‘Back the Blue’ rally slated for Saturday

Chattanooga area community members are hosting a “Back the Blue” rally Saturday afternoon to show support for local law enforcement.

Donny Case, the rally’s organizer, said he came up with the idea because officers locally and around the nation seemed to be getting the majority of the criticism when it came to law enforcement.

“There’s a lot of anger for law enforcement based on the media,” he said. “The working class, the silent majority, understand that law enforcement are out there trying to do a job.”

Case said he wanted to show support for the majority of the police officers and others in the line of duty who are good people and who truly want to protect the communities they serve.

“We know, the people supporting them and who will be out there, the vast majority of these officers are out there putting their lives at risk to do a job that most of us wouldn’t do,” Case said. “They’re all being condemned because

one officer or two officers [did] something inappropriate? Do you have some bad ones? Yes, you do. But you have far more good ones out there than you have bad.”

On Tuesday, Hamilton County District Attorney General Neal Pinkston released dashboard camera footage showing five Hamilton County sheriff’s deputies beating a

Black man in Ooltewah.

Four of the five deputies separately were involved in prior cases of alleged brutality, including at least two beatings and a deadly shooting.

Case said he wants to shed light on the positive work law enforcement does in the community.

The event starts at 2:30 p.m. at the Police Services Center on Amnicola Highway.