The only Black female member of Kentucky’s state legislature, Rep. Attica Scott, who suggested “Breonna’s Law” to prohibit no-knock warrants in the wake of Breonna Taylor’s March death, has been arrested on felony rioting charges during Thursday night protests in Louisville over the decision not to convict officers for Taylor’s death.
What We Know:
- The high-profile Democratic state lawmaker and her 19-year-old daughter Ashanti were arrested among a large group of protesters on Thursday night, was charged with causing “damage at multiple locations, including setting fire to the Louisville Public Library,” according to police reports.
- Scott mentioned she is very traumatized and is innocent of all charges and was simply peacefully looking for authorized sanctuary at a church before curfew.
- She also mentions she was arrested at 8:58 p.m., two minutes before the curfew began, as she and other protesters crossed the street to seek sanctuary at the church. She asked how she could have been breaking the curfew before it even began.
- According to local reports, someone broke a window and threw a flare into the library around 9 p.m., as Louisville’s curfew started. Still, Ted Shouse, the lawyer for prominent Black activist Shameka Parrish-Wright who was arrested alongside Scott, said neither Scott nor Parrish-Wright were involved in damaging the library.
- Scott, Scott’s daughter, Ashanti Scott, and Parrish-Wright, who was also detained at the protest, were all facing being charged with a felony for first-degree rioting, and two misdemeanors for failure to disperse and unlawful assembly.
- Scott’s arrest immediately triggered outrage on social media and amid fellow lawmakers.
- Kentucky State Rep. Josie Raymond tweeted on Thursday night that If you arrest the loudest voices fighting racial injustice in Louisville, they have to believe that they want to silence the fight against racial injustice.
- Protests started in Louisville on Wednesday immediately after Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced a grand jury’s decision to bring charges against just one of three Louisville Metro Police Department officers involved in Taylor’s shooting.
According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, Scott was released from custody Friday morning on a personal recognizance bond and is set to be put on trial on October 6.
