Protester: Anti-riot plan would criminalize all
Ratlieff, who was shot by a police officer’s rubber bullet last year, says peaceful demonstrators have right to stand up for racial justice
FORT LAUDERDALE — A South Florida protester who drew national attention for being shot in the face by a cop with a rubber bullet, and who has testified before Congress seeking police reforms, is now fighting a state bill she says would criminalize peaceful demonstrators who want racial justice.
The protester, LaToya Ratlieff, on Friday revisited the site of last year’s chaotic Black Lives Matter demonstration in downtown Fort Lauderdale, in which police used tear gas and rubber bullets to tame a crowd. There, flanked by politicians who support her, Ratlieff spoke out against a “anti-riot” bill that has been championed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The governor says the bill would help Florida curb unruly mobs. If passed as written, people deemed to be rioting would face stiff felony sentences. People who run them over or shoot them also could be shielded from lawsuits.
DeSantis has pointed to the Capitol riots and said he’s trying to prevent violence regardless of race or political motives, but Black legislators have questioned the chilling effect it could pose for people protesting racial injustice.
The May 31 protest Ratlieff attended in downtown Fort Lauderdale began peacefully but
spiraled into one of the more unruly demonstrations of the summer in South Florida. A protest one day before in Miami ended with burned police cars and 44 arrests.
A violent encounter
Ratlieff was shot while fighting through tear gas and attempting to leave the scene of the protest. On Thursday, the Fort Lauderdale police cleared Detective Eliezer Ramos, the officer who shot her. The department concluded that he shot her by mistake while aiming for someone else.
Ratlieff ’s shooting gained national attention after video clips surfaced on the internet. In June, she testified before Congress about her experience and has called on the Fort Lauderdale Police Department to reform its policies.
Interim Police Chief Patrick Lynn apologized to Ratlieff in brief statements on Thursday, but did not mention any policy changes. Ratlieff called the apology very bland. “As if I had a bad dinner at a restaurant,” she said.
Over Ratlieff’s right eye was a faint scar from where a rubber bullet shattered her orbital socket. Eight months later, the wound has mostly healed, but she still visits a team of doctors and takes medication daily to sleep and function through splitting headaches.
Ratlieff blasted DeSantis for pushing a new state bill and choosing not to solve the race-related problems that led thousands to march on May 31 and instead choosing to “criminalize the First Amendment rights of Black people and those who stand with us.”
Although the Fort Lauderdale police officer who shot Ratlieff is off the hook by his department, Ratlieff said the bill would have left her potentially facing charges for the protest on May 31 if it had been law then.
“Even me, as a victim.” The bill defines a riot as being part of a “public disturbance” that involves three or more people engaging in “disorderly and violent” behavior that results in injury or damage to people and property or create “clear and present danger” to people and property.
People guilty of participating in a riot or “encouraging” the riot would be charged with a third-degree felony.
It also goes on to define “aggravated rioting” as nine or more people who, in the midst of an ongoing riot, cause great harm to a person or property damage of more than $5,000.
Rallying support
State Sen. Shevrin Jones and other local politicians joined Ratlieff as she spoke at Southeast First Avenue and Southeast Second Street, where she was shot eight months before.
Although DeSantis has used the storming of the U.S. Capitol and the need for “law and order” as a perch to justify the bill, Jones said that it has nothing to do with protesting or violence. “HB1 is not and has never been about protesting,” he said. “It’s about a party trying to control how voices are raised.”
Jasmen Rogers, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Broward Alliance, said the bill was a direct attack on “Black people, Black movement and Black outrage.”
She noted that in January, many legislators who support the bill, including DeSantis, commemorated the life work of Dr. Martin Luther King, “a man who made civil disobedience his life’s work,” Rogers said. She said that if King were alive today and HB1 were a law in Florida, he likely would be arrested for the same work he is celebrated for.
Civil rights organizations such as the Florida ACLU also have come out on the offensive. On its website, the Florida ACLU said the bill “chills speech, silences dissent and criminalizes peaceful protesters advocating for racial justice.”
Backing the bill
In September, DeSantis defended himself against critics of the bill and said he values the right to peaceful assembly.
“But throughout the country, we’ve seen that right being taken advantage of by professional agitators, bent on sowing disorder and causing mayhem in our cities,” he said.
“I will not allow this kind of violence to occur here in Florida.”
The bill has been supported by many Republicans in the state.
ItwasofficiallyfiledonJan. 6, the same day as the storming of the U.S. Capitol.
After swiftly moving through the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Subcommittee, it now sits in the Justice Appropriations Subcommittee, and many expect it to be taken up soon after state lawmakers return to Tallahassee on March 2.
Locally, police unions like the one representing Broward County sheriff’s deputies have come out in support of the bill, too.
In September, Jeff Bell, president of BSO’s union, said the current political climate forces people to choose between law and order, and anarchy, “and the vast majority of people want law and order.”
Anyone who attempts to “overthrow local government” needs to be harshly penalized, he said.