‘We’re not putting up with this lawlessness here…’
(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Oklahoma City prosecutors are charging three violent protesters with terrorism, vowing not to let “lawlessness” and “wanton destruction” destroy their city like it has in Seattle and Minneapolis.
Isael Antonio Ortiz, Eric Christopher Ruffin and Malachai Davis have all been charged with terrorism after violently destroying property during the city’s protests.
Ortiz allegedly burned an Oklahoma County sheriff’s office van and attempted to set a nearby bail-bonds office on fire.
Ruffin allegedly encouraged the destruction of the van, and Davis was accused of damaging the bail bonds office, according to the Oklahoman.
“This is not Seattle,” Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater said on Friday. “We’re not putting up with this lawlessness here.”
Ruffin reportedly posted a live video of Ortiz setting the cop car on fire. In that same video, he demanded that officers who harm black people be killed. And Davis book the bond office’s windows with brass knuckles he was wearing.
David McKenzie, an attorney for Davis, slammed the terrorism charges as “unconstitutional” and claimed that although Davis had punched the window, he did not break it. McKenzie also argued that Davis is a “good kid,” noting that Davis’s father died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Prater was referencing Seattle’s autonomous zone, which protesters created after violently forcing law enforcement out of the six-block zone. Seattle officials allowed it to happen and did not act against the protesters, advocating instead for a “peaceful” resolution. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkin even likened the anarchy to the “summer of love.”
Seattle’s autonomous zone continues to see violent resistance despite efforts by the city last week to peacefully reclaim it.
After initially praising the project, Durkan demanded that order be returned to the zone, though she has not said when the Seattle Police Department will return to its East Precinct, which was attacked repeatedly during the protests.