Number 7 Luther Hall
From September to November of 2017, a series of protests took place in St. Louis, Missouri,
sparked by the acquittal of former local officer Jason Stockley in the 2011 shooting of 24-year-old
Anthony Lamar Smith. As the anti-police violence and racial injustice demonstrations
unfolded, several white police officers were involved, to varying degrees,
in the brutal beating of a black man whom they thought had taken part in the protests. However,
it would later emerge that the man they’d assaulted was actually an undercover colleague of
theirs named Luther Hall. He’d reportedly been attending the demonstrations in plain clothes
with the objective of monitoring criminal activity. Hall required multiple surgeries
after the beating, the circumstances of which he described to a jury as a “free for all”,
adding “I couldn't believe it was happening”. A photo of him with a severely swollen mouth
was widely shared online in the aftermath. The beating reportedly left him with permanent damage,
as he required spinal fusion surgery to his back, and he ultimately settled a lawsuit against the
police for $5 million. Three of those involved in assaulting the undercover officer, named as Bailey
Colletta, Randy Hays and David Boone, were banned from working in Missouri law enforcement. Of them,
Hays was sentenced to more than 4 years in prison after pleading guilty to using excessive force in
2019. He admitted to striking Hall with his baton and pushing him to the ground. In 2022, another
former officer, Christopher Myers, was given a year of probation after pleading guilty, under
a deal, to a federal misdemeanor charge resulting from him damaging Hall’s cell phone in the melee.
Number 6 Nicholas D. Kraus In the Uptown area of Minneapolis, in mid-June
of 2021, demonstrators had gathered to protest a recent police shooting. At one point during the
gathering, St. Paul man Nicholas Kraus drove his SUV into the demonstrating crowd. Witnesses from
the scene reported that 35-year-old Kraus had accelerated to an estimated 100 mph,
before he crashed through barriers that had been set up by protesters to block off Lake
Street. Minneapolis resident Deona M. Knajdek, aged 31, was left in critical condition and
later passed away at a hospital after the force of the impact had launched her own car into her
body. Three other demonstrators, whose identities weren’t released, were injured. Chaos ensued as a
group pulled Kraus from the badly damaged vehicle and forcefully detained him, with the altercation
captured on cellphone video. As blood streamed from Kraus’s forehead, he was put in a chokehold
and hauled off by a man at the scene, with a number of those present, including the cameraman,
remarking upon the delayed police response. The incident reignited the gathering’s preexisting
racial tensions as Kraus, a white man, had plowed his vehicle into a group that was protesting
the police’s treatment of the African- American community. After Kraus was eventually taken into
police custody, his trial date for second-degree intentional murder and associated charges
was set for March the 21st of 2022. While there was speculation that he’d driven into the crowd
intentionally, the authorities preliminarily found that Kraus had been intoxicated
and not politically motivated. He admitted to have accelerated as he approached the
protesters but claimed he’d thought himself able to perform a Dukes-of-Hazard-style jump over them.
Among other illogical assertions made to officers was that his name was Jesus Christ and that he’d
been on his way to the Super Bowl. Kraus was also driving without a license which had been
suspended due to multiple DWI offences. Number 5 Mariella Gedge-Rogers
In March of 2022, Bristol woman Mariella Gedge-Rogers, aged 27,
was jailed for five and a half years following her actions during a Kill the Bill protest held
the prior year. Protesters had clashed with law enforcement in Bristol and other areas of the UK,
as they reacted to a proposed law that gave police new powers to restrict or even ban demonstrations.
During Gedge-Rogers’ trial, cellphone, CCTV and body-cam footage was presented. It showed her
repeatedly striking the front window of a Bristol police station with her skateboard as well as
using said skateboard to hit an officer in the head. Gedge-Rogers and others were also captured
on video while throwing improvised missiles at other officers from the roof of a police station.
The woman, who during her legal proceedings expressed remorse for her violent behavior,
will be expected to serve half her sentence in custody and the other half on license.
Number 4 Emily Ratajkowski In October of 2018, supermodel
Emily Ratajkowski was arrested alongside comedian Amy Schumer as they were protesting the nomination
of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. The two celebrities were escorted by officers outside the
Hart Senate Office building on Capitol Hill, in Washington DC, and joined over 300 protesters
taken into custody by Capitol Police over the course of the demonstration. Ratajkowski later
confirmed her arrest on Twitter and shared a photo on the social media platform of her holding up a
sign that read “respect female existence or expect our resistance." The 27-year-old and Schumer,
aged 37, had reportedly met while starring alongside each other in the latter’s movie
“I Feel Pretty” and connected over their shared women’s rights activism. As footage from the
protest began circulating online, a video was shared of Schumer replying with a swift “yes”
upon being cautioned with an imminent arrest by an officer at the scene. The
protest against Kavanaugh stemmed from him being accused of assault by multiple women
and one of its objectives was to press the FBI for further investigation into the matter.
Number 3 Luka Safronov-Zatravkin In March of 2022, in the wake of
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which had commenced on February the 24th, a wave of international
sanctions were imposed on the former. As a plethora of anti-war protests erupted all over the
world and Europe dealt with its largest refugee crisis in over 25 years, one Russian citizen
staged a one man protest against the closing of his favorite restaurant. As an increasing
number of businesses had ceased their dealings with Russia, the McDonald’s corporation stated
an intention of doing the same and announced a temporary suspension of activity for all of
its 850 locations in the country. A viral video would show pianist Luka Safronov-Zatravkin, son
of famous artist Lukas Safronov, as he protested against the measure by handcuffing himself to the
entrance of a McDonald’s restaurant in Moscow. He was quoted as saying “It was my way of life, it
was my freedom…they decided that they could limit me”. Safronov-Zatravkin was taken into custody by
police in riot gear and was reportedly fined but no update has been made available on his charges.
Today's topic was requested by Duvmasta, O o Suq-Madiq, Brett O’Neal and Misty Southard.
If you have any other topics you'd like to learn about, subscribe & let us know in the
comments section below. Number 2 Brandy Knightly
On February the 19th of 2022, activist Brandy Knightly was attending a protest in Normandale
Park, Portland, organized by the Black Lives Matter movement. 60-year-old Knightly, who was
known as T-Rex, had been an activist for decades and was attending the march meant to commemorate
Patrick Kimmons, a black man shot and killed by Portland Police in 2018, as well as Minneapolis
shooting victim Amir Locke. Knightly was a cancer survivor who at the time was using a cane
to get around as she’d been awaiting surgery to have her knee replaced. During the protest,
she was “corking”, an activity she’d done before and which entailed her blocking traffic along
the route to ensure the safe passage of other protesters. As the demonstration progressed,
she and her group were approached by 43-year-old machinist Benjamin Jeffrey Smith,
who lived across from the park. He began yelling profanities at the demonstrators, demanding
that they leave the area. Within minutes, the man brandished a .45 caliber handgun and opened fire
on the crowd. A bullet shot at point blank range hit Knightly in the head, killing her on the spot.
At least four other people sustained gunshot injuries, one of whom was later reported as
being left paralyzed from the neck down. Smith himself was then shot as a male protester,
whose identity wasn’t released, returned fire. Smith was taken to a hospital in severe condition,
in which he remained as of the latest information released to the media. Based on what investigators
gathered from the man’s online activity, he was opposed to the views held by BLM and had grown
frustrated with protests held in his neighborhood. Smith was also part of the Internet-entrenched
furry community, a subculture that enjoys dressing up as anthropomorphized animals,
and his “fursona” was known as Polybun. He’d allegedly expressed a desire for violent action
on furry-associated forums as well. In connection to the shooting, prosecutors had released a
warrant for his arrest on charges that included second-degree murder and attempted murder.
Number 1 Micah Xavier Johnson On July the 7th of 2016, protests unfolded
in Dallas, Texas, after the successive police killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile,
which had occurred in Louisiana and Minnesota on the 5th and 6th of the month, respectively. What
followed during the demonstrations was reported as the deadliest attack on US law enforcement since
2001. It took place on the streets and buildings around El Centro College and was carried out
by Army Reserve Afghan War veteran Micah Xavier Johnson, aged 25. After parking his SUV sideways
in front of the college’s east entrance, Johnson opened fire with a rifle on groups
of police officers and protesters who’d gathered on Main Street. Three Dallas Police Department
officers were killed in the initial shooting while at least three others and a civilian
sustained injuries. Nearly a dozen members of law enforcement returned fire but couldn’t immediately
identify the source of the shots. As Johnson moved north on Lamar Street, he encountered 47-year-old
Dallas Area Rapid Transit Officer Brent Thompson, a former enlisted Marine. A video of the encounter
was captured by a civilian from a nearby balcony and showed Johnson, who was clad in tactical gear,
engaging Thompson in a gunfight. The latter took cover behind a concrete pillar. Johnson
fired towards one side of the pillar, misdirecting Thompson and prompting him to return fire on the
same side. As the officer did so, Johnson flanked him and shot him from behind, multiple times,
at point blank range. He wounded two more officers while making his way into El Centro College but
eventually came to a dead end on the upper levels, as he reached windows looking down on Elm Street.
From the vantage point, he shot and killed 55-year-old DPD Officer Michael Smith,
a former Army Ranger, as he was standing in front of a 7-Eleven. The police sealed off
escape routes and a standoff between Johnson and a SWAT team ensued, during which at least 200
gunshots were exchanged. Negotiations failed, with Johnson reportedly claiming he’d only talk to
Black officers and taunting the police by asking how many of them he’d killed. The authorities
ultimately sent a bomb disposal remote control vehicle loaded with 1 pound of C-4 explosive. It
moved against a wall facing Johnson and detonated, marking the first time that US law enforcement
had used a robot to kill a perpetrator. Allegedly enraged by the recent racially-charged shootings,
Johnson, a black man, had reportedly "stated he wanted to kill white people,
especially white officers." Five officers were killed and
nine were injured, along with two civilians, in the wake of his rampage.
Thanks for watching! What would you make illegal for a day if you had full control
over the law in your country/state? Let us know in the comments section below!