The parents of one of the two men gunned down by Kyle Rittenhouse during Black Lives Matter protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year are suing the local authorities, accusing them of deputizing armed vigilantes to roam the streets and 'mete out justice as they saw fit.'
Attorneys representing John Huber and Karen Bloom, the parents of shooting victim Anthony Huber, filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday alleging 15 counts, including wrongful death; conspiracy to deprive of constitutional rights; conspiracy to obstruct justice; deprivation of due process; intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress and negligence.
The lawsuit argues that were Rittenhouse and other vigilantes black, police would have treated them 'much differently.'
Rittenhouse, then aged 17, shot and killed Huber, 26, and Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and wounded a third person on August 25, 2020, during a protest against the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
A federal lawsuit has been filed, accusing authorities in Kenosha, Wisconsin, of allowing Kyle Rittenhouse (left) and other white vigilantes to roams the streets armed with guns last summer, resulting in the killing of Anthony Huber, 26 (right)
Rittenhouse, then aged 17, is pictured on August 25, 2020, carrying an assault rifle during protests against police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin
This screenshot shows Huber grabbing his chest (right) after being shot by Rittenhouse
Blake, who is black, was shot by a Kenosha police officer during a domestic disturbance, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
Officials said Rittenhouse, who is white, traveled to Kenosha with an assault-style rifle from his home in Antioch, Illinois, to help militiamen protect businesses from vandalism and looting.
After fatally shooting Huber and Rosenbaum, and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz, Rittenhouse was charged with homicide. He is set to go on trial in November.
The Huber family's 38-page complaint names as defendants Kenosha County Sheriff's David Beth; former Kenosha Police Department Chief Daniel Miskinis, Kenosha Acting Chief of Police Eric Larsen, as well as the City of Kenosha and Kenosha County.
Rittenhouse also shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum (pictured in a red shirt) and wounded another man
Rittenhouse killed Rosenbaum (right) before Huber confronted and tried to disarm the gun-toting teen during a night of unrest
The lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages, to be determined at trial.
According to the complaint, law enforcement officials in Kenosha were aware of vigilantes' plans to confront BLM protesters from threatening social media posts and emails, but they did not treat them as a threat.
'Instead, Defendants deputized these armed individuals, conspired with them, and ratified their actions by letting them patrol the street, armed with deadly weapons, to mete out justice as they saw fit,' the court filing reads.
The lawsuit further clams that cops on the scene 'thanked Rittenhouse and other armed individuals, gave them water, and allowed them to openly defy the emergency curfew order that was in place.'
According to the documents, far from trying to stop Rittenhouse and his ilk, police allegedly planned to divert protesters towards the vigilantes so they could 'deal with them.'
As it was widely reported at the time, police made no attempt to detain or disarm Rittenhouse and others, and voiced their support for their actions, saying:' We appreciate your guys, we really do.'
Rittenhouse is set to go to trial on November. He faces a slew of charges, including reckless homicide and attempted first-degree intentional homicide (pictured in court on May 21)
The lawsuit describes Huber as a 'hero' who attempted to disarm Rittenhouse using his skateboard, as seen in a viral video recording. The 26-year-old died after the teen shot him in the chest as Huber tried to pull the assault rifle from Rittenhouse's hands.
By then, Rittenhouse had already shot and killed Rosenbaum and was fleeing. He then fired on Grosskreutz from a point-blank range, hitting him in the arm.
'Remarkably, the officers did nothing to stop Rittenhouse, let alone question him, or arrest him,' the complaint alleges, describing what happened after the killings. 'Instead, officers spoke to Rittenhouse and then let him walk away.'
The lawsuit argues that the only reason the armed minor was allowed to walk away after shooting three people, two of them fatally, 'was because he was white and because he was affiliated' with militiamen who had the authorities' support.
'Defendants’ open support of and coordination with the armed individuals in the minutes and hours before the shootings deprived Anthony Huber and the other protestors of the basic protections typically provided by police,' reads the document. 'It was a license for the armed individuals to wreak havoc and inflict injury.'
The lawsuit goes on to allege that 'if Kyle Rittenhouse were Black, Defendants would have acted much differently.'
John Huber, Anthony’s father, said in a statement that had police done their job that day, instead of walking away from their duties, his son would have been alive today.
Anthony Huber’s mother, Karen Bloom, said the lawsuit is about justice for her son, and his legacy.
'After Anthony’s death, there will always be a hole in my heart,' Bloom said. 'But his memory lives on, and I will never stop telling his story.'
Rittenhouse, now aged 18, maintains he fired in self-defense but prosecutors have charged him with a litany of counts, including reckless homicide, recklessly endangering safety, attempted first-degree intentional homicide and being a minor in possession of a dangerous weapon.
Black Lives Matter supporters have painted the Illinois teen as a trigger-happy white supremacist. Conservatives have made him into a symbol for gun rights, collecting $2million for his bail. His high-profile trial is scheduled to begin on November 1 and will be televised in full.
Kenosha’s police chief or Kenosha County sheriff’s officials did not immediately returns calls for comment on the lawsuit.
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