Weeks ago, a resident in Decatur, Stephen Perkins, was wrongfully shot and killed by local officials after a car repossession went wrong. It is said that the towing company showed up to repossess Perkins’s car because of late payments, to which Perkins did not comply. The police were later called and that resulted in Perkins being gunned down by the officers, allegedly because he threatened the tow truck driver and officers with a handgun, which he refused to drop at the scene. He would later pass away after being sent to a hospital. It was later revealed the tow truck driver arrived at the wrong residence.

This would then cause protests throughout Decatur, most of which were peaceful. They mainly consist of lots of people demanding justice and having the officers who shot Perkins, fired, arrested, prosecuted, and causing a change of policy. Though most of these protests have not caused any disruption or harm, one on Oct. 19th went too far and began the bad name regarding the Decatur protesting. A group of protesters went onto the Hudson Memorial Bridge and blocked traffic that evening.

The protesters involved in blocking the bridge have yet to be arrested but have been identified with warrants out for their arrest. Unfortunately, this event can be seen as a bad taste in the protests as a whole. The incident of course caused mass traffic and is what most people see or hear when it comes to the protests, rather than the peaceful people only wanting action to be taken against the officers.

I see this as the bridge protesters spoiling the true image of these protests, since a majority of what is seen or heard as a result of the protests is the bridge incident, even though the protests have been peaceful.