Following the discovery of multiple noose-like ropes at a Connecticut site in recent weeks, Amazon has halted construction. According to Windsor police, the first incident occurred on April 27, when a construction supervisor confirmed seeing a hangman's noose on a second-floor steel beam.
FBI is helping Windsor police in investigating the incident
The most recent incident occurred on Wednesday when officers on private duty "were made aware of the discovery of a rope that could be viewed as a noose dangling inside overhead beams on the premises," said the police. "We continue to be extremely concerned by the events occurring at the Windsor construction site and have requested its closure before appropriate security measures can be placed in action," Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a statement on Thursday, as per the NBC news.
The chain, which was discovered on Wednesday, will be submitted to the state crime lab for analysis. The FBI is helping Windsor police with their probe, said David Sundberg, special agent in charge of the bureau's New Haven field office. At the construction site, seven suspected nooses have been found. Since the first was discovered, police said they got a notification on April 29 that five more had been found.
The new occurrence happened after the first noose was found dangling from a steel beam on the second floor of the building on April 27, said Windsor Police Capt. Andrew Power. According to police, on April 29, five more ropes "that could be viewed as nooses" were discovered on various floors.
Per USA Today, Power said, "Some of them were just rope bound at the end, and others were bent to look like a noose." The police have little intelligence on leads since the ropes were hanging in a place without security cameras and the facilities have hundreds of workers from different businesses, he added.
Brian Griggs, who spoke at an NAACP news conference on Thursday, said Amazon is shutting down the site until security precautions are placed in motion. According to Griggs, Amazon is now offering a $100,000 incentive for details.
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Amazon, contractor, will give reward regarding the incident
At the press conference, Connecticut NAACP State President Scot X Esdaile said that the organization would not stop exerting pressure until the person who planted the ropes is apprehended. Last month, Esdaile also stated that there had been many reports of bigotry at Amazon facilities around the country, including finding a noose at an Arizona facility a year ago.
He also said that similar incidents had occurred at construction sites across Connecticut in recent years, and he urged the construction industry and state authorities to do better to prevent what he described as a "serious threat to someone's life." Windsor police said the FBI's Civil Rights Division and the Connecticut State Police are assisting with the probe. The racial events occur against a backdrop of lawsuits alleging race and gender discrimination against Amazon. So far, five complaints have been filed.
RC Andersen, the general contractor on the site, has worked with law enforcement. The contractor addressed the nooses with all workers and provided anti-discrimination instruction. Andersen gives a $5,000 reward to anyone who can identify the alleged perpetrator, with Amazon contributing an additional $50,000.
The nooses enraged the Connecticut NAACP State Conference and the Greater Hartford NAACP. The organizations have urged Amazon to do more to guarantee the welfare of its employees, Newsweek via MSN reported.
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