Officials sued over vigilantes at protest
Suit: Law enforcement ratified men’s actions
The estate of a man fatally shot by Kyle Rittenhouse during protests in Kenosha last year is blaming authorities for allowing the situation to evolve to its deadly conclusion, motivated by racism and retaliation against protesters.
Anthony Huber, 26, had struck Rittenhouse with a skateboard just before Rittenhouse fatally shot him while seated in the middle of Sheridan Road late on Aug. 25, the third night of violence following the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday calls Huber a hero who was trying to disarm Rittenhouse after he had already killed Joseph Rosenbaum about a block away and shot at an unidentified man who had kicked him.
But the suit isn’t against Rittenhouse. It names the city and county of Kenosha, the sheriff, the acting and former police chiefs, and unnamed officers and deputies. It accuses them of racial animus in allowing dozens of armed white people to remain among protesters, leading to conditions that resulted in Huber’s death.
“The police are supposed to serve and protect,” Anthony’s father, John Huber, said in a statement, “but that’s not what the Kenosha police did. They walked away from their duties and turned over the streets of Kenosha to Kyle Rittenhouse and other armed vigilantes. If they had done their job, my son would still be alive today.”
Huber is a listed plaintiff in the suit individually and as the personal representative of his son’s estate.
Samuel Hall, an attorney for Kenosha County, released a statement in response to the suit.
“While we understand that the family of Anthony Huber is grieving his loss,” the statement reads, “we must make it clear that the allegations against Sheriff Beth and the Kenosha Sheriff ’s Office are demonstrably false and that the facts will show that Mr. Huber’s death was not caused by any actions or inactions of Kenosha County law enforcement.”
The lawsuit accuses the defendants of inviting, deputizing, conspiring with and ratifying the actions of the armed men, all as part of — according to the complaint — a systemic pattern and practice of racism within the departments, that would have prompted a drastically different reaction had
Rittenhouse been Black.
It alleges law enforcement knew a Facebook call to arms by former Kenosha alderman Kevin Matthewson had some 3,000 responses, and, rather than try to dissuade attendance, essentially welcomed them. It notes that while officers were moving protesters south along Sheridan Road, they stopped and offered water and appreciation to several armed white men, including Rittenhouse.
The suit states that officers never stopped, questioned or disarmed Rittenhouse, either before or after the shootings, “despite his obviously tender age.” Rittenhouse was 17 at the time.
The suit lists 14 claims, including wrongful death to First Amendment retaliation, negligent hiring, supervision and training, failure to intervene, intentional infliction of emotional distress and others. It seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
Huber’s estate is represented by Anand Swaminathan and other lawyers from Loevy & Loevy, a Chicago law firm that has brought many civil rights cases against law enforcement agencies in Wisconsin and around the country.