One of the suspects said they did so to harm officers and Bridgewater told investigators his motivation was to sell stolen items for cash, an agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives wrote in an affidavit filed Thursday in federal court.
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Strangely, the mayor’s staff said that no one now in his office could officially confirm or deny if Holden attended, and refused to provide phone numbers to reach communications staffers who might have an answer.
The arrests came amid heightened tensions in Baton Rouge following a black man’s fatal shooting during a struggle with two white police officers. This should not be seen as a victory for the protesters, because they should not have been arrested in the first place.
Alton Sterling was shot July 5 outside a Baton Rouge convenience store in an encounter with police that was caught on video. Black men are now part of the series of cases of police brutality in the US that had happened in the past years.
Cameron Sterling, center, son of Alton Sterling, who was killed by Baton Rouge police last Tuesday, leaves after speaking to the media outside the the Triple S Food Mart, where his father was killed, in Baton Rouge, La., Wednesday, July 13, 2016.
District Attorney Hillar C. Moore III said that after reviewing the 185 arrest reports documented between July 8 and July 11, he’s chosen not to prosecute about 100 of the cases, noting that these protesters were arrested only on misdemeanor counts, the Advocate reports.
“These particular cases only involve facts where the person arrested failed to comply with an officer’s direction to leave the roadway or public passage”, Moore said. The ACLU of Louisiana and other groups filed a lawsuit earlier this week over the treatment of protesters by police. DeRay Mckesson, a prominent Black Lives Matter activist, was among them.
Mr Moore said his office was reviewing the rest of the arrests, which included allegations such as resisting arrest, carrying guns or some “act of violence”. He defined him as the truly Southern hospitality.
The Funeral was held in a Baton Rouge auditorium for a special memorial service, and it was full of powerful messages, says the Huffington Post. He said Sterling was his friend and recalled how friendly Sterling was when he moved to Baton Rouge from MI. “We’re going to have an empty spot in front of the store”. Both officers pulled their weapons and pointed them into Sterling’s chest, with one saying “If you f****** move I swear to God”, before firing several shots.
Mr. Muflahi agrees with the opinion of other residents in the area who have stated that “The Officers could have approached the matter in a much more professional manner from the beginning, and the outcome would have possibly not been so tragic for Alton, nor his family and five young children”.
The funeral was a celebration of Sterling’s life as much as it was a political declaration.
He said there was no substitute for justice.
Another speaker, Chauna Banks from the Baton Rouge Metro Council, told the crowd that Sterling’s blood cries out for justice.
“Wrong must be corrected and the wrong must be held accountable”, said the Rev Al Sharpton.
He was shot by police at a close quarters on July 5 as he sold CDs outside a convenience store in an incident that was recorded on a cellphone. “‘If you want to protest please leave now, ‘ he told the crowd, after noting that the ceremony was meant to be a celebration of Alton’s life instead of a protest of his death”. At one time, a medic had to be called to attend to Sterling’s family members.
Johnson chairs the My Brother’s Keeper task force.
The services for Alton Sterling got underway Friday with a gospel choir singing hymns, as many in the crowd of a couple thousand joined in. “While all citizens have the right to assemble and protest, they do not have the right to block streets and impede the flow of traffic”.
He said he sympathized with police but even so, he thinks Sterling’s killing was unjust, based on video footage of the incident he watched on television.
Muflahi told Alan that his rights were violated when he was detained for hours in both a police vehicle and at the police station, which Porter then explained was a way to keep the news of Sterling’s shooting a secret.
Claire Carter was among those who came to pay respect. Officers were responding to an anonymous call that he had threatened someone with a gun.
Sterling had begun to turn his CD selling into a steady way of making a living, Jupiter said.
Malik Bridgewater, 20, is scheduled to make his initial appearance in federal court on Friday.
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He also addressed the victims of the attack in France as well as the officers who were killed in Dallas during a protest.
