Protesters gather at Sumter Police Department in response to George Floyd death

Posted

UPDATE: Sunday,  7 p.m. --The Sumter Item has been on scene for a couple hours at a protest in front of the police department. After a tense moment with a small portion of protesters, the group has remained peaceful and is now being escorted by police on a march downtown. A full story on Sunday's protest will be posted soon.

---

As protests turned violent in Columbia and hundreds gathered in Charleston, a handful of people gathered in front of the Sumter Police Department on Saturday afternoon to protest the death of George Floyd and police killings of unarmed black Americans.

About 20 people stood in front of the city police headquarters on North Lafayette Road amid officers on scene as protesters held signs and chanted. Some had water bottles available to those gathered.

“We understand people’s concerns related to the tragic death of George Floyd in Minnesota, and we agree the measures taken were not appropriate,” Chief Russell Roark said. “While we understand the public’s need to express themselves at this time, we will continue to be mindful of people’s rights to be safe within their community.”

Tonyia McGirt, public information officer for the police department, said community organizers are planning to do the same Sunday evening. A rumor that a police car burned in Sumter was false.

Floyd died on May 25 in Minneapolis while being handcuffed and pleading for air as a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. The incident was caught on camera by bystanders, and the officer, Derek Chauvin, was arrested four days later and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

While Sumter’s protest Saturday remained peaceful, four officers in Columbia were hurt, one seriously, Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook said at a news conference.

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said deputies fired rubber bullets into a crowd that was attacking officers trying to save people who he said were being attacked by a mob, according to The Associated Press.

AP reported WIS television reporter Miranda Parnell was injured by rocks thrown amid protests outside the Columbia Police Department.

WIS anchor Judi Gatson tweeted that Parnell said “a person wearing a MAGA hat showed up at the rally, protestors confronted that person & then rocks were thrown ... one of them hitting Miranda."

Parnell told The Associated Press that everything started peacefully until the crowd gathered in front of the city’s police department.

“They began throwing water bottles and sandwiches ... and as we were walking away, someone in a red hat showed up and protesters began chasing that person down. A new police line formed, and some protesters began throwing rocks. I got caught in the cross-fire,” she said.

“I was dazed at first,” she recalled to AP. “I remember people asking me if I was OK and I kept saying ‘I think so. I don’t know.’ But then I felt blood running down my face and it had drenched my shirt and my cellphone and that’s when I went to the hospital,” Parnell said.

Parnell told AP doctors told her she was lucky because the rock missed a major artery and she wouldn’t need stitches.

“I know people are upset for a reason,” she said. “That’s something that can’t be ignored, and I wanted to tell the story. I don’t want the message they’ve been trying to tell to get lost because I got hit. The vast majority of them just want justice and equality and that’s what they should take home in the end.”

Several hundred people participated in the demonstration, tearing down the U.S. and state flags in front of the police department’s headquarters. They also swarmed a Columbia police car, breaking its windows, also jumping on the hood and roof of a police SUV.

At least two police cars were burned, as well as cars in at least one downtown parking garage. In the city's commercial district known as the Vista, windows at bars, stores and a popular restaurant were shattered.

There was no immediate word on whether arrests occurred.

Mayor Steve Benjamin issued a curfew that remains in effect for the city's downtown area until 6 a.m. Monday. Columbia officials said it appears many of the protesters breaking laws and causing violence were from out of town.

In Charleston, hundreds participated in protests throughout the historic coastal city, flooding onto Interstate 26, defacing a Confederate statue near The Battery along the peninsula's southern edge and flipping tables in the historic market area. Charleston Police Chief Luther Reynolds said officers were working to arrest a small group who “have no interest in peaceful protest.”

A curfew was set to go into effect in Charleston County at 11 p.m.