Further Arrest Could be Made Following Sunday’s Protest
HAMILTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WDEF)- Three arrests were made near the Hamilton County Courthouse during Sunday night‘s protest.
Those arrest were made after light fixtures were vandalized here on Georgia Avenue.
Officials say further arrests could be made.
Considerable damage was also done to this statue of Lt. General Alexander Stewart.
This statue has been a hot button issue as some members of the community want it to be removed while others want it to stay.
Sheriff deputies responded to that incident by deploying tear gas into a crowd of people.
Officials say once physical hostility occurred near the steps of the courthouse the decision was made to deploy the tear gas.News 12’s Angela Moryan was near that scene covering the protest.
“There’s always innocent people when you’ve got criminal activity going on” said Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond. “
My position as Sheriff is that I have to protect all of the people. The one thing I’m going to do is first off protect the innocent. Those people that are going about their life in a lawful way and as I have said this country was founded on the ability to peacefully protest. We have no problem with that. When you start destroying property especially historically significant property that cannot be replaced, that’s when I have to draw the line.”
The Chattanooga Police Department say they had no knowledge that the tear gas would be deployed.
The district attorney’s office says further prosecutions could be made if evidence leads to arrest in the near future.
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