Group of mothers call for change in Raleigh police treatment

The group held a rally in Raleigh Thursday, stating that they want to start a kindness movement and are calling for changes in the police department.

One after another, people shared accounts of how they’ve felt wrongly treated by law enforcement.

For Hafiza Thomas, it was a traffic stop in November.

“He came after me and pretty much grabbed me and tried to slam me on the ground,” Thomas said.

Most of the talk was centered around what happened to Rolanda Byrd’s son, Akiel Denkins, who was shot and killed by a Raleigh police officer in southeast Raleigh in February.

Authorities determined that the officer, D.C. Twiddy, fired in self-defense as Denkins was reaching for a gun.

Byrd said she sees something different in the reports.

“Read each one. Each one has a different statement, a different account to what happened that day,” she said.

WRAL News reached out to Raleigh police for comment, but they referred to the police report that cleared Twiddy.

The Raleigh Police Department said anyone with complaints about treatment from police is asked to contact their Internal Affairs Unit.