Police identify 3 people arrested during Silent Sam demonstration
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- Police have identified the three individuals who were arrested Thursday night during the demonstration that took place near the site of the now-toppled Silent Sam statue.
Officials arrested Shannon Ashley MacLaughlin, Mary Frances Rosen, and Cammy Lee Morgan; all three were charged with resisting a public officer.
According to warrants, Morgan, of Vilas, North Carolina, "actively pulled away" from an officer and called her friends to "group hug" her to prevent officers from arresting her.
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Records show MacLaughlin, of Vilas, refused to listen to an officer while they trying to arrest Morgan. Police said she blocked the officer by hugging and pulling at Morgan.
Warrants state Rosen, of Charlotte, was arrested for trying to block officers from arrest Morgan as well.
The demonstration while intense was also relatively peaceful amid police presence.
As police moved demonstrators away from the site near 9 p.m., people coughed and complained that there was a substance sprayed in the air.
An ABC11 crew at the scene confirmed that some were coughing, including ABC11's Josh Chapin who inhaled some of the sprayed substance.
UNC confirmed that a "single deployment pepper fogger" was used by law enforcement near the Morehead Planetarium parking lot to "maintain order."
Between 200 and 300 people gathered on McCorkle Place, according to UNC and the Town of Chapel Hill.
Authorities kept a few dozen pro-Silent Sam protesters separate from a larger group of counterprotesters who had gathered for a "dance party" to celebrate the fall of the statue.
Greensboro police were called in to help Chapel Hill authorities who were worried about clashes between supporters and opponents of Silent Sam and the public placement of Confederate monuments.
Police stayed on scene until close to 11 p.m. to make sure no skirmishes erupted after the main demonstrations ended.
A few protesters lingered but tensions seemed to have eased.
