On a protest that occurred on July 17 on the Roebling Bridge, the majority of the demonstrators who were apprehended won’t be confronted with severe felony allegations. Four out of the fifteen people apprehended, however, remain under investigation following their initial hearing before Judge Kenneth L. Easterling of the Kenton County District on Wednesday.
A few of the participants accepted accountability for minor offences surrounding their failure to disband during the protest on Wednesday. In return, the felony charges instigated by their involvement in the protest, deemed as a riot, were dismissed. The stipulations on the sentence dismissal were such that the charges could not be resurrected in the future.
The applaudable element is that their time already served was taken into account, and that they were simply required to pay a total sum of $169 in fines. However, one protestor by the name of Ameer Alkayali continues to face felony allegations, due to his participation in the same riot.
The distinctions in his actions were highlighted by an officer who testified that Alkayali made attempts to disrupt another person’s arrest. As Rob Sanders, the Kenton County Commonwealth Attorney, declared, ‘The conduct is different than the people who just got failure to disperse charges.’
Logan Imber and Taylor Marshall, two other protestors who are still engulfed in felony cases, are being accused of physically obstructing the arrest of fellow protestor Brandon Hill. Hill also is under the cloud of felony allegations related to his role in the riot.
The case against Hill consists of claims that he confronted an officer in a confrontational manner during the protest. It was stated that Hill, with clenched fists, tried to seize the officer’s non-lethal weapon. A scene arose when a Covington Police officer testified that Hill was in possession of a bag and was making movements that induced the officer to believe Hill was carrying a firearm.
A video documenting Hill’s arrest showed officer Zachary Stayton of the Covington Police force striking Hill multiple times while he was being apprehended, even after he had been pushed to the ground. The demand for this video evidence to be presented during the Wednesday’s hearing was raised by Hill’s defense lawyer.
Rob Sanders, the Kenton County Commonwealth Attorney, raised objections to this request, stating that showcasing video evidence is not a common practice in preliminary mishaps. The request was subsequently dismissed by Judge Easterling. He stated that the motive of the hearing was purely to confirm the probable cause associated with the charges and the indication provided by the officer’s testimony was sufficient.
The protests followed the detention of Imam Ayman Soliman, a former Egyptian immigrant and long-serving chaplain at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Soliman was detained on July 9. This was an aftermath result of his asylum status being revoked.
Shortly after a vigil organized at The Banks in Cincinnati by a number of groups including Ignite Peace, Ohio Poor People’s Campaign, SURJ Cincinnati, and local faith leaders, the protests went underway. The speeches and declarations during this gathering largely voiced support for Soliman, which acted as a prelude to the demonstration.
At around 8 p.m., several attendees of the vigil opted to continue their advocacy by means of a march on the south lane of the Roebling Bridge. According to the participants, this action was not endorsed by the organizers who had convened the vigil.
The beginning of the march was met with an immediate wave of tension. There were instances of a man in a black sedan expressing his dissent towards the protestors near a roundabout at the entrance of the bridge on the Cincinnati side. At the same time, a black SUV inched around near the march organizers in neon vests that were positioned on the bridge.
These officials tried to prevent the vehicle from approaching the main body of protestors by using obstruction tactics. Nonetheless, the vehicle waded through at a restrained pace until it eventually bypassed the demonstrators.
As the protest persisted toward the south in the southbound lane of the bridge, Covington Police, alongside other law enforcement bodies from Northern Kentucky, established barricades around the midpoint of the bridge. There, they commanded the protestors to disperse from the main road and shift their movement to the pedestrian paths on the sides of the bridge.
Not long afterward, the Covington Police started rounding up individuals for arrests. Methods of confrontations included non-lethal tools such as pepper balls and Tasers. According to defense lawyer Benjamin Pugh, a trio of individuals arrested incurred injuries sizable enough to warrant hospitalization, among them was the aforementioned protestor, Brandon Hill.
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