More than three years after police accused Patrick McCool of scooping up a tear gas canister at a protest in downtown Huntsville and hurling it back at them, the city has agreed to dismiss his case.
“I always felt confident it would work out,” McCool told AL.com after court on Tuesday. “The goal was always to have the charge dropped and not have a conviction on my record.”
The prosecutor from Huntsville city agreed to dismiss the misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge on the condition that McCool complete 50 hours of community service and pay court costs, according to his defense attorney, Bruce Gardner.
The prosecutor, Rebecca Wiggins, did not return a call for comment for this article.
McCool, who is 55 and works for the city, was among dozens of people arrested in Huntsville during racial justice protests in the summer of 2020 in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis. Most faced misdemeanor disorderly conduct charges.
And while most of the cases ended with dropped charges, some prosecutions dragged on for months or years. At least one other case is still working its way through the courts more than three years later.
Huntsville police arrested McCool on the night of June 3, as city officers, county deputies and state police flooded the downtown streets to quash a protest using pepper spray, flash bangs and rubber bullets. Clouds of tear gas blanketed the courthouse square as state helicopters flew overhead and snipers peered down from the courthouse roof.
In charging documents, Huntsville police alleged that McCool engaged in “fighting or in violent, tumultuous, or threatening behavior” when he threw a tear gas canister “in the direction of officers with the intent to cause public inconvenience and alarm.”
McCool and his attorney previously told AL.com that he wasn’t targeting police, that he tossed away the police tear gas canister to protect vulnerable people in the crowd from the chemicals. McCool said an officer shot him in the leg with a rubber bullet that night, as police kept firing tear gas, spritzing pepper spray and throwing flash bang grenades at the crowds.
In 2021, a judge in city court found McCool guilty of disorderly conduct. But he appealed the case to state court, hoping a jury would see things differently.
After repeated trial settings, McCool and his attorney reached a deal with the city prosecutor just before they were to start selecting a jury this week.
Gardner, McCool’s attorney, told AL.com he believes they had a strong defense for trial, but that they are glad to avoid the cost and time of seating a jury.
“It took until we were right under the gun for trial for them to give us something we could live with,” Gardner said of negotiations with the prosecutor. “I couldn’t believe how hard they were pushing. We’re happy to avoid the possibility of a conviction at just about any cost.”
McCool said he decided to fight the case because he believes the police went too far in using violence to control peaceful demonstrators.
“Given the situation, there was a lot of gray area,” McCool told AL.com on Tuesday. “The police were unprofessional, too.”
The scene was chaotic at the June 3, the event permit time was unclear, and police have since said they acted that night not in response to violence but to head off the possibility of recent rioting or looting seen in other cities, including Birmingham, as demonstrators took to the streets to demand justice for Floyd and protest racism and police violence.
A report prepared by the Huntsville police citizens advisory committee found that city cops in some instances violated policy or behaved unprofessionally during the protests, that officers weren’t properly trained or ready to be the target of protests and that some of the department’s investigative tactics were questionable.
For instance, one man was arrested for not dispersing, while video showed that police pulled him out of his car as he tried to leave near Big Spring Park. He won an acquittal at trial. In another instance, police gave a presentation to the city council and accused a man of being an “ANTIFA sympathizer” and said he was “associated with multiple groups organizing demonstrations/protest.” But it turned out the man never even attended a protest.
In response to outcry from local protesters, alleging that police used excessive force and violated their First Amendment rights, the city council spent more than $655,000 for attorneys to help the committee, a group of 10 volunteers, review the actions police took during the protests.
At the protests in Huntsville, there were no reports of major damage, no rioting or looting. One man who drew a gun during a protest on June 1, 2020, continues to fight his case. A judge in Madison County found Owen Eason guilty of bringing a gun to a demonstration. He appealed, and a jury is scheduled to hear his case later this year.
As for McCool, he has two months to pay his court costs and to complete his community service hours at Mana House, a food distribution center for needy families in Huntsville.
“I’m so happy,” McCool said Tuesday. “My family is happy. I’m thankful to keep my job and insurance.”