Norfolk, Virginia A senator in the state of Virginia has been accused of damaging a Confederate monument in Portsmouth during protests that also allowed a protester to be critically injured when a statue was burnt down, authorities said Monday.
First Chamber member Louise Lucas is facing charges of conspiracy to commit crime and vandalism to a monument in excess of $ 1,000, Portsmouth Police Chief Angela Greene said during a news conference. The protest took place in June.
Lucas is a longtime Democratic lawmaker and a major power broker in the state Senate, who joined the House in 1992. The charges were filed in the same week. Virginia lawmakers are addressing dozens of criminal justice reforms in a special legislative session.
The reaction of some of her fellow Democrats was rapid.
“It’s deeply confusing that on the outskirts of Virginia going through long-awaited police reform, the first Black woman to serve as our First Chamber Pro Tempore suddenly comes face to face with very unusual charges,” Ralph Northam, a Democrat, tweeted Monday night. .
Former Governor Terry McAuliffe waited in, CBS reports Norfolk WTKR-TV, saying: “Louise Lucas is a traceless official who is not afraid to do and say what she thinks is right. Her opposition to a racist monument is the definition of what John Lewis called ‘good problems’. I stand by my good friend. “
The Virginia Legislature Black Caucus said it strongly condemned the “suspiciously timed and apparent retaliatory actions” by Portsmouth police, according to WTKR.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia called for the prosecutors against Lucas and several others to be dropped. The ACLU said the latter form a violent overarching form by police because they were not approved by the local prosecutor.
Lucas did not respond to a request for comment. Her lawyer, Don Scott, told WAVY-TV that Lucas will ‘fiercely’ fight the case and be reaffirmed.
Lucas is accused at a time when many places of thought for the Confederacy are being taken down, or by protesters against racial injustice or by authorities trying to dismantle them through official channels. The monuments have long been seen by many as symbols of white supremacy. But they have drawn increasing attention to the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in Minneapolis police.
The monument in Portsmouth consists of a large obelisk and statues of four Confederate military personnel. During protests that drew hundreds of people in June, heads of some of the statues were torn down while one was pulled down, critically injuring a protester.
Greene, the Portsmouth police officer, said that “several people were colluding and organizing to destroy the monument and calling on hundreds of people to take part in criminal acts.”
Greene said these actions “not only resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to the monument, but also permanent damage to an individual.”
Greene did not spell out exactly what Lucas or several other people are accused of doing to justify the accusations filed against them.
Other people who are prosecutors include members of the local NAACP chapter, a local school board member and members of the Bureau of Public Defenders, police said.
Portsmouth Police are trying to identify 13 other people connected to the incident, WTKR says.
Steve Helber / AP
Greene said requests were made to state and federal authorities to conduct an independent investigation. And she said a conversation with the Portsmouth Commonwealth lawyer “yielded no action.”
“It was the duty of the Portsmouth Police Department to launch an in-depth and comprehensive investigation,” Greene said.
Stephanie Morales, the lawyer for Portsmouth Commonwealth, told The Associated Press in an email that her office did not sign off on the prosecutors of the police department.
Claire G. Gastañaga, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, said Virginia is one of the few states where a criminal order can be filed without the approval of a prosecutor.
“These charges are political, and I think they are discriminatory,” she said.
“The police department makes decisions about who should be charged in a circumstance in which the chosen one (prosecutor) is surrounded,” Gastañaga added. “The police want a different result” and that is alarming.
Meanwhile, Republican Party of Virginia President Rich Anderson said the senator should register himself.
“Felony prosecutors who are against a sitting state senator should be taken seriously, and should not be sought for political gain,” he said in a statement. “It’s for that reason that the Republican Party of Virginia is calling on Senator Lucas to turn himself in. Immediately.”
.
