U.S protesters should not have to fear death
Lee Keltner — a Denver- area hat maker who created art with his custom- ordered products — was shot and killed in downtown Denver while attending a rally to support the police and after a physical altercation with an armed man providing security for a television producer. Keltner’s death, like several across the U. S. that have occurred during protests since the death of George Floyd, is a tragedy.
Americans must find ways to gather and express their views, to be vocal and passionate, and to also be peaceful and non- violent.
And we are sure all Americans can agree that no one deserves to die for getting in a verbal or physical fight, spraying mace, resisting arrest, grabbing a police officer’s spent Taser, serving this country as a police officer, or exercising the right to peacefully assemble.
We do not pretend to know what transpired before or after Keltner was shot; we are waiting for additional information from the police investigation. An attorney representing Dolloff’s family said that Dolloff was protecting a journalist and acted in self- defense.
Just like thousands of others, we’ve seen the photos that Denver Post photographer Helen Richardson captured showing the moments before and after Keltner was shot. It need not be said that Richardson displayed incredible bravery and dedication to her role as a journalist capturing these moments of strife and division in America.
We know from Richardson’s photos that Keltner slaped Dolloff. Dolloff appears in another photo to be reaching for his gun. Then another image shows Keltner spraying a cloud of pepper spray as Dolloff fires his gun. ( The photo captures a shell casing in the air.) Keltner was killed and police arrested Dolloff.
Dolloff had been hired as a security guard to accompany a 9News producer who was covering the protests, police and 9News have said. However, it’s unclear what company, if any, Dolloff was employed through and whether he was properly licensed to be a private security guard in Denver.
It doesn’t matter what Keltner or Dolloff thought of Black Lives Matter or police.
What matters is that one man was killed, and the Denver district attorney must determine if this was manslaughter, murder or selfdefense.
We cannot help but note the reversal of roles in this situation, and it’s possible that if Coloradans can step back from this tragedy dispassionately, they could find common ground. A man is dead who did not appear to use or threaten lethal force ( we’ll wait for the investigation to tell us whether he was unarmed or not and what words were exchanged), and the question is whether the shooting was in some way justified.
It’s a question that Americans have grappled with far too many times this year.
All of these deaths and shootings — whether it was at the hands of a police officer, a private security guard, an armed teen trying to protect private property, a protester recklessly firing a gun at a moving vehicle or anyone else — should lead us to question whether our self- defense laws are serving justice or permitting murder. Are we empowering people to protect themselves and others or are we making our public spaces unsafe with our laws?
As a society, we must look at the tragic deaths that occurred across the nation in 2020 and consider the answers to those questions. We must protect the right to assemble.