Protests in Tallahassee Not All Peaceful

Protests in Tallahassee Not All Peaceful

Tallahassee protests were not as “peaceful” as reported in local media, unless rocks or bricks thrown through downtown business’ windows are allowed in “peaceful” protests.

Around 5 p.m. Saturday, protestors, reportedly motivated by the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd and over several recent officer involved shootings in Tallahassee, again took to the Tallahassee streets.

Protestors were met by rows of state and local police in riot gear near the Governor’s mansion on the corner of N. Adams And Georgia Street. The crowd chanted “No Justice, No Peace” in front of the stoic law enforcement officers.

The crowd then moved up Georgia to Monroe Street. Within seconds the air filled with the sound of shattering glass as a rock or brick was thrown through one of the large windows of Envision Credit Union at 600 N Monroe St.

Protestors ducked and flinched defensively. One man jumped right out of his flip flops as he ran to the sidewalk to get away from the commotion. Several local protestors took this perceived escalation toward violence as their cue to go home. Most of the crowd re-organized in the middle of Monroe to start its march toward the Capitol.

Those protestors were an equal mix of black and white. Some were young college kids, who seemed like they were just having fun. Some were solemn and concerned with the recent uptick in recent violence. Reportedly, there were also members of Black Lives Matters, several out-of-towners, and random spectators.

The crowd was now very close to where, earlier Saturday, a truck drove through the protestors, hitting several protestors, but not seriously injuring anyone. The driver was immediately taken into custody by Tallahassee Police.

As the crowd again passed alongside a former credit union building, located less than a block further along the route, another loud crash filled the air as someone threw another rock or brick through another window.

A Tallahassee police patrol car rounded the corner as the last shards hit the ground. A WCTV camera and reporter were stationed on the corner, just yards from the broken window. The reporter was joking and laughing with protestors just before the window was hit.

The rock/brick throwing incidents were reported to state troopers gearing up in the parking lot behind the former credit union.
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60 Responses to "Protests in Tallahassee Not All Peaceful"

  1. Two broken windows; actually that’s really good that only two broken windows.
    The worst thing that happen was a truck coming through the protesters.

  2. Sorry, but I’ve forgotten all about George Floyd. My empathy and sympathy now rests with the families of Patrick Underwood and David Dorn. Both black men murdered by black Democrat-funded anarchists. The completely avoidable and tragic deaths of good men, and their blood is on the hands of Democrats and their Media PACs.

    RIP good sirs, and thank you for your service.

  3. Looks like we have a new “Town Idiot”. Some guy named Benjamin who has been around town waving a huge Trump Flag was at the Protest in front of the Capital with a different Flag this time, decides to walk out into the Road and walked into the crowd of the peaceful marching Protesters and started walking in the WRONG direction as well as walking across in front of the marchers getting all in their way and disrupting them all while caring this big Flag Pole AND a Selfie Stick doing a Video. Then he starts yelling about Blacks and Abortions and soon after he starts yelling at the Protesters to STOP TOUCHING HIM. This FOOL walks out in the middle of MARCHING Protesters disrupting THEM and starts yelling at THEM. The really SAD thing is, this FOOL is also running for the Senate District 3. WOW, you can’t make this stuff up. Who in their right mind would want this FOOL making decisions for us.

  4. So no word on whether it was “protestors” or “police” or “bank employee”…? Just gonna say it was protestors for the hell of it?

  5. Windows and cars can be replaced. Human lives cannot. This article is taking up space that could be used for the real cause and meaning for the movement.

  6. why no national guard in Tallahssee? several businesses have been damaged. do we wait until the terrorist do severe property damage?

  7. By continuing to associate this anarchy with George Floyd, the media assumes a complicit role in dishonoring Floyd and those who view what happened to him as a reprehensible act of cowardice by those responsible for his death.

    What we are witnessing has nothing whatsoever to do with George Floyd or perceived racism. Tallahassee Reports should take the local lead in calling this ignorance what it is; anarchy under the guise of a cause.

  8. Lol. I wish that would happen because the majority of those white privileged suck ups are the ones supporting the cause turning violent if it must.
    I can only imagine how fast that will change once you go into their neighborhoods. ???

    1. why is it that one is called “white privileged” when they work hard, support their family and obey the laws? maybe take note and learn how to succeed.

  9. Not mentioned in the article is that the driver drove around a police barricade to get to the section of Monroe where protesters were marching.

  10. Sounds like we have a whole lot of readers who would rather watch a black man have his neck stomped than understand why that makes people angry enough to lose all hope and sense. “Riots are the language of the unheard” – MLK Jr. 1975

    1. ‘Let me say as I’ve always said, and I will always continue to say, that riots are socially destructive and self-defeating.’ – MLK

      I dont know of any readers who WANT to watch a black have his neck stomped. But yeah, i think its hard to understand what breaking into target and stealing tvs has to do with losing hope.

    2. wake up this is not about racism or police brutality but an effort to bring down this country. the police officer who pressed on floyd’s neck was a bully and would have treated anyone like that. he should have been removed from being a police officer a long time ago. blame the admin.

  11. Avatar Tell me if I’m wrong but isn’t it illegal to block the road. Protest on parks on sidewalks not on the road.kenneth says:

    Tell me if I’m wrong but isn’t it illegal to block the road. Protest on parks on sidewalks not on the road.

  12. A shit rag article from a shit rag journalist. None of this is accurate. There aren’t any broken windows, there is no destruction by protestors. Any destruction to property is perpetrated by police antagonizers and other who are trying to delegitimize the movement for true equality and justice. Tallahassee residents should feel lucky that the protests aren’t targeting the real perpetrators of violence and racism, the white, wealthy residents of killearn, southgate, etc etc…

    1. Wealthy residents of Killearn and Southgate, you mean the college housing complex on campus for everyone, where most of the rich white wealthy do not stay? I think you mean Southwood, which shows you are not even from this town, as Southwood has always and will always be the name associated with that neighborhood.

  13. It is sad that people either choose to close their eyes to the real issues that exist in this country or just plain and simple, don’t care. When we have an officer that keeps his knee on the neck of a human being to snuff out his life; I truly cannot see any other reason, unless he was so stupid that he did not know that cutting off someone’s windpipe would kill them, how cruel and sad that is. I’m sadden to know that people are still so worried about material things destroyed by a few individual. You should be more angry about injustice. I’m surprised though; this state was ignorant enough to put a person like Trump in office. People that obviously looking for someone they feel will continue to make them feel superior or selfish enough to think he would forward white privilege. No, Trump is for the wealthy; poor/working class whites are his pawns to keep him in power. Good luck to America, the country I love.

    1. Are you seriously that naive? “A few things destroyed by a few individuals.” These businesses are people’s livelihoods. It’s how they feed their family and they worked hard to get there. There are black owned businesses getting burned to the ground not just a couple rocks thrown through windows! You may have only heard about a couple rocks in Tallahassee, but there was also a business broken into and robbed! The problem is once rocks start being thrown more and more violence ensues. No one can change the past and no one should have to pay for the mistakes of others. That cop has already been charged. The others are about to have charges brought against them. They were the ones on the wrong. You wouldn’t want someone coming after you for what someone else did. The actions of everyone in your race are not your own. Humans are individuals and should be treated a such.

  14. donald c. “2: when you focus on the broken window , we lose the big picture.” Most are very aware that a bad cop killed a man in Minneapolis. You have lost sight of the big picture – that people were allowed to destroy property that wasn’t theirs, without any concern of being arrested or put before a court of law.

    “3. We need to be real about our white privilege.”

    Congratulations on *your* privilege; however, my husband has not had your privlege when he was thrown over the bonnet of his car, in Colorado and Texas. His “whiteness” did not spare that.

    “The guy in the truck was ushered into a police cruiser. If a black man had driven that, he would have been thrown to the ground, regardless of an angry crowd surrounding.” The only thing the police did was keep the truck driver from being beaten to near-death like the guy in Dallas. Do not think that his being white will save him when it comes to jail or court.

    “4: would you honesty be in favor of receiving the exact treatment as black folks, in all facets of our society?” More whites are killed by police officers than blacks. Your false narrative fails you.

    “5: I spent almost 10 years as an army officer and have a tradition of law enforcement in my family, so there’s no bias against them.” Well, there is your privilege. I was 10 years as Air Force enlisted – I know the sting of racism from a few of those years. I had *no privilege* from being white.

    Check yourself, Sir. Your life experiences are your own, as mine are to me. Do not expect, nor demand, than anyone cowtow to your perspective under the guise of the almighty-enlightened.

  15. crowds do not erupt. Volcanoes erupt. people do things. people don’t do things. 2 people can be side by side and one person does something and one does not. crowds do not erupt. Volcanoes erupt.

    1. I believe pedestrians have the right Of way in the state of Florida so no you can’t just run over people in the road or anywhere
      Else

      1. Only when crossing the road or traveling on the side. Pedestrians must yield to cars outside of a crosswalk. But obviously cars should not run over people if it can be avoided. Never the less, blocking the road is illegal.

  16. Rocks, broken windows…but, please, don’t forget to mention the total trashing of a south side business with multiple firearms stolen.

  17. Check with the people that were at the protest and see where they are from. I would bet my left kidney that a MAJORITY of them were from out of town!

    Next, if you block traffic you gonna get hit!

    1. Your “hunch” is not relevant. BUT HEY MAYBE YOU CAN WRITE FOR THIS WEBSITE – DOESN’T SEEM TO BE MUCH ACTUAL CITING OF FACTS HERE, JUST LOTS OF CONJECTURE.

  18. … 1: people enacting violence during this should not negate the ugly truth that sparked this all. Two things can be true at the same time. 2: when you focus on the broken window , we lose the big picture. 3. We need to be real about our white privilege. The guy in the truck was ushered into a police cruiser. If a black man had driven that, he would have been thrown to the ground, regardless of an angry crowd surrounding. I’ve benefited from white privilege in my interactions with nypd , growing up in the bronx. I saw the disparity in treatment. And ive benefited here. I was let off once after running a light and did not have my license, registration or valid insurance on my person. I knew immediately if I were black, I was going away in handcuffs. And I would receive a harsher sentence than if white. 4: would you honesty be in favor of receiving the exact treatment as black folks, in all facets of our society? Be honest with yourselves. The racism down here really exists in a way that I didn’t think was real. Opened my naive new york eyes in 2006. 5: I spent almost 10 years as an army officer and have a tradition of law enforcement in my family, so there’s no bias against them. 6: empathy. Starts there and ends there.

    1. Your just adding fuel to the fire with your comment. Black people have that same rights and privilege as a white person. Black people just put themselves in their own situations by their own circumstances just like white, brown, yellow, all races can do. There are black people out there that get pulled over all the time and the cop takes it easy on them but there are those who are up to no good and that’s why the cops give them a hard time. This happens to anyone of any race. Stop slandering white people like we are so privileged. Get your details straight before you make dumb comments. The problem is people are too naive and ignorant these days and we generalize people into a category like one is bad, one is good, one is privileged or one is hated. We are all human beings and are all equal but we all act differently.

  19. Did anyone see Andrew Gillum up there by Aloft, Envision, and Hancock Bank with a brick in his hand?
    FYI Crime Stoppers will pay you some cash money if you did!!!

    1. Hilarious comment! So CV19 has been dismissed and now headlines filled with Riots and Chaos Summer 2020! Go figure! Newest normal???

  20. If the guy was taken into custody why is he not in the booking report ? Because if you get stopped for trying to run over someone its attempted murder the truck is a weapon wake up people tpd is doing anything they want

    1. Probably a decision by the police to help prevent vigilante action in case they decide he had a right to try to escape being surrounded by violent protesters.

  21. Most of the people there were very peaceful & good people. There were a few very obvious angry people that showed up occasionally. Over 90% of the people were were peaceful, probably more. I was proud of Tallahassee yesterday. It’s difficult to get rid of the few that always try to make things escalate. The price we pay for freedom to meet, gather, protest etc.

  22. Well the Governor will be safe.
    Good luck to the rest of the citizens through out Florida in all those Democrat controlled cities.
    Hey wait a minute Tallahassee is one of those Democrat controlled cities preferred by leftist rioters.
    OMG.

  23. First of all, it’s “no justice, no peace” as in, if you don’t give us justice, we won’t give you peace. Secondly, the overwhelming majority of the protesters did not want vandalism and actively tried to stop the handful of people trying to escalate the situation. And nobody was there for “just having fun”. This is a serious matter, nobody is joking around. Of course your name is Karen ?

  24. First of all, it’s “no justice, no peace” as in, if you don’t give us justice, we won’t give you peace. Secondly, the overwhelming majority of the protesters did not want vandalism and actively tried to stop the handful of people trying to escalate the situation. And nobody was there for “just having fun”. This is a serious matter, nobody is joking around. Of course your name is Karen ?

    1. There are many videos coming out where people who are very clearly white antifa members are co-opting peaceful BLM protests and attempting to escalate them, putting many peaceful black protesters in danger. Antifa is an enemy of the BLM movement, and we’re all starting to realize it.

      1. AntiFa exploits the BLM folks. They slither in behind them, start the violence chants, start throwing bricks and such from behind them, whips the gullible people into a frenzy… then scamper away like the cowards they are professing “mission accomplished”, on their way to their next assignment.

  25. WCTV’s reporter was laughing and joking with the thugs. Tells you all you need to know about WCTV’s liberal bent.

  26. Peaceful? What about the smashed windows at Aloft Hotel and the Hancock Bank Building? Most of the front windows were broken out. And the downtown trash cans/potted plants turned over/vandalized? Why haven’t we seen this reported on news/Tallahassee Democrat?

      1. Where is your outrage for the criminal activity these three committed that forced officers to protect themselves and us from their criminality?

  27. The video in this article ( https://www.wtxl.com/news/local-news/tallahassee-police-investigating-after-truck-drives-through-downtown-protest ) clearly shows one of the protestors throwing punches through the open passenger-side window before the Georgia-registered truck involved in Saturday’s incident surged forward through the crowd.

    When will Mayor Dailey be issuing a correction to his Saturday tweet stating that this individual struck a crowd of “peaceful” protestors?

    1. Yes, but according to people on the scene he had pressed on the accelerator, pushing into the crowd three times before he tried to flee and drove into a tree. Demonstrators also said he had repeatedly been asked not to try to drive through the (then stationary) demonstration, had shouted at the demonstrators and given them the bird. Not saying that this is all accurate, but clearly where you begin the story matters, and trying to drive through a group of many hundreds of demonstrators who are attempting to block off a street is not your best move on most Sundays, no matter what your politics.

      1. It’s not a smart situation to put yourself in, but ending up there wasn’t a crime.

        Generally, if you’re surrounded by violent protestors or even protesters in a political context where you understand there’s violence going on and a strong possibility that you’re in danger, you have the right to attempt to escape.

        We can’t possibly have a standard that says if people are surrounding your car and there’s a good reason to believe you’re in some danger, you don’t have the right to attempt to escape.

        If you compare the videos of people from this protest being “run over” (at what appears to be a brisk walking pace) to the famous one from about 4 years ago, the difference is night and day. You can see in the older video that they’re accelerating in order to try to kill people, but people are talking about this guy who has a right to drive on the road and didn’t try to kill anyone like it’s the same thing.

      2. Attempting to stop someone from going wherever they have a right to go falls under the legal definition of false imprisonment. Already at that point, it was not a “peaceful protest”. When will the criminals attempting to stop vehicles be arrested?

    2. You’re wrong. This was the second time he drove into people. They were punching windows to get him to stop because he has already accelerated into the crowd that was entirely peaceful. I know because I was there. I watched it happen.

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