Houston Texans wide receiver Kenny Stills and Real Housewives star Porsha Williams were both arrested during a Breonna Taylor protest in Kentucky. They initially faced charges of felony intimidating a participant in a legal process and two lesser misdemeanors, but the situation recently changed. Stills and Williams are no longer facing felony charges.
According to TMZ, Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell said he is dropping the felony charges for all 87 people arrested on Tuesday. He said that the change is effective immediately. However, he did not drop all of the charges. O’Connell noted misdemeanors are still in play and will address them at a later date.
Videos by PopCulture.com
“After careful review of the law, I am dismissing the felony charge of Intimidating a Participant in the Legal Process against the protestors arrested on Attorney General Cameron’s property on July 14, 2020,” O’Connell said. “While we do believe the LMPD had probable cause for the charge, in the interest of justice and the promotion of the free exchange of ideas, we will dismiss that charge for each protestor arrested this past Tuesday. We continue to review the misdemeanors and violations for the prosecution at a later date.”
The protest occurred on Tuesday at the home of Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron. Stills, Williams, and 85 other people were protesting over the death of Breonna Taylor, who was shot and killed by police in March. The protest was one of many in the area due to Cameron not charging the officers who shot Taylor.
The incident happened on March 13. Plainclothes officers serving a no-knock search warrant for drugs, shot Taylor, a 26-year-old Black emergency medical technician, eight times in her apartment. The police found no drugs during the incident, which led to Taylor’s family filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the police.
Louisville Metro Police spokesman Lamont Washington told local media Stills, and the other protesters had a chance to leave Cameron’s home before they were arrested. He said in a statement they were arrested “due to their refusal to leave the property and their attempts to influence the decision of the Attorney General with their actions.” Stills also released a statement saying that he was arrested for peacefully protesting. “While Breonnas Taylor’s murderers are still out on the street.”
Cameron told the Associated Press that he respected O’Connell’s decision to drop the felony charges. “It certainly was surreal to see folks sitting in my front yard with the express purpose of escalating the situation,” Cameron said during an interview. He also told AP that he has no timeline for when his office will conclude its investigation into Taylor’s death.
