KENOSHA ⏤ A peaceful Sunday march and protest eventually ended in Kenosha County deputies placing three notable community leaders under arrest at the Kenosha Public Safety Building.
Monday, the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department called the arrests “targeted” in a released statement. The department also stated the three were arrested for blocking public access to the building.
Enough is Enough rally and march – activist perspective
On April 25, the group Leaders of Kenosha hosted the event “Enough is Enough,” a call to end police brutality.
The event started at the Regimen Barber Collective shortly after 3 p.m. with a press conference. During the conference, Tanya McLean and several members of the Blake family spoke and listed off their demands to the Kenosha Police Department in regards to the August 2020 shooting of Jacob Blake.
Shortly after the march started and made its way to the Kenosha Public Safety Building, protesters marched around and chanted. Several members, including Justin Blake, Billy Violet, Joe Cardinali, and Reverend Jonathan Barker, locked arms while blocking the doors.
They promised not to move until their demands were met.
Later that night, around 10 p.m., Kenosha County sheriff’s deputies approached the activists, asking them to move because they were blocking the doors.
Upon refusing to move unless they could speak to the police chief or their demands were met, deputies arrested Justin Blake, Joe Cardinali, and Reverend Jonathan Barker.
Video of the press conference at https://www.facebook.com/theuptownobserver/posts/254693779389600
KCSD Monday statement on arrests – KCSD perspective
Monday, KCSD Sgt. Chris Hannah released a statement on behalf of the department and Sheriff David Beth.
In the statement, Hannah describes the protest as “calm and orderly”.
“At approximately 4:00 pm on Sunday, a calm and orderly protest march took place in the City of Kenosha concluding at the Kenosha County Public Safety Building,” the statement reads. “This protest remained peaceful and occupied a parking lot of the Public Safety Building. At approximately 5:00 pm the remaining protesters, approximately twenty-five people, began to stage at the front public entrance of the Public Safety Building.
“This is the only public access for members of the community to conduct business with the sheriff’s department, police department, or Kenosha Joint Services.”
Over the next several hours, the statement reads, the department offered the protesters ⏤ including Barker, Cardinali and Justin Blake ⏤ other locations to stand, KCSD states.
However, the group refused.
This led deputies to arrest Barker, Cardinali and Blake around 10 p.m.
According to the department, all three had posted bond and left Kenosha County Jail by noon Monday.
It’s unclear what charges, if any, the three will face.
No charges have been filed against the three in the case in Kenosha County Circuit Court as of Monday afternoon, according to online court records.
Daniel Thompson contributed to the second half of this report.
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