After third night of protests in Lexington, few reports of property damage occur
After another night of protest throughout downtown Lexington, there were few reports of damage, police said.
A rock was thrown through a window at 271 West Main Street and the front ticket office at the Kentucky Theatre was damaged after something was thrown at it, Lexington Police Lt. Jeremy Tuttle said. The managers of both buildings blamed the broken glass on people who were not associated with the main protest.
No arrests were made related to Sunday night’s protest, Tuttle said.
Fred Mills, manager of the Kentucky Theatre, said he was told that three or four teenagers had thrown a brick through the glass of the theater’s front box office. City government officials notified Mills of the damage at about 3:15 a.m. He said whoever they were were “caught up in the moment” and had splintered off from the main protest.
Movie theaters were allowed to reopen Monday after months of a pandemic-enforced hiatus. Mills said the Kentucky Theatre planned to get the glass replaced and reopen as planned.
The window at 271 West Main Street was smashed by a rock at about 1:45 a.m., said Kevin Ebbitt, who lives in and manages the building that was struck. After he heard the glass smash, he said he ran outside to find a red pickup truck with about a dozen of what looked to be teenagers.
Ebbitt said they didn’t appear to be a part of the protest — which he praised as “exceptionally peaceful and organized.”
The truck left the scene, but Ebbitt said he later found it elsewhere downtown stopped by officers. He said he told officers what occurred, but the police elected to let the truck leave after getting the names and information of those inside because Ebbitt lacked video evidence at the time.
He said he now has video of the incident from a security camera on his building as well as from others downtown and plans to turn the footage over to the police. Ebbitt said he wasn’t looking for harsh punishment, just for someone to pay for a new window.
Protesters, calling for an end to police violence, took over downtown Lexington streets for the third night in a row on Sunday. The crowd was the largest yet to protest in response to the recent deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. The protesters largely dispersed after 10:45 p.m. with some staying behind well after midnight, chanting and holding signs near the courthouse.
Some police kneeled with the protesters when asked by the crowd, while others prayed with officers. Lexington’s protests have remained peaceful and police have not reacted with tear gas, pepper spray and other crowd dispersal tactics used by law enforcement in other cities.
Taylor was shot and killed by police inside her Louisville apartment. Floyd died when a police officer in Minneapolis pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes. Both Floyd and Taylor were black and unarmed. Their deaths have sparked nationwide protests, some of which have turned chaotic, resulting in injuries to protesters, police and journalists along with mass property damage.
This story was originally published June 1, 2020 at 9:30 AM.