Kentucky Representative Arrested During Louisville Protests Calls Charges ‘Bogus’

Kentucky Representative Arrested During Louisville Protests Calls Charges ‘Bogus’
Protestors take refuge at First Unitarian Church of Louisville in Louisville, Ky., Sept. 24, 2020. (Jeff Dean/AFP via Getty Images)
Zachary Stieber
9/25/2020
Updated:
9/25/2020

A state lawmaker in Kentucky who was arrested on several charges late Thursday told The Epoch Times on Friday that the charges were trumped up.

“I want people to know that they’re bogus charges, they were trumped up,” state Rep. Attica Scott, a Democrat, said.

“To try to claim that my teenage daughter and I, who was arrested with me, were trying to set fire to our beloved main library that’s in my district, that I have fought in Frankfurt for funding for, is absurd, and I want folks to know that we must continue the movement for justice for Breonna Taylor. So keep showing up, keep speaking out, and keep standing up.”

Scott was one of 26 arrested after police declared an unlawful assembly because rabble rousers in the crowd smashed windows at various buildings and tried lighting the downtown library on fire.

According to arrest records obtained by The Epoch Times, Scott, 48, and her daughter, Ashanti Scott, were booked on riot and unlawful assembly charges.

Scott said she and her daughter were on their way to First Unitarian Church on Fourth Street, and had almost made it there, before she was taken into custody at 8:58 p.m., two minutes before the 9 p.m. curfew.

People who made it onto church property were not arrested, the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) said.

Kentucky Rep. Attica Scott in an undated photograph. (Rep. Attica Scott's Office)
Kentucky Rep. Attica Scott in an undated photograph. (Rep. Attica Scott's Office)

“I was literally across the street” from the church, Scott said.

A Louisville police spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email that Scott “as not arrested for a curfew violation.”

“And curfew does not apply once an unlawful assembly is declared,” the spokesperson added, in response to questions about when the lawmaker was arrested and whether charges would be dropped.

Police officers who arrested her didn’t recognize her but officers at the police station did, Scott told The Epoch Times. She was placed in isolation because of her status as a state representative.

Attica has been in office since 2017. She proposed “Breonna’s Law,” which would require police to knock and announce their presence when executing a search warrant.

Reports for months suggested police officers executed a no-knock warrant on Taylor’s apartment in March but an investigation found they knocked and announced themselves before breaching the door, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said this week.

Lonita Baker, one of the attorneys representing Taylor’s family, called the arrest of Scott “despicable.”

Scott said she has an attorney and is working on getting the charges dropped.

Zachary Stieber is a senior reporter for The Epoch Times based in Maryland. He covers U.S. and world news. Contact Zachary at [email protected]
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