Riots over police shootings in Wisconson and Louisiana

Post Reply New Topic

KENOSHA, Wis. -- Wisconsin’s governor summoned the National Guard for fear of another round of violent protests Monday after the police shooting of a Black man under murky circumstances turned Kenosha into the nation’s latest flashpoint city in a summer of racial unrest.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said 125 members of the National Guard would be in Kenosha by night with responsibility for “guarding infrastructure and making sure our firefighters and others involved are protected.” County authorities also announced an 8 p.m. curfew.

The move came after protesters set cars on fire, smashed windows and clashed with officers in riot gear Sunday night over the wounding of 29-year-old Jacob Blake, who was hospitalized in serious condition. In a widely seen cellphone video made by an onlooker, he was shot, apparently in the back, as he leaned into his SUV while his three children sat in the vehicle.

Tensions flared anew Monday after a news conference with Kenosha Mayor John Antarmian, originally to be held in a park, was moved inside the city’s public safety building. Hundreds of protesters rushed to the building and a door was snapped off its hinges before police in riot gear pepper-sprayed the crowd, which included a photographer from The Associated Press.

Police in the former auto manufacturing center of 100,000 people midway between Milwaukee and Chicago said they were responding to a call about a domestic dispute. They did not say whether Blake was armed or why police opened fire, they released no details on the domestic dispute, and they did not immediately disclose the race of the three officers at the scene.

The man who claimed to have made the video, 22-year-old Raysean White, said that he saw Blake scuffling with three officers and heard them yell, “Drop the knife! Drop the knife!" before the gunfire erupted. He said he didn't see a knife in Blake's hands.

The governor said that he has seen no information to suggest Blake had a knife or other weapon, but that the case is still being investigated by the state Justice Department.

The officers were placed on administrative leave, standard practice in a shooting by police.

Evers was quick to condemn the bloodshed, saying that while not all details were known, “what we know for certain is that he is not the first Black man or person to have been shot or injured or mercilessly killed at the hands of individuals in law enforcement in our state or our country.”

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden called for “an immediate, full and transparent investigation” and said the officers “must be held accountable.”

“This morning, the nation wakes up yet again with grief and outrage that yet another Black American is a victim of excessive force,” he said, just over two months before Election Day in a country already roiled by the recent deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky. “Those shots pierce the soul of our nation."

Republicans and the police union accused the politicians of rushing to judgment, reflecting the deep partisan divide in Wisconsin, a key presidential battleground state. Wisconsin GOP members also decried the violent protests, echoing the law-and-order theme that President Donald Trump has been using in his reelection campaign.

As always, the video currently circulating does not capture all the intricacies of a highly dynamic incident,” Pete Deates president of the Kenosha police union, said in a statement. He called the governor’s statement “wholly irresponsible.”

The shooting happened around 5 p.m. Sunday and was captured from across the street on video that was posted online. Kenosha police do not have body cameras but do have body microphones.

In the footage, Blake walks from the sidewalk around the front of his SUV to his driver-side door as officers follow him with their guns pointed and shout at him. As Blake opens the door and leans into the SUV, an officer grabs his shirt from behind and opens fire while Blake has his back turned.

Seven shots can be heard, though it isn’t clear how many struck Blake or how many officers fired. During the shooting, a Black woman can be seen screaming in the street and jumping up and down.

White, who claimed to have made the video, said that before the gunfire, he looked out his window and saw six or seven women shouting at each other on the sidewalk. A few moments later, Blake drove up in his SUV and told his son, who was standing nearby, to get in the vehicle, according to White. White said Blake did not say anything to the women.

White said he left the window for a few minutes, and when he came back, saw three officers wrestling with Blake. One punched Blake in the ribs, and another used a stun gun on him, White said. He said Blake got free and started walking away as officers yelled about a knife.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, representing Blake’s family, said Blake was “simply trying to do the right thing by intervening in a domestic incident.”

Police did not immediately confirm either man's account.

Crump told The Associated Press that Blake's family asked that the demonstrations remain peaceful.

“They don’t believe violence to be the solution,” he said.

Online court records indicate Kenosha County prosecutors charged Blake on July 6 with sexual assault, trespassing and disorderly conduct in connection with domestic abuse. An arrest warrant was issued the following day. The records contain no further details and do not list an attorney for Blake.

It was unclear whether that case had anything to do with the shooting.

Blake's partner, Laquisha Booker, told NBC’s Milwaukee affiliate, WTMJ-TV, that the couple’s three children were in the back seat of the SUV when police shot him.

“That man just literally grabbed him by his shirt and looked the other way and was just shooting him. With the kids in the back screaming. Screaming,” Booker said.

Crump, who has also represented the Floyd and Taylor families, called the police officers’ actions “irresponsible, reckless and inhumane” and added: “It’s a miracle he’s still alive.”

Blake's grandfather, Jacob Blake Sr., was a prominent minister and civil rights leader in the Chicago area who helped organize a march and spoke in support of a comprehensive housing law in Evanston, Illinois, days after the 1968 slaying of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr,.

In the unrest that followed Blake's shooting, social media posts showed neighbors gathering in the streets and shouting at police. Others appeared to throw objects at officers and damage police vehicles. Officers fired tear gas to disperse the crowds.

In a scene that mirrored the widespread protests in recent months over police brutality and racial inequality, marchers headed to the Kenosha County Public Safety Building, which houses the police and sheriff’s departments. Authorities mostly blocked off the building, which officials said was closed on Monday because of damage.

For more than 100 years, Kenosha was an auto manufacturing center, but it has now largely been transformed into a bedroom community for Milwaukee and Chicago. The city is about 67% white, 11.5% Black and 17.6% Hispanic, according to 2019 Census data. Both the mayor and police chief are white. About 17% of the population lives in poverty.

rotesters and police clashed in Lafayette, Louisiana a day after police fatally shot Trayford Pellerin, a 31-year-old Black man, outside a convenience store.

On Saturday night, protesters blocked traffic as they gathered on Moss Street in Lafayette near a police precinct to protest Pellerin's death, CNN affiliate KATC reported.

Police in riot gear gave a 10-minute warning before releasing flares and smoke canisters into the crowd of protesters, KATC reported.

Afterward, Interim Lafayette Police Chief Scott Morgan drew a distinction between protesters who organized an event earlier in the day and those who he said "choose to be malicious." He said people blocked important roadways and started several fires in a grass area, and police observed some throwing fireworks into one of their buildings.
"Our intent is not going to be to just let people disrupt our town and put our citizens and our motorists and our neighborhood in danger. We're going to use those resources that we have and those other agencies and we're going to enforce these laws," he said.

The protests came after the ACLU of Louisiana called for an independent investigation into Pellerin's death, which they said was captured on video. CNN is working to obtain and verify the video.

"Once again, video footage has captured a horrific and deadly incident of police violence against a Black person who was brutally killed in front of our eyes," Alanah Odoms Hebert, executive director of the ACLU of Louisiana, said in a statement.
Hebert said the shooting was an "inappropriate and excessive use of force" by the police.
"None of our communities are safe when the police can murder people with impunity or when routine encounters escalate into deadly shooting sprees," Hebert said. "The ACLU of Louisiana will continue to demand justice for this brutal killing and push for reforms that will end the epidemic of police violence once and for all."

Saturday night's events came a day after Lafayette Police officers were called to a convenience store shortly after 8 p.m. Friday to respond to a "disturbance involving a person armed with a knife," according to a statement from the Louisiana State Police.

There, police found Pellerin in the store's parking lot with a knife, the statement says. When officers tried to apprehend him, Pellerin left and officers followed on foot. The police used Tasers as they pursued him, the statement says, "but they were ineffective."

The officers shot Pellerin as he tried to enter a convenience store along NW Evangeline Thruway, according to Louisiana State Police. Pellerin was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

State police said no officers were injured and that the investigation is "active and ongoing." No further information was available.
Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump said in a statement sent to CNN that he was among the lawyers representing Pellerin's family. Crump called for the officers involved to be fired.

"We refuse to let this case resolve like so many others: quietly and without answers and justice," said Crump, who also represents the families of Floyd and Taylor.

"The family, and the people of Lafayette, deserve honesty and accountability from those who are sworn to protect them -- the Lafayette police," he added.

After Saturday's clashes, Lafayette Parish Sheriff Mark Garber issued a stern warning to "out-of-town agitators," a trope sometimes used to try to undermine protest movements.

"If any out-of-town agitators are watching this, if anyone's planning to enhance their techniques tomorrow or the next day, we are ready for you," he said. "We are prepared. We will not willingly give up the city. You will have to go through every resource that I have and every resource that the police have in order to do harm to the citizens or to their property."
Local community organizers also warned against "bad actors" coming to the city.

"If you're one of these bad actors that comes in and sets fires and throws rocks and pops firecrackers, you're not welcome here in Lafayette," said activist Jamal Taylor. "That's not the stuff that we're doing."