20 people arrested in Louisville protests overnight

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Police arrested 20 protesters Tuesday night on charges that range from reckless behavior to failure to disperse.

Sgt. Lamont Washington, a spokesman for the Louisville Metro Police Department, said a mobile caravan — at one point made up of 200 vehicles — began exhibiting "unsafe behavior." He said behavior included aggressive driving, driving on sidewalks and illegal traffic maneuvers.

Police said the caravan formed at Waterfront Park before driving eastbound.

"At various times throughout the evening, police diverted the caravan in different directions -- each time met with aggressive behavior and witnessing extremely dangerous behavior -- including riding down the freeway at high rates of speed with people on top of vehicles," Washington said in a statement.

At one point, as an officer was attempting to divert the traffic, a vehicle in the caravan hit an LMPD cruiser at the intersection of Shelbyville Road and Blankenbaker Parkway.

Protesters arrested by LMPD on the night of Tuesday, June 30, 2020

St. Matthews Police also arrested a man who it says rammed into a police vehicle on Shelbyville Road.

Washington said the caravan then returned to downtown and one of the vehicles rammed an armored SWAT vehicle on the scene. The suspects fled the scene, Washington said, but eventually, the driver and four others were captured. No officers were injured.

"At Jefferson Square, a group of protesters remained and were joined again by members of the caravan," Washington said in a statement. "Officers initially stood back to monitor the group. At some point, protesters began yelling, throwing bottles and other dangerous objects at the officers, overturning trashcans and other antagonistic behaviors. LMPD moved in to disband the group and made several arrests for unlawful assembly."

WDRB News crews were at Jefferson Square on Tuesday night when police began arresting protesters there after 11 p.m. A protester, Chaunda Lee, was sitting in a van near the park and told WDRB’s Chad Mills that LMPD officers told her to get out of the van or they’d pull her out. She said she complied, then officers searched the van and towed it. She was not cited or arrested. Washington said the van was "illegally parked in the travel lane for an extended period of time."

In an interview Wednesday with WDRB News, Lee said she was trying to leave and had the van in drive when officers surrounded it. Lee said she couldn't pull out of the spot with the officers blocking the road.

She said officers pulled her 12-year-old son out of the van, and he's still shaken up by it.

"They used excessive force," Lee said.

In this Facebook video, she can be seen asking for sergeant, but officers repeatedly tell her to step out of the vehicle and that she's disobeying a "lawful order" in staying in the van.

“We haven’t had any justice, but we continue to be peaceful," Lee said. "It seems like the more peaceful we are, the more they attack us.”

The incident at Jefferson Square sparked anger from the handful of protesters, according to a WDRB News crew at the scene, who responded by throwing trash from the park into Sixth Street. A line of officers moved in around 11:48 p.m. and arrested the remaining protesters.

"The downtown area was secured about 12:30 a.m. and LMPD maintained a presence in the area," Washington said.

In downtown Louisville, police moved to clear protesters in Jefferson Square Park at 11:30 p.m., when the area is closed. A WDRB crew on the scene witnessed police tow a van parked on South Sixth Street. That appeared to agitate the protesters, and police claim they began throwing bottles and other items at officers, as well as trash on the streets.

Below is the police account of what happened:

"At Jefferson Square, a group of protesters remained and were joined again by members of the caravan," Washington said, in a statement. "Officers initially stood back to monitor the group. At some point, protesters began yelling, throwing bottles and other dangerous objects at the officers, overturning trashcans and other antagonistic behaviors. LMPD moved in to disband the group and made several arrests for unlawful assembly."

Washington said the caravan then returned to downtown and one of the vehicles rammed an armored SWAT vehicle on the scene. The suspects fled the scene, according to Washington, but eventually the driver and four accomplices were captured.

No officers were injured in the incident, Washington said.

"The downtown area was secured about 12:30 a.m. and LMPD maintained a presence in the area," Washington said.

Washington said the following demonstrators were arrested late Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning: