Activists in W.Va. demand police brutality investigation

Associated Press

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.

Environmental activists demanded an investigation Thursday into the alleged beating of a mountaintop removal mining protester by West Virginia State Police.

Several groups have asked Attorney General Darrell McGraw to investigate a weekend incident involving protester Dustin Steele. But in West Virginia, the attorney general has no investigative or prosecutorial powers in criminal matters. The office primarily handles consumer protection and fraud cases.

Steele, 21, is a Matewan native who now lives in Blair. He and 19 other protestors were arrested Saturday after a demonstration at Patriot Coal’s Hobet mine in Lincoln County.

Steele told The Associated Press he was dragged across asphalt outside the Madison State Police detachment, then punched and kicked by several troopers.

Sgt. Michael Baylous said State Police officials have received no complaint from Steele, so they’re not doing an internal investigation. He did not immediately comment further.

The demonstration was organized by Radical Action for Mountain People’s Survival, or RAMPS.

RAMPS posted a 9-minute video on YouTube on Wednesday morning that shows protesters being forced to walk for miles to their caravan of vehicles while other motorists are allowed to pass. The “Mountain Mobilization” video also shows counter-protesters in blue mining uniforms with fluorescent stripes lining the road in some places, forming a blockade and following along in vehicles.