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Troopers with the Washington State Patrol were forced to literally rip a Black Lives Matter protester from his vehicle after he refused to follow their commands to exit the vehicle to be placed under arrest for blocking an interstate.
Video of the arrest as well as other clips of the protest went viral on social media on Friday after scores of troopers were called to clear I-5 Friday morning.
In one clip posted by Seattle resident and citizen journalist Katie Daviscourt, a small group of protesters is seen blocking the southbound lane of I-5 while playing musical instruments, dancing, and chanting.
BLACK LIVES MATTER illegally blocking traffic and protesting on NB-I5 Freeway.
Moments later they get arrested by @wastatepatrol and cry victim. #seattleriots #seattleprotests pic.twitter.com/iEz8QlP1iP
— Katie Daviscourt🇺🇸 (@KatieDaviscourt) September 4, 2020
In another, a man is refusing to exit his vehicle after being told by WSP officers that he is under arrest for illegally blocking traffic.
Here is the moment right before this: https://t.co/bmDVxUPmtV pic.twitter.com/66khxzkT4E
— nathalie graham (@gramsofgnats) September 4, 2020
Finally, troopers are pushed to forcibly remove the man from his vehicle, as a black female taunts and harasses officers at one point calling a black trooper a “house n***a.”
**Warning: Strong language
JUST IN: Washington State Patrol arrests every single criminal BLM driver for illegally protesting on the NB- I5 freeway.
Great work, @wastatepatrol! #seattleriots #seattleprotests pic.twitter.com/oxj18MW9MK
— Katie Daviscourt🇺🇸 (@KatieDaviscourt) September 4, 2020
“You are a f***ing house n***a! You are a house n***a!” she yelled.
At one point, the woman claims that they are in Seattle and it’s legal to protest in the streets. But a trooper responded, “This isn’t Seattle,” noting further there are different regulations governing interstates.
Reports said that the protest began around 10:30 a.m. local time. In all, troopers arrested nine people and impounded their vehicles.
Eventually, traffic backed up to Bellevue, The Stranger reported, adding that troopers confirmed there was a three-vehicle collision that occurred in the northbound lane caused by the protest.
“The information I have is the distraction of the freeway being shut down in the [southbound] lanes was a contributing factor in this collision,” Trooper Rick Johnson told the site in an email.
The site further reported that protesters like to block traffic “to disrupt people living their day-to-day lives, and to bring the Black Lives Matter protest to where those people are.”
One protester said that the arrests and the impounding of vehicles wouldn’t prevent future demonstrations.
“They got some of our people, our cars, our property,” Elisha Ewing told The Stranger. “But we’ll be back at it. I’m literally breathing right now, and that’s protesting.”
Clearly, there is a difference between protesting on a street and blocking a highway in terms of risk.
Over the Fourth of July weekend, one person was killed and another seriously injured after a vehicle blew through a police barricade on I-5 during a protest.
WSP spokesman Capt. Ron Mead said that the incident should serve as a lesson for people who think blocking an interstate is a good idea.
“My hope is, as a result of this tragedy, protesters will reconsider their desire to be on the interstate because I cannot guarantee their safety, plain and simple,” he said at a news conference early Saturday.
At the time, NPR reported that there had been at least 50 incidents involving vehicles striking protesters, with one researcher claiming that many were the result of “right-wing extremists” targeting BLM demonstrators.
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Jon@bizpacreview.com
Jon is a staff writer for BizPac Review with 30 years' worth of reporting experience, as well as an author and U.S. Army veteran. He has a BA in political science from Ashford University and an MA in national security studies/intelligence analysis from American Military University.
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