This story has been updated with new information.
Most of the more than a dozen people arrested during a demonstration on the John A. Roebling Bridge had their felony charges dismissed, with many pleading guilty to misdemeanors in exchange for no jail time.
The pleas came during July 23 preliminary hearings in a packed courtroom in Kenton County District Court. The 15 people arrested by Covington police during the July 17 protest are:
The 15 were charged with felony rioting and various misdemeanors, including unlawful assembly, failure to disperse, obstructing a highway, obstructing emergency responders, criminal mischief, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. The felony carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Seven of those charged pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and prosecutors moved to dismiss their felony counts. They were sentenced to time served for those offenses.
Murphy was one of the defendants who pleaded guilty and admitted to shouting insults at the protesters marching across the bridge. In a criminal citation, police said Murphy shouted racial slurs at a “hostile group of protesters” while riding a bicycle on the bridge walkway.
Fening and Griffith, journalists with CityBeat, were arrested while reporting on the demonstration. Their felony rioting charges were dismissed with prejudice, meaning the charges can’t be refiled; however, they have ongoing charges in misdemeanor court.
Bratt and Babcock also had their felonies dismissed, but likewise have ongoing misdemeanors.
Hill, Imber, Marshall and Alkayali had their cases referred to a grand jury, which will decide whether they face prosecutions for felony rioting in Kenton County Circuit Court. Grand jury proceedings are not open to the public.
Judge Ken Easterling found insufficient probable cause for a criminal mischief charge against Hill, whose struggle with a Covington police officer was recorded on video.
While defense attorneys attempted to argue that the demonstrators’ conduct did not rise to the state’s legal definition of a riot, the judge disagreed.
“This is a riot,” Easterling said.
Covington police said the arrests came after people “obstructed traffic and created safety concerns for both demonstrators and the public.”
Officers responded during a rally held in support of Imam Ayman Soliman, an Egyptian immigrant and former Cincinnati Children’s chaplain, whom ICE detained July 9.
After the rally began in Cincinnati, around 100 people crossed the Roebling Bridge, heading toward Covington shortly after 8 p.m., according to police.
Officers issued a “lawful order to disperse” via a loudspeaker and advised the demonstrators gathered on the bridge that failing to comply would result in arrests, the criminal citations state.
Multiple other Northern Kentucky law enforcement agencies responded to the bridge after the protest “devolved into chaos,” making officers fear for their safety, police said in court filings. Covington Police Chief Brian Valenti previously said around 40 to 50 police officers responded and several were treated for minor injuries at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital.
In videos from the scene, police officers are seen restraining people on the ground and making arrests as dozens of people march across the bridge from Cincinnati. One video shows officer Zachary Stayton striking Hill while trying to arrest him.
Organizers said that police responded to the protest with “inappropriate force.”
Hill, who appeared in court in a dress shirt with his arm in a sling, is accused of trying to disarm an officer of their pepperball launcher, taking a “fighting stance” toward police and resisting arrest by holding onto the bridge’s railing.
Hill told The Enquirer he wasn’t reaching for Stayton’s gun and had no intention to disarm him. Hill said he did not hear orders to disperse, but saw someone to his right getting arrested and went over to make sure they were OK.
“Suddenly, I had a gun in my face and he was firing,” Hill said of the pepperball launcher. “I wanted to remove myself from the situation.”
Hill is seen in a cell phone video obtained by The Enquirer making contact with Stayton’s pepper ball gun and then heading toward the sidewalk of the bridge. Hill said Stayton fired pepper balls at him as he got off the road.
The video shows Hill holding onto the bridge railing as Stayton tries to place him under arrest. A few seconds later, Stayton begins striking Hill to get him to comply. Hill is then brought to the ground and placed under arrest.
“Bridges are bridges and we have a dead officer in Covington,” Easterling said of the dangers of police responses on bridges, referencing a 1998 incident in which a Covington police officer died after falling off the bridge.
Stayton has been placed on administrative duty while the department investigates his altercation on the bridge with Hill, one of the protesters facing felony charges.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Most felony charges dropped in ICE protest arrests on Roebling Bridge; some cases continue
Reporting by Quinlan Bentley and David Ferrara, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
