Demonstrators lined the streets of downtown Owensboro Saturday afternoon in protest against the deaths of black people by police officers.
The rally began at noon at the corner of 2nd and St. Ann streets, and by 2:30 p.m. the crowd had grown to a couple hundred protestors as people came and went in small groups.
Protestors held up signs and chanted things like “No justice, no peace” and “Black Lives Matter,” as well as the names of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Floyd was a black man who died after a while Minneapolis police officer held his knee against Floyd’s neck for roughly nine minutes.
Taylor was a black woman from Louisville who was shot and killed in her apartment after officers entered her home to serve a warrant. Taylor’s boyfriend fired at officers, and she was shot when they returned fire.
In March, Taylor was reportedly shot at least eight times when three officers forcibly entered her apartment to serve a search warrant in a narcotics investigation. The department said the men announced themselves and returned gunfire when Taylor’s boyfriend fired at them.
Lahoma Estrada, organizer of the Owensboro demonstration, said her goal for the event was to get a bunch of people together to show the community that a lot of people do not agree with what is happening across the country with police brutality.
“It’s people who are silent, who are neutral, who are the problem,” she said. “They are scared, they don’t want to make a problem, and that’s the problem. It’s like you don’t care that we want to be heard and stuff is happening to us.”
Estrada said the main reason they were lining the streets was because black lives matter.
“(With) Floyd and everything that has happened lately and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, we wanted to show solidarity and support with our community that we don’t support police brutality,” she said. “It’s really about racism here.”
Owensboro Police Department was on scene at the different locations for most of the day, helping with crowd control and to ensure the safety of the demonstrators.
While demonstrators sat at the intersection of Parrish Avenue and Frederica Street, OPD Chief Art Ealum answered questions from protestors, and he later talked with people during an incident at the Gary Clover Bridge.
Most of the day was relatively peaceful, and demonstrators also picked up their trash and largely kept each other’s tempers in line. They also provided water and snacks for everyone.
Before moving from downtown to the Blue Bridge, a small group of protestors blocked one car at the St. Ann and 2nd Street intersection.
Others involved in the protest tried to discourage those actions, saying that’s not the way to get the message across.
However, some protestors headed toward the Blue Bridge and blocked traffic for nearly an hour.
A live stream of the demonstrators on the bridge was broadcast on the Owensboro Times Facebook page.
The bridge was backed up halfway to the Indiana side, and many vehicles turned around. One woman who spoke with an Owensboro Times reporter on the scene said she was terrified and just wanted to get home.
Protestors and a handful of people who exited their vehicles got into a few heated arguments but there was no physical altercation.
As one car was trying to get through the crowd, a white female driver allegedly hit a black male’s leg. Protestors surrounded her car and witnesses gave statements to OPD officers, and an investigation into the incident is ongoing.
A small group of demonstrators remained in front of the Daviess County Courthouse until roughly 7 p.m.
On multiple occasions when tempers flared, multiple black adults said protests were a start and it’s okay to be angry, but neither damage to property or blocking traffic was the solution. They said the change starts with getting educated, voting and doing things behind the scenes.
Owensboro Mayor Tom Watson, who was not in town Saturday, said he has all the faith in the world in Ealum and the local police officers.
“I have faith in my police officers, they’ve been trained well,” he said. “We just hope nobody gets hurt. I saw the video on TV like everyone else and I was disgusted with it. I just hope and pray cooler heads will prevail.”
Owensboro Times will have pictures, video and more available online and on social media later.
