Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth said there’s “no way” he would bring in armed citizens to help control the city’s unrest.
“I’m like, oh, hell no,” Beth said when he got the call asking him to consider the idea.
Beth cited the two people who were killed amid another night of unrest following the police shooting of Jacob Blake on Sunday night as a reason not to put more people out to patrol.
“I don’t know this for sure, but the incident that happened last night where two people lost their lives, I think they were part of this group that wanted me to deputize them,” Beth said.
Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old from Antioch, Illinois, was taken into custody on Wednesday and is expected to be charged with first-degree intentional homicide. He is being held at a juvenile facility in Illinois, pending an extradition hearing to transfer him to Wisconsin.
Rittenhouse was allegedly armed Tuesday night with a group of others standing outside of a car dealership they said they were protecting.
“Once I deputize somebody, they fall under the constitution of the state of Wisconsin,” Beth said. “They fall under the county of Kenosha, they fall under my guidance. They have to follow my policies. They have to follow my supervisors. They are a liability to me and the county and the state of Wisconsin.”
Unrest has erupted in Kenosha and other cities over the police handling of Blake, who remains recovering at a nearby hospital. A video that went viral showed police shooting Blake, who was unarmed, seven times. It doesn’t show what happened prior to when shots were fired.
The incident also came a few months after the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, which sparked protests about racial injustice and police brutality around the world.
