concerns and shared that I’ve been here in Beverly Hills for a long time. It was an emotional and powerful moment.”

A post on the Beverly Hills Police Department’s Facebook page garnered 364 likes and 52 shares as of Thursday morning. Several users responded with blue hearts — a symbol of love for police —while another wrote, “Hope everybody: police, protesters, and bystanders stay safe and peaceful. Love to see people come together!”

Even though most reports focus on tension between police and protesters, this has happened at other Southland protests.

On Monday, four officers knelt with protesters at a protest outside LAPD headquarters in Downtown L.A., according to a KTLA report.

“If you want us to take a knee, we’ll take a knee with you,” said LAPD Commander Gerald Woodyard, who is in charge of the department’s Community Engagement group. “Because we’re here with you.”

Part of the healing process for our city is to lend support for those who show up to voice their grievances and do so in a peaceful way. In solidarity with our community members, we want you to know that #LAPD will ALWAYS support peaceful and lawful protest. #IamLA #HealLA pic.twitter.com/jP01WxB48n
— Commander Gerald Woodyard (@LapdWoodyard) June" class="redactor-linkify-object">https://twitter.com/LapdWoodya... 1, 2020

On the same note, LAPD Commander Cory Palka took a knee with Hollywood protesters.

“We stand together," Palka, while holding a loudspeaker, said in a video tweeted by the Los Angeles Times.

On Tuesday, two more officers took a knee in Downtown LA protests.

Chase, who has been with the BHPD for 19 years, said that he is unsure if any of his colleagues have knelt with protesters.