An Ohio Democratic lawmaker said she was pepper-sprayed while attending a rally honoring George Floyd in her home state.
Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin, and Franklin County Commissioner Kevin Boyce were attending a protest in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday morning when a scuffle between protesters and police broke out near them. The congresswoman tried to calm tensions after officers took down a protester, but surrounding officers used either pepper spray or mace to stymie the crowd, according to NBC4.
The three officials, all of whom are black, provided an update on their status and urged everyone to remain calm in a video shared on social media shortly after.
“We are encouraging folks to keep calm. We understand that tensions are high. Our tensions are high as well. We are angry … and we need change. But the only way we will get change is by peaceful demonstrations,” said Hardin.
“While it was peaceful, there were times when people got off the curb, into the street,” said Beatty. “But too much force is not the answer to this.”
“When you have trained people and young people, who are passionate about the fight, they were well organized for 99% of it. They marched, they had incredible signs, we came out to support them and be with them. And it was just something in my heart thinking about George Floyd, thinking about all of the injustices,” she added.
A source provided this video to @ColleenNBC4 showing the incident that resulted in Rep. Joyce Beatty, City Council President Shannon Hardin and Franklin County Commissioner Kevin Boyce getting pepper sprayed Saturday morning. https://t.co/ogqPrajniZ pic.twitter.com/19f1xbC53m
— NBC4 Columbus (@nbc4i) May 30, 2020
Major protesting and riots have broken out in more than a dozen cities following Floyd’s death while in police custody. Floyd, a black man, was killed after a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, used his knee to apply pressure to Floyd’s neck to keep him pinned down. He held the unarmed man accused of a forged $20 bill in that position for about nine minutes until he was unresponsive.
Chauvin was taken into custody on Friday and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
The other three officers on the scene at the time of his death have been fired and are being investigated, although none have been formally charged.
Just want to let folks know that when @RepBeatty @VoteBoyce and I were down at the protest we did get sprayed with mace or pepper spray. We are all ok, and we want to encourage folks, both police and protestors, to stay calm. pic.twitter.com/RDQ1p4YDRY
— Shannon Hardin (@SG_Hardin) May 30, 2020
