Dallas Police Chief Arrested 647 Protestors Blocking Bridge in July, Says ‘We Warned Them’

“If you break the law, we will arrest you.” It was a simple warning issued from Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall to protestors on July 19th.After they chose to block the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge despite the warning, 647 protestors were taken in zip-tie handcuffs and arrested on Hall’s orders.

When the protestors crossed onto that bridge and knelt, blocking it, they crossed the line Chief Hall had drawn. “We warned them,” she said, according to FOX 4.

Hall explained,

“The penal code 42.03, obstruction of a highway or passageway, says they are not allowed to walk in the middle of the roadway or freeway or overpass,”.

“On last night, they assembled and then they began to walk, and we supported that walk. When they began to enter the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge they were given a warning because it is against the law.”

“Although peaceful, the protesters broke the law,”. Chief Hall elaborated “They did not stop,”

Given the situation, Chief Hall acted in very reasonable fashion, especially when you consider how other departments have handled similar protests with a “softer touch” and how that can potentially backfire.

Last Sunday in Rochester, New York, a similar scene played out as protestors blocked a major highway in an anti-police demonstration, only to have the police protect them instead of arresting them. None of those protestors were held, booked, or charged. Zero.

The same day about 25 minutes away in Monroe County: two Sheriff’s Deputies’ personal vehicles burned; the fire even spread to their home. Videotape surveillance “is currently under review by investigators,”, but no arrests have been made. Luckily, no one was injured.

There was a plain difference between the actions of police in Rochester and Dallas. You start with a remarkably similar situation, with a vastly different police response, and get a predictable result.

When police response is weak and guided by politics instead of upholding the law the results are destructive. However, when police force is employed in a measured, certain and lawful manner: tragedies are prevented.

Chief Hall went so far as to support the walk, but she gave protestors one simple instruction: “if you break the law, we will arrest you”. Evidently, obeying the law was just too much to ask.

She warned them, she made good on her warning and order was restored.

Source: Daily Wire