ALBANY – Nearly a dozen officers responded to the March 16 incident at a First Street home that later led to the arrest of one officer and the suspension of two others.

What about the rest?

Albany police Chief Eric Hawkins was peppered with this question and other concerns from dozens of residents at a forum Monday to discuss the alleged police brutality incident in West Hill.

"All of them are complicit in the crime that took place," said Anthony Muhammad, the Albany representative of Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam. "You have a big job ahead of you sir, and we need more arrests in this case."

The meeting was organized by grassroots neighborhood community group, A Block at a Time, and is part of a series scheduled in April and May to address residents' concerns regarding the police response to a noise complaint on March 16 at 523 First St.

“This one of several incidents that has occurred in this city over the last couple of years,” said Dannielle Hille, who was one of the organizers. “We want to make sure these incidents don’t occur again in the future.”

Police responded to the First Street home in the early morning hours of March 16 to a loud party, which turned into a violent confrontation between residents and police. Three men were allegedly beaten by officers and arrested on a slew of charges, which were later dropped. Officer Luke Deer was charged April 2 with felony assault and misdemeanor official misconduct. Two other officers were suspended.

A grand jury is investigating the incident and Albany Police have said additional charges or administrative actions against other officers are possible.

At times, the meeting got emotional with tensions running high as people shared their interactions with police and their frustration over having to discuss allegations of people of color being mistreated by police.

“My husband is deathly afraid of being killed when he drives to work to Niskayuna and drives home in the evening,” South End resident Amy Jones said, noting how her husband for years wouldn’t drive and now will not take off his work uniform when he does. “Even while I work for the police department, my own husband is afraid of being killed by the police.”

Sandra Thompson, mother of Armando Sanchez – one of the three men allegedly beaten by police — said she couldn’t watch the video of her son being pummeled with a police baton.

“All officers that were on the scene that night need to suffer consequences,” she said. “All of them need to go to jail. We want jail right now.”

Hawkins emphasized to several speakers who urged for more officers to be held accountable that most Albany officers are working in public safety for the right reasons. He also noted that an internal investigation was launched without any formal complaints from the public.

“When we see conduct that is unacceptable, we must take action, we must be swift, and we must be certain,” he said. “We still must support those officers who are out there who are putting their lives on the line every day doing the right things for the right reasons.”

The fact that an officer is being held accountable hasn’t been lost on residents. Several remarked about how it is the first time they have seen an officer get arrested.

“We need outside eyes to deal with what we’re dealing with,” Center Square resident Marlon Anderson said, a nod to Hawkins being from out of state, which received murmurs of support from the audience Monday. “It is the status quo in the police department when force is a means to the end when dealing with the community.”

Hawkins joined the city police department in September 2018, leaving his chief position at a police department in Michigan.

Residents also urged police to have more positive interactions with the community – whether that be walking in a neighborhood with other residents or visiting a baseball game at a neighborhood field.

Additional meetings to discuss how the community and officers can move forward will be hosted at the Arbor Hill Community Center from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. May 7 and May 20.

Hawkins said the meetings are welcomed by him as he often doesn’t see the raw, unfiltered emotional aspect of an incident when dealing with the day-to-day operations of running the department.

“We forget that really what our community wants is more involvement,” he said. “We all want the same thing, no matter what people feel about the police. We want safer communities, we want to feel like we’re valued, and we want opportunities.”