Three convicted on charges from September police protest in Conway

CONWAY — Three Black Lives Matter protesters were convicted of charges Thursday stemming from their September arrests, when they were forcibly taken down from an elevated masonry sign in front of the Police Department.

A charge against a fourth protester was dismissed by Faulkner County District Court Judge Chris Carnahan.

Gary Adams, Portia Davis, Brookelynn Mason and Ikina Kanu were arrested Sept. 21 while protesting the February death of Lionel Morris, a Black man from Conway. Morris died while in police custody after being arrested for suspected shoplifting at a grocery store.

Evan Pence, deputy city attorney, played video from police body camera footage of the day. Davis and Mason could be seen standing on top of the 3-foot-high brick sign while Adams stood on the ground in front of them, holding a sign reading, “No good cops in a racist system.”

Other protesters stood in the landscaping surrounding the sign.

In the video, police officer Angelina Loeschner asked the two women several times to step down from the sign.

After warning they would be arrested, Loescher reached up toward the women and Adams stepped in the way. He continued to physically intervene until Officer Rick Shumate pushed him to the ground.

All three protesters could be seen in the videos pulling away from officers attempting to handcuff them.

In a separate video, Kanu can be seen on the sidewalk screaming “f*** the police” repeatedly into a bullhorn before being arrested for disorderly conduct.

Defense attorney Michael Kaiser, with the Lassiter & Cassinelli law firm in Little Rock, argued Kanu’s words were protected political speech and the charges should be dismissed.

Carnahan turned to Pence and asked if this was the only charge against Kanu.

“No matter how offensive it is, it’s protected speech,” Carnahan said. “I’m going to stand with the constitution on this one.”

With a bang of his gavel, Carnahan dismissed the charges against Kanu.

Adams, who had pleaded not guilty, was taken from the courtroom in handcuffs after Carnahan found him guilty of misdemeanor criminal trespass, obstructing governmental operations and refusal to submit to arrest.

Carnahan sentenced Adams to 30 days in jail and fined him $750. Adams is appealing the conviction.

After Adams was taken from the courtroom, Kaiser had private conversations with Davis and Mason, both of whom had originally pleaded not guilty and were about to be called in front of the judge.

Both Davis and Mason changed their pleas to guilty. Carnahan fined them each $737 and found them guilty of misdemeanor criminal trespass, obstructing governmental operations and disorderly contact. The charge of refusal to submit to arrest were dropped for both Davis and Mason.

Morris died Feb. 4 after a stun gun was used on him numerous times as he ran from and struggled with officers trying to arrest him. Morris was suspected of shoplifting at the Harp’s Grocery Store at 1120 E. German Lane.

A state Crime Laboratory report Feb. 6 stated the cause of Morris’ death was “methamphetamine intoxication with exertion, struggle, restraint and conducted electrical weapon deployment.”

In a video of the incident, two officers — Hannah Fleming and Joshua Kear — can be seen approaching Morris and a woman, Brandy Arnold, in an aisle of the store.

The store’s manager found an empty drone box and called police. When approaching Morris and Arnold, officers saw an unboxed drone and a box of half-eaten catfish strips in their cart, according to arrest reports.

Morris told the officers they intended to pay for the drone, and they took it out of the box only because the box was damaged.

Arnold was handcuffed without incident, but Morris bolted and a chase ensued.

Morris can be seen struggling with Kear numerous times, even placing the officer in a chokehold and grabbing for what Conway Police Chief William Tapley said was a knife “clipped to his pocket.”

Kear was able to pull the knife away and throw it out of the way.

The stun gun was used on Morris “several more times” as he kept trying to move toward a kitchen knife hanging on a nearby store display, according to the report.

Other officers arrived and subdued Morris.

In the video, Morris yells, “I can’t breathe,” to which an officer replies, “If you can talk, you can breathe. Chill out.”

Morris repeatedly says he can’t breathe, as the officer stands with a foot on Morris’ back.

Tapley previously said the video shows Morris was placed “in the recovery position,” and treatment began for injuries he had received.

Medical help was requested before Morris was detained, Tapley said. Paramedics administered CPR. The incident lasted about 6½ minutes.

After an investigation by the Arkansas State Police, the officers involved were cleared of any criminal wrongdoing.

Tapley then initiated a professional standards investigation. Police did not release any details or actions taken as a result of the internal investigation except to confirm that no officers had been terminated.