Mr. Carlson got away, and officers chased him. One tried to use a Taser on him, and a crowd of mostly white residents tried to shield him. One councilwoman, Marianne MacQueen, 72, who is white, was not arrested that night, but the authorities later charged her with two misdemeanors, saying she interfered with an arrest and obstructed official business. Ms. MacQueen said she had been trying to calm the situation.

The police charged Mr. Carlson with felony obstruction and misdemeanor theft, saying that he took an officer’s Taser — an allegation his lawyers denied. What the police saw as a justified arrest, many witnesses considered unnecessary police escalation. But the scene, so shocking to many of the city’s white residents, was less jarring to African-American residents, who make up a little more than 13 percent of the population.

“A majority of the people of color that I talk to are, like, ‘Yeah, I experience this everywhere I go,’” said Ayanna Madison, 16, a junior at Yellow Springs High School who is black. “I’ve heard stories of this countless times, and it’s not going to change until it happens to the rich kids, until it happens to the white kids, until it happens to the kids whose families control the power in the town or the city.”

Village leaders in Yellow Springs, which is roughly 81 percent white, said one reason they were so shocked by the New Year’s debacle was that they had been taking complaints against the police seriously and had already been working toward making changes.

Village officials last year withdrew the Police Department from a countywide task force after residents raised concerns that its tactics unfairly targeted black people.