Update 8/12/15, 6:33pm CST: Alexis Templeton and Brittany Ferrell were released from the St. Louis County jail at about 5 p.m. on Wednesday, August 12. They were greeted by celebratory crowd of about 70 people, who had gathered to demand their release. The two had been place on a 24-hour hold.
Alexis Templeton and Brittany Ferrell – who lead the Ferguson protest group Millennial Activists United – were reportedly arrested around 5 p.m. on Tuesday, August 11 in Clayton. The two had just arrived to inquire about the 64 people who arrested during the Ferguson action that shutdown Interstate-70, near 270 and the Blanchette Bridge on August 10.
About 80 demonstrators and legal observers were on site as human barricades were created to block I-70 in both directions. The protest began at 5 p.m., peak rush hour time, and transpired for about 30 minutes or so. The actions were part of Moral Monday, a day dedicated to civil disobedience in remembrance of Michael Brown Jr.’s death and of all those who have died at the hands of police.
All individuals involved in the highway shutdown were charged with “interfering with an officer,” according to St. Louis County Police.
Their arrest in Clayton on Tuesday was the result of new charges. Templeton was charged with three misdemeanors – assault, trespassing and peace disturbance, St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch announced on August 12, following the police investigation. Ferrell was charged with a felony – property damage in the first degree – as well as trespassing and peace disturbance.
McCulloch said all charges are related to the highway shutdown. During the protest, one car drove through a line of at least 10 individuals who had linked arms. (See The St. Louis American’s video of the incident.)
“Templeton is accused of punching the victim as our victim attempted to drive past the defendant. The victim suffered an eye injury as result,” McCulloch said. “Ferrell kicked the victim’s car as she passed causing nearly $5,000 in damage.” Ferrell’s bond is set at $10,000.
The married couple’s attorney Aaron Banks said his attempts to speak with his clients have been denied, along with attempts from lawyers Denise Lieberman and Jerryl Christmas. The police told Banks that the women did not invoke their right for their attorney. However, Banks has spoken with Templeton and Ferrell, who said they were questioned for hours and repeatedly asked for legal counsel.
Banks said police wanted his clients to tell them the names of the people who organized the action.
“We all know they are being targeted,” Banks said. “They are high-profile activists. They are being targeted because they don’t want us to be there. They want us to go away.”
Friends who were nearby when the couple was arrested said three officers identified Templeton when she was standing on the plaza. When Ferrell went to talk to the officers, she was also taken into custody.
Templeton and Ferrell were both arrested at the Monday action. Templeton was released without being charged because her arresting officer could not be identified, sources close to her said. Ferrell received the same charge as the others arrested and was released at 2 a.m. on Tuesday. They both came back to support the others who had not yet been released by Tuesday at 5 p.m., but instead were arrested for the new charges.
At Monday’s action, about 10 individuals were arrested on the highway. However, the others were arrested when they were in a church parking lot on the way to their cars – including legal observers, livestreamers and medics who did not participate in the action. Some were pulled out of their vehicles.
When asked why, a County Police spokesman said, “The individuals were arrested for their actions prior to our arrival. Protestors were still blocking highway traffic, along with obstacles in the roadway, when law enforcement showed up to the scene.”
Rachel Bean, 28 and who runs a homeless shelter in Minneapolis, said she was among the 10 who consciously decided to get arrested. But the others were trying to comply with the police, as they told demonstrators that if they left the highway they wouldn’t be arrested, she said.
“Several protestors made the choice to participate in an act of civil disobedience in the name of black lives,” she said, “but a lot of people didn’t get to make that choice. Still they were subject to inhumane conditions.”
It took until 6 p.m. on Tuesday to finish processing and releasing the entire arrested group, said Lieutenant Pervis Jones, a supervisor at the St. Louis County Justice Services which processes all arrests.
On Tuesday afternoon on Twitter, Ferguson activist Johnetta Elzie asked people to call St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar to demand that they release the I-70 protestors. The police department responded to her on Twitter, saying, “I-70 protesters with misdemeanor charges are not in jail. They were not held. Thx.”
That started an uproar among those who were arrested. One African-American woman Autumn Griffin (@msAutumnMarie) tweeted that police held about 40 of the protestors from 5:30 p.m. on August 10 to late afternoon on August 11. She told the American that she was in handcuffs for more than 13 hours, until 4 a.m.
Bean (@colocha_rachel) said she was in handcuffs for 15 hours and held for 22 hours total. She was given a “Dixie cup of water” after being there for five or six hours and a bologna sandwich after 12 hours.
She tweeted, “We weren’t in jail because it took 22 hours to be loaded, processed and released.”
Bean told the American that she was the last one in the group to be processed and was in handcuffs until 8:30 a.m.
“From the jump, there were abusive conditions we were expected to tolerate,” she said, from being held in the extreme heat of the police buses to not being denied basic needs at justice services.
Lt. Jones said the group started arriving to the justice services building at 10 p.m., and it is standard procedure for the individuals to remain in their handcuffs until after they have seen the nurse and gone through property inventory. They were released after they signed their paperwork, he said.
Their nurses did not see any injuries that warranted hospitalization in their assessments, he said. There is no time limit that individuals can remain in handcuffs while waiting to be processed, he said.
Herbert L. Bernsen, director of justice services, told the American that his team processed the group “correctly and smoothly, as far as we are concerned.”
Follow this reporter on Twitter @rebeccarivas.
