The fourth and final man who was charged with burning down the Minneapolis Police Department’s 3rd Precinct during the riots that followed the death of George Floyd has been sentenced to prison and ordered to pay millions in restitution.
Bryce Michael Williams, 27, will serve 27 months behind bars, and he has been directed to pay $12 million for damages, the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota announced on Monday. Prosecutors said Williams was at a riot, in which demonstrators were chanting, “Burn it down, burn it down,” on May 28, 2020, when he and several co-conspirators breached the fence outside the law enforcement headquarters.
Williams was then seen holding a Molotov cocktail that was lit and carried into the precinct by Davon De-Andre Turner. After the blaze erupted, Williams threw a box on the fire.
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The 27-year-old in November 2020 pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit arson. Williams, a former college basketball player, posted a video of himself helping to ignite the precinct on TikTok and has since gained more than 150,000 followers, according to the Star Tribune.
At his sentencing on Monday, Judge Patrick Schiltz called Williams a “good person who made a terrible mistake” as he explained why he opted for a prison sentence shorter than what was sought by prosecutors. He was also described as a leader, “not a follower,” in the violence that unfolded.
Williams, Turner, Dylan Shakespeare Robinson, and Branden Michael Wolfe were all arrested and charged together on one count of conspiracy to commit arson. All have since pleaded guilty, and Williams was the last to be sentenced.
Previously, Turner was given three years behind bars, and Robinson will serve four years. Wolfe will be in the custody of the state for three to five months. All four have been ordered to pay $12 million each.
A former Minneapolis officer, who was not identified by name, spoke at Williams’s sentencing and said the violence last summer drove her and more than 300 others to leave their law enforcement jobs with the city. The ex-policewoman said she was sending photographs to her family before and after all of her shifts so they would know she was OK.
“There’s so much we lost that was more than bricks and mortar,” she said.
“All four defendants charged in federal court have now been sentenced for their individual roles in the burning and near-total destruction of the Minneapolis Police Department’s Third Precinct building,” acting U.S. Attorney Anders Folk said in a Monday statement. “Mr. Williams and his co-defendants have been held accountable for their dangerous and destructive actions. I thank our federal, state, and local partners who pursued justice in these cases.”
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Floyd died on May 25, 2020, after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for over nine minutes. Chauvin has since been found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter, and he’s awaiting sentencing.
Floyd’s death sparked widespread protests, riots, and looting episodes that rocked major cities throughout the country and amplified calls to restrict law enforcement funding and reform police departments.
