No charges for private security guard who shoved woman at Rapid City protest
Rapid City SD June 16 2020
The Rapid City Police Department says it’s decided not to charge a private security guard who shoved a woman at a recent protest after the woman eventually decided not to press charges.
“It looked like there was a criminal offense that did happen but in working with the victim she ultimately declined further prosecution based on the circumstances that came about” said spokesman Brendyn Medina. “This is the outcome that she wishes.”
Medina would not say what those circumstances were or if the guard was fired. The Journal could not reach the woman in the video and Mountain States Security — whose badge matches the one worn by the guard — did not return messages.
A video of the June 12 altercation at the corner of 6th and St. Joseph streets was captured by a Black Lives Matter protester who sent it to Chynna Lockett, a reporter with South Dakota Public Broadcasting.
Lockett posted the video on Facebook and wrote that the protester told her the guard had approached the protesters because he was upset about one of their flags, possibly an upside-down one. The protester said the woman — a mother of one of the young protesters — put herself between the man and the group in order to defuse the situation
The 45-second video begins by showing the woman stretching her arms out and placing herself between the guard and the protesters. Her back is toward the guard.
The guard asks a protester if he’s ever contributed to the military before calling him a “young punk” and telling him that he served 43 years in the military.
The man then says “get the (expletive) out of here” as he uses both arms to shove the woman away. The woman stumbles but then gets between the guard and the group again, this time placing one hand on the guard’s chest.
“Leave the kids alone,” the woman tells the man before a police officer arrives by bicycle.
A man and woman seen walking across the street arrive and the woman yelled “he did not push you,” at the mother. “Yes he did, I got it on camera,” a protester responds.
The guard, man and woman are then seen walking away from the protesters, who chant “Black lives matter.” The man and some protesters yelled at each other but it’s unclear what they’re saying.
Medina said police began investigating the incident after the woman told police she wanted to press charges.
He said officers believed the shove constituted disorderly conduct but did not forward the case to the state’s attorney after the woman said she no longer wanted to file charges.
Disorderly conduct, a Class 2 misdemeanor punished by up to 30 days in jail, is the same crime five protesters were arrested for on June 2. Two of the protesters — ages 18 and 19 — were charged after lying down on the road while three others — ages 15, 16 and 41 — were charged after allegedly entering a road to try to block vehicles that had a green light.
The Journal asked Medina why a group of non-violent and mostly young protesters were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct while an adult man who pushed a woman was not.
Medina said the protesters were arrested because they were “posing an immediate danger to public safety and their behavior needed to be stopped at that moment.”
He said the officer who responded to the latter scene felt the public safety situation had been resolved by getting the guard to leave. Medina said the officer would have pressed charges if the woman had asked him to at the time, but she only approached the police department later.
“Every circumstance is different” Medina said when asked how the department decides whether to press charges in cases where the victim doesn’t want to cooperate but there there is strong video or other kind of evidence.
