R.I. Attorney General: Wyatt Investigation Is Focused On How Protesters Were Injured

The investigation into an incident at the Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls last week remains focused on how some protesters were struck by a pickup truck driven by a corrections officer and hit with pepper spray, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said Wednesday.

About a half-dozen people were hurt when those events unfolded as demonstrators blocked an employee parking lot of the quasi-public prison on August 14. The investigation into what happened is expected to last weeks.

Neronha said 31 people have been interviewed about the incident so far, and that at least another 20 will be interviewed. He encouraged people with knowledge of what happened to contact his office, State Police or Central Falls Police.

Neronha said the focus of the probe remains “the operation of the vehicle itself,” and “the deployment of what is commonly known as pepper spray” — not the behavior of demonstrators.

“That evaluation is underway with all possible speed, but we are committed to getting this right and getting it right, particularly in this instance — given the volume of information that is available to us — requires doing it with deliberation,” Neronha said during a news conference in his office.

He was joined by officials including State Police Col. James Manni and Central Falls Police Col. Daniel J. Barzykowski.

Barzykowski declined comment when asked if it was appropriate for correction officers to respond to the protesters blocking the prison’s parking lot.

Warning: The video below contains explicit language and may be disturbing to some viewers.

Captain Thomas Woodworth, a corrections officer at Wyatt, resigned from his job there last Friday. Neronha declined comment on whether Woodworth has been interviewed by investigators.

On Tuesday, critics of Wyatt held a statehouse conference and called for state officials to close Wyatt. Neronha said he hasn’t focused on whether the state has any standing to close the prison.

This story was was first published on The Public's Radio.