A Virginia police chief fought back tears during a press conference as he described how rioters set fire to a home with a child inside and then prevented firefighters from responding as quickly as they could have.
“Last night, protesters intentionally set a fire to an occupied building on Broad Street,” Richmond Police Chief Will Smith told reporters Sunday, according to the Washington Times. “This is not the only occupied building that has been set fire to over the last two days, but they prohibited us from getting on scene. We had to force our way to make a clear path for the fire department.”
“Protesters intercepted that fire apparatus several blocks away with vehicles and blocked that fire department’s access to the structure fire,” Smith added. “Inside that home was a child.”
Smith went on to say that the fire department was able to save the child but briefly lost his composure while describing the harrowing scene.
“Officers were able to —,” he said before pausing. “Officers were able to help those people out of the house. We were able to get the fire department there safely.”
Smith then took a moment to berate those who “take a legitimate issue” and “hijack it for unknown reasons,” calling that type of behavior “unacceptable.”
Local news outlets pointed out that an official representing Richmond’s fire department told a slightly different story than Smith but agreed that protesters had made life more difficult for first responders.
Lt. Chris Armstrong of the Richmond Fire Department said the fire was located on Monroe Street, although the original call did say Broad Street, and the fire was actually a car fire that was burning the exterior of a house, according to CBS 6 News Richmond.
Armstrong did confirm that burning trash cans and protesters throwing things at firetrucks did slow the crews down.
As was the case in many major cities across the country, Richmond experienced both peaceful protests and violent rioting over the past couple days in response to the death of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, while in police custody on May 25.
Richmond police arrested over 200 people on Sunday night after they violated a curfew imposed by the city to mitigate damage from rioters.
