UPPER DARBY — The township’s main shopping district was hit by looters Sunday evening as civil unrest raging throughout Philadelphia spilled into the suburbs.
“This is a tidal wave that is sweeping through cities and towns throughout the whole country,” said Mayor Barbarann Keffer. “The Upper Darby Police Department has been doing a fantastic job. They’re going to have to keep doing the job all night.”
Stores along the 69th Street corridor that were hit included Footlocker, Madrag and a Pennsylvania Wine and Spirits store that had been boarded up, according to accounts posted by Twitter users. Other stores were also reportedly being looted and vandalized Sunday evening as police amassed at the corner of 69th and Market streets in a bid to drive out the crowd.
“There is a big difference between protestors and looters,” said Keffer about 8 p.m. Sunday, as a curfew went into effect across the township. “I believe what we are dealing with here is looters, and they are moving out of Upper Darby along West Chester Pike (and) Baltimore Avenue. But we are still prepared. Our police department will keep our people safe.”
Sirens could be heard in the area Sunday evening, though some of those may have been associated with an earlier house fire in Lansdowne. No fires or injuries had been reported as a result of the looting by 9:30 p.m. Sunday.
This is the 69th Street Shopping Corridor in Upper Darby. This means looting has now spread to Delaware County. @UDPolice has announced an 8pm curfew. #phillyriots @JoeHoldenCBS3 @CBSPhilly @CBSNews pic.twitter.com/EYephx86Q2
— manuelsmith (@manuelsmith) May 31, 2020
Riots similar to the
ones that broke out in Philadelphia over the weekend were reported in numerous major cities across the country as people gathered in mostly peaceful protests against police brutality following the death of 46-year-old George Floyd while in police custody. Former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, who was recorded kneeling on Floyd’s neck as he complained that he could not breath, has been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Three other officers were also fired.
Local officials and community leaders pleaded for calm Sunday as Philadelphia went into a second day of riots and an overnight curfew took effect at 6 p.m. Similar curfews were in place in Upper Darby and Lansdowne as of 8 p.m.
Upper Darby Superintendent of Police Tim Bernhardt said that Philadelphia had riots around the area of 51st and 52nd streets and Market Street earlier in the afternoon, which surged into 69th Street.
UPDATE: 69th Street from Market Street to Walnut Street in Upper Darby is CLOSED until further notice.Large Police presence still in the area. All other roads are passable, but may have delays.Thank you to everyone for your patience as we work through this difficult time.
— Upper Darby Police (@UDPolice) June 1, 2020
“We had everyone in place down there, we had our barriers, we had our manpower, and it just got to the point where we were overtaken by the numbers that came in from the city,” he said at about 8 p.m. “Now it’s dissipated. They looted some of the stores, we only have two arrests as of so far and they were just caught into the stores and wouldn’t leave.”
Bernhardt said the crowd seemed to have moved mostly back into Philadelphia by evening, though some looters had peeled off and continued moving further westward into the county.
County Emergency Services Director Tim Boyce said there had been rumors flying on social media of other areas of the county seeing looting or vandalism, but they had been debunked and there were on other incidents as of 9:20 p.m. Sunday. He added that Upper Darby as of that time was “stable and under control.”
Bernhardt did not have a possible monetary figure on the damage done or list of stores hit Sunday night, saying the looters grabbed sneakers, T-shirts and any other items they could carry before moving on to the next store.
Upper Darby had been planning for some unrest throughout the week, he said, with officials there attending rallies and protests to show solidarity with peaceful gatherings and attempting to dissuade the type of violent conflicts seen in other areas of the country.
“The mayor, myself and township released a memo (Saturday) night in support of the (Floyd) family and our absolute anger and disgust with the incident that happened,” said Bernhardt. “We were hoping that all of that would kind of fend this off, to no avail. Today they ended up coming and looted 69th Street.”
He added that he and Keffer had attended a peaceful protest earlier in the day at the corner of Lansdowne Avenue and Baltimore Pike in Lansdowne. Lansdowne Police Chief Dan Donegan called the meeting “meaningful, peaceful and emotional” in a Facebook post earlier Sunday.
“We heard every single one of you and will continue to provide the most unbiased level of community policing,” said Donegan.
Keffer said she was also heartened to see Upper Darby residents take part in that protest and represent the township at its finest.
“It is heartbreaking to see the destruction occurring in our region and around the country these last few days,” she said in a release announcing the curfew. “I signed an emergency declaration instituting this public safety curfew to protect our residents and business owners. Let us not allow the actions of a few bad actors to distract us from the serious issues facing our nation.”
Bernhardt said Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer and Delaware County Park Police assisted the township Sunday, along with Chester Township, Haverford and Springfield police departments in a coordinated team effort.
“We’re just trying to tackle this the best we can and hope for the best outcome for everybody,” he said.
“It’s been quite a few months between coronavirus, the stay-at-home order, social distancing and now this,” said Keffer. “We grieve for the family of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and we were hoping that things would remain calm, but they haven’t and I think we’re doing our best to respond to everything here.”
Arbery, 25, was shot and killed Feb. 23 in Glynn County, Ga., after being chased by three men who allegedly suspected him of attempting to break into a construction site. The fatal confrontation was caught on video and went viral, eventually resulting in the arrests of two men, Gregory and Travis McMichael, a father and son.
Taylor, 26, was shot and killed by police officers inside her Louisville, Kentucky, apartment March 13 during a narcotics raid. An attorney for her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, said Walker fired at the officers in self-defense because they had not identified themselves, the Louisville Courier Journal reported. No drugs were found in the apartment.
Their names, along with those of Floyd, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin and other unarmed African-Americans killed in recent years, have become the rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement, whose mission is to “eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes,” according to its website.