Tennessee man was ‘confrontational’ with Lexington officers after protest, police say
After Tuesday night’s protests in downtown Lexington, a Tennessee man became confrontational with officers and was eventually taken into custody, police said.
Arterio Lorenzo Holman, 43, was charged with disorderly conduct and terroristic threatening Wednesday morning, said Brenna Angel, a police spokeswoman. Just before 2 a.m., after the protest had ended, an officer saw Holman and a woman continuing to stand in the road and impede traffic at Main Street and North Broadway, Angel said.
The woman got out of the road, but Holman refused to leave, police said. The officer tried to de-escalate the situation, Angel said. Other officers arrived on scene, but Holman “attempted to instigate a physical confrontation and threatened to assault officers,” Angel said.
Holman spoke to FOX 56 after his release and told them he refused to leave and the incident “got physical.”
“I did tell one of [the officers] I’d whoop his — but that’s — I will,” Holman said. “But it wasn’t a threat. It was a promise.”
Holman is not a Lexington resident and is from Memphis, Tenn., Angel said.
“It ain’t a black and white thing, it’s a whole system malfunction, and that’s why I’m out there,” Holman told FOX 56.
Holman’s bail was paid Wednesday evening, according to court records.
A man by the name of Arterio Holman was quoted by NBC affiliate LEX 18 earlier this week at Saturday night’s protests in Lexington. He told a reporter that he was marching “because they killed a black man on camera and it’s time for us to come out here and represent they are killing us out here.”
Tuesday night’s Lexington protest was peaceful throughout its duration, Angel said. She said it wrapped up around 1 a.m.
This story was originally published June 3, 2020 at 9:22 AM.