“Real Housewives of Atlanta” star Porsha Williams was among the dozens of people arrested on Tuesday in Louisville, Kentucky, after joining a Breonna Taylor protest outside the home of Attorney General Daniel Cameron.
More than 100 protesters gathered in the city to march before settling on the front lawn of Cameron’s home, according to multiple reports.
Authorities said 87 people have been arrested and are facing a felony charge of intimidating a participant in a legal process, a Class D felony; second-degree disorderly conduct, a Class B misdemeanor; and third-degree criminal trespass.
A video recorded by eyewitnesses and later shared on social media shows the 39-year-old reality star taken in handcuffs by police officers as other protesters remain seated on the lawn.
Williams posted a picture on Instagram after she was released from jail the next morning alongside Tamika Palmer, Breonna Taylor’s mother. Taylor, a 26-year-old black woman, was fatally shot in March by officers who had a search warrant for her apartment. The officers found no drugs in the residence.
The crowd of protesters sat on the front yard of the attorney general’s home chanting and demanding justice for Taylor. Authorities informed protesters prior to the large number of arrests that remaining on the property is unlawful and will lead to arrests, Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) officials said.
“The protesters chose to occupy the front yard of a home owned by the Kentucky attorney general and continuously chant toward he and his neighbors,” Sgt. Lamont Washington of the LMPD said in a statement. “All were given the opportunity to leave, were told that remaining on the property would be unlawful, and chose not to leave.”
The LMPD on June 23 fired police officer Brett Hankison, who was involved in Taylor’s shooting death.
In a letter from the LMPD shared on Twitter last month, interim Police Chief Robert Schroeder said Hankison violated procedures by showing “extreme indifference to the value of human life” when he “wantonly and blindly” fired 10 shots into Taylor’s apartment.
Schroeder also said that Hankison—one of three officers involved in Taylor’s shooting—violated the rule against using deadly force. The remaining two officers have been placed on administrative leave.
The special agent in charge of Louisville’s FBI field office said earlier this month that federal officials are working to probe potential civil rights violations by the Louisville police officers involved in Taylor’s shooting death.
Epoch Times reporter Isabel van Brugen and Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.
