Police chief details emotional rescue amid Richmond riot
From WWW.WTVR.COM
RICHMOND, Va. -- Protestors blocked a fire truck from responding to a burning home early Sunday morning in Richmond, according to Richmond Police Chief Will Smith.
“Protesters intentionally set a fire to an occupied building on Broad Street. This is not the only occupied building that has been set fire to over the last two days. But they prohibited us from getting on scene,” Smith said. “We had to force our way to make a clear path for the fire department. Protestors intercepted that fire apparatus several blocks away with vehicles and blocked that fire department’s access to the structure fire. Inside that home was a child.”
Smith’s voice filled with emotion as he recounted the event during a Sunday morning press conference.
“Officers were able to help those people out of the house. We were able to get the fire department there safely,” he said before pausing to regain his composure. ”When you take a legitimate issue and hijack it for unknown reasons, that is unacceptable to me. It's unacceptable to the Richmond Police Department and unacceptable to the City of Richmond.”
The fire that Chief Smith detailed was reported along the 300 block of West Broad Street early Sunday morning.
The hijacking to which Chief Smith referred was the actions of protestors whose behavior went beyond the peaceful protests organized following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
“We have people from across the country who have traveled many states to be here. We know that this is an organized effort,” Chief Smith said. “We're c... (Read more)
Submitted 1418 days ago
Latest News
