$1M bail set for protesters decried as `blatantly unconstitutional'

Bail was set Tuesday at $1 million for several protesters arrested during demonstrations against a fatal police shooting in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a move decried by many including the state' s lieutenant governor, who called it “blatantly unconstitutional.”

Lancaster police arrested 12 adults and one juvenile after about 100 people gathered outside the city's police station Sunday following the police killing of Ricardo Munoz, 27, who authorities say chased an officer with a knife. Police said the demonstration devolved into a riot that caused damage to the station, vandalism to local businesses and a small fire, and officers used “chemical munitions” to disperse the crowd.

At least seven of them were held on $ 1 million bail, according to police.

The adults face charges including conspiracy to commit ar son, riot, institutional vandalism and disorderly conduct. One has been charged with carrying a concealed weapon without a permit. The 13 defendants range from 16 to 43 years old and live in Lancaster and surrounding communities.

The father of Kathryn

Patterson ,20, an undergraduate student at Franklin& Marshall College in Lancaster, told the Associated Press she was acting as a medic, as she has at other recent protests. Chip Patterson called his daughter's $ 1 million bail, set by a magisterial district justice, “obscene.”

“Everything that I know so far, which is not a lot, indicates that Kat is not guilty of those charges. But then again, we'll have to wait and see,” said Chip Patterson, who lives in Mercersburg, about 100 miles west of Lancaster.

He said he has not been able to reach his daughter since her arrest.