Nine volunteers arrested during Jacob Blake protest

The nine volunteers were out on Saturday after posting bail.

Aug 30, 2020

Police officers keep watch as people are arrested after the start of a city-wide curfew outside of the Kenosha County Courthouse on August 29, 2020 in Kenosha, Wisconsin. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Nine volunteers for the Seattle-based nonprofit, Riot Kitchen, were handing out food to Jacob Blake protesters when they were arrested by the Kenosha Police Department on Friday.

Falsely labeled as agitators, Riot Kitchen’s volunteers, said they were mistakenly arrested by the police.

The nine volunteers were out on Saturday after posting bail, which was set at about $150 each, according to Jennifer Scheurle, the director of the nonprofit.

The Kenosha Police Department chose to arrest Riot Kitchen volunteers due to a police tip from a caller. The caller noted “several suspicious vehicles with out-of-state plates,” NBC News reported.

Officers and U.S. marshals approached Riot Kitchen’s black school-bus-themed food truck and minivan, and arrested the volunteers while they were attempting put fuel in their vehicles, NBC News reported.

The police broke the minivan window after the driver “attempted to drive away,” according to the Kenosha police.

Eight volunteers from Seattle's Riot Kitchen went to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to feed protesters. Police arrested them, @hbernton reports for the @seattletimes. https://t.co/zHZ1R4w5Th pic.twitter.com/RW6YdAW9Uk
— (((Greg Halling))) (@ghalling) August 28, 2020

In the minivan, the police department said it recovered helmets, gas masks, fireworks, and “suspected controlled substances.”

Scheurle shared a video of the incident on Twitter. Riot Kitchen also released a statement.

“Protective gear found in the bus is just that—protection for working in large crowds, masks for COVID protection,” Riot Kitchen said. “We reject all claims that our crew was there to incite violence.”

Scheurle said the gas was supposed to be used for cooking, camping, and food production, and the driver was not evading the police but simply leaving while the law enforcement arrived.

As for “suspected controlled substances,” Scheurle suspects that it was marijuana, considering the drug is legal in the company’s home state of Washington.

The only item that took her by surprise was the fireworks allegation, saying “We’ve never had fireworks anywhere,” NBC News reported.

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