Culture

Attica Scott, Kentucky state rep, charged with felony rioting: 'You can't stop the revolution'



Kentucky state Rep. Attica Scott was arrested and charged with felony rioting Thursday night during a second night of violent protests sparked by the grand jury decision in the Breonna Taylor case.

Louisville Metro Police Department investigators said Ms. Scott, a freshman Democrat, was part of a group who caused property damage to multiple locations and tried to start a fire in the Louisville Free Public Library’s downtown branch.

Ms. Scott, the state’s only Black female legislator, told The Courier Journal following her release from jail Friday that she is “disgusted and offended” by the allegations.

“The main library is in my District 41 — what I have done nothing but fight for in Frankfort and try to get funding for — and you’re going to accuse me of trying to set fire to it?” she asked. “That’s ridiculous. It’s absurd.”

Ms. Scott was livestreaming video as she was arrested outside of a church in downtown Louisville that was offering sanctuary to protesters during the city’s 9 p.m. curfew, The Courier Journal reported. She said she didn’t see anyone commit the crimes police had alleged and even suggested that police officers could have started the fire themselves.

Ms. Scott said she was arrested “two minutes before curfew” as she was trying to make her way to the church.

In addition to first-degree rioting, Ms. Scott is charged with two misdemeanor counts of unlawful assembly and failure to disperse, The Courier Journal reported.

Her daughter, Ashanti Scott, was also arrested and faces the same charges as her mother. They were both released from the Jefferson County Corrections jail Friday morning.

The older Scott is scheduled to be arraigned on Oct. 6. If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison, The Courier Journal reported.

She said she plans to take to streets again Friday to protest the grand jury’s decision this week that declined to indict any police officers in the fatal March shooting of Taylor, a Black woman.

“We will be back out here later on today,” Ms. Scott told The Courier Journal. “You can’t stop the revolution, you can’t stop the movement for justice for Breonna Taylor.”

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