A man who shot Kyle Rittenhouse in the arm during a protest against police brutality in Wisconsin last year has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that police made the violence possible by giving free rein to an armed militia during the demonstration made possible on the streets.
Rittenhouse shot Joseph Rosenbaum, Anthony Huber and Gaige Grosskreutz with an AR-style semi-automatic rifle during the protest in Kenosha on August 25, 2020 after an officer had shot Jacob Blake two days earlier. Rosenbaum and Huber died. Großkreutz was wounded in the arm but survived.
Prosecutors have charged Rittenhouse, then 17, on several charges, including murder. He claimed that he shot in self-defense after Rosenbaum and Huber attacked him and Grosskreutz ran towards him armed with a pistol. The trial against Rittenhouse is slated to begin next month.
Grosskreutz’s lawsuit, filed Thursday, alleged that Rittenhouse, who lives in Antioch, Ill., Joined white supremacist militia members who followed a call on social media to travel to Kenosha and protect businesses during the protest. Rittenhaus and Großkreutz are white; Rosenbaum and Huber too.
The file alleges that police knew the militia were there to harm people and pointed to responses on social media such as “Counter protest? Nope. I intend to kill looters and rioters tonight “and” Armed and ready. Shoot to kill tonight. ”The identity of the posters was not disclosed in the lawsuit.
Regardless, the police greeted them and allowed them to patrol the streets with their guns after the curfew. One officer told the militia, “We appreciate you,” the complaint read. Police later directed protesters to the militia and told members they could take care of them, the lawsuit said.
Numerous officers saw Rittenhouse before and after the shootings, but never asked him for identification, arrested him or disarmed him and let him pass them even though people were yelling that he had shot people and that he still had his rifle over his chest to the lawsuit.
“If a black man approached the police with an assault rifle and offered to patrol the streets with the police, he would most likely have been shot,” the lawsuit said. “If a black child had shot three citizens with an assault rifle and walked away from the scene with an assault rifle in hand while other citizens shouted that he was an active shooter, he would have been shot.”
The lawsuit alleges that the Kenosha Police Department, Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department and the city committed multiple constitutional violations, including conspiracies to obstruct justice, equal protection and freedom of expression, and neglect. The lawsuit demands unspecified damages.
Attorney Sam Hall, who represents Kenosha County and Sheriff David Beth, said Friday the allegations were false. He said the lawsuit did not recognize that Grosskreutz was armed when he was shot by Rittenhouse, and found that Grosskreutz had not sued Rittenhouse. Hall said he would move the case to be closed.
City officials did not immediately return messages on Friday.
Huber’s family filed a similar federal lawsuit in August alleging police facilitated the shootings. This case is pending.
The protests began after a white Kenosha official shot Blake, who is black, in the back during a domestic disturbance. Blake was wanted on an arrest warrant and resisted. According to investigators, police officer Rusten Sheskey shot him after turning to face him with a knife. The shooting left Blake paralyzed from the waist down.
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Follow Todd Richmond on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trichmond1
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