The location changed, but the message was the same. A group of demonstrators representing the Respect Us protest collective took their plight for justice from Florissant to St. Charles Monday afternoon.
For their ninth day of protest, Respect Us marched to St. Charles City Hall on June 15th to demand that St. Charles County Prosecuting AttorneyTim Lohmar arrest former Florissant detective Joshua Smith.
Smith was terminated from the Florissant Police department just over a week after home security video footage showed him running over a man with an unmarked vehicle before violently arresting the man. Smith is currently being investigated by the FBI and the St. Louis County Police Department’s Bureau of Crimes Against Persons. Respect Us went to Lohmar, who is handling the case as a special prosecutor due to a conflict of interest within St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell’s office, to demand that Smith is arrested and charged.
The group shut down a shopping plaza on Lombard Street for several minutes before heading to
to St. Charles City Hall. They walked from City Hall to next door at the St. Charles County Attorney office demanding to speak to Lohmar.
“Tim Lohmar, come outside!” they chanted.
Both presidents of St. Charles and St. Louis County NAACP participated in the protest outside of St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney’s office.
“We are demanding sweeping police reform,” St. Louis County NAACP President John Bowman said.
Security locked the door and began letting out people in the building from the back entrance. The protestors followed the police to the back entrance where an officer called for backup. Directly after protesters began to chant “Back up, back up, we want freedom, freedom, all these racist cops we don’t need them.”
One of the seven officers lined up in the back had tears in his eyes. “I support you,” he told a white female protestor who was inches from his uniform. He said that he attended rallies. The rest of the officers remained silent. After the police had escorted Tim Lohmar from the premises, they asked the leaders of Respect Us if they would leave.
“We’ll shut the whole city down,” organizer Bishop Derrick Robinson told the crowd.
Protestors occupied the area outside the St. Charles Prosecuting Attorney’s office until 5:45 p.m. A protest group that demonstrated in solidarity with Respect Us brought chalk to the demonstration and many activists wrote messages outside of the building that read “Arrest Josh Smith” and “Black Lives Matter.”
Police officers turned on the sprinklers near the end to wash away the protestors’ messages. Activists said that they will “just write more tomorrow.”
Respect Us said that they will return to the St. Charles Prosecuting Attorney’s office every day until Joshua Smith is arrested and convicted.
The group plans to return tomorrow at 2 p.m. in front of St. Charles County Attorney Office.
According to Respect Us communications director Arkayla Tenney-Howard, police told the group that they will install barricades to block off the public building – and anyone who attempts to knock them down will face arrest.
