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- A
Miami Black Lives Matter protest organizer is facing felony charges
after he was accused of stealing flags from a car during a "Cubans for
Trump" caravan.
- Jonathan Gartrelle is being charged with
two felonies; strong-arm robbery and escape, as well as misdemeanor
counts of resisting an officer without violence and obstructing a public
street, according to the Miami Herald.
- Gartelle
told the Miami Herald that the charges were "overblown," adding, "Their
goal is to have me in jail for two weeks, get beaten up by some
officers, and distract from the movement."
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A
Miami protester is accused of stealing flags from a car during a
pro-Trump caravan event that occurred last Saturday, according to
The Miami Herald.
According
to a police report obtained by Insider, Jonathan Gartrelle, a Black
Lives Matter organizer in Miami, is charged with two felonies:
strong-arm robbery and escape. He is also charged with resisting an
officer, obstructing a public street, and criminal mischief.
At a "Cubans for Trump" caravan, an event planned to "
support police and law and order,"
an officer observed Gartrelle preventing traffic on the road, the
report from the Miami Police Department said. The officer also saw
Gartrelle "removing flags fixed to passing vehicles, damaging them and
discarding them in the roadway," the report said.
The
officer then tried to arrest Gartrelle, but he was able to escape,
according to the police. The officer said Gartelle removed his garments
to disguise himself in the crowd of protestors.
According to the
police report, a witness who was in the passenger seat of a white
vehicle was able to identify Gartrelle to the police and said a flag was
"ripped" from their hand as it was waved out of the passenger side
window. The witness stated that Gartelle "attacked them for no reason,"
the report said.
Gartrelle was arrested on Monday after he was identified due to his
posts on Instagram, where he provided commentary on the incidents. Gartrelle also
posted about organizing a rally in front of the Miami Police Department to demand an investigation into a "possibly fatal hit-and-run."
At
the event on Saturday, Gartrelle had told an officer on scene that he
had been hit by a vehicle during the caravan event after he walked in
front of it. But according to the police report, Gartrelle didn't "want
to do anything" after disclosing the incident.
Gartrelle did not want to press charges, a spokeswoman for the Miami police, Kiara Delva, told the Miami Herald.
However, since the incident, he has been demanding justice.
On Monday, Gartrelle was spotted and arrested before the rally, according to a
petition
demanding the police "investigate the assailants who attempted to harm
him immediately." The petition is also demanding the officers involved
to be held accountable for his "unlawful targeting and arrest."
According
to the police report, officers who attempted to arrest Gartrelle had
previously come in contact with him "since the first protests began on
May 30, 2020 and multiple protests the defendant attended thereafter."
According to the Miami Herald, Gartrelle was released on bond Tuesday.
Gartrelle
told the newspaper that the charges against him were "overblown,"
saying he took two flags from parked cars and threw them on the ground,
but did not steal them.
"Their goal is to have me in jail for two
weeks, get beaten up by some officers, and distract from the movement,"
Gartrelle said, according to the outlet.
Jonathan Gartrelle did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
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