Post-Tribune |

Southlake Mall peaceful protest ends in police deploying tear gas, dogs

Marvin Ishii attended the peaceful protest at Southlake Mall on Sunday to speak out against racial injustice in the U.S.

Ishii, of Crown Point, ended up detained for disorderly conduct, and that his mom and aunt bailed him out of jail late Sunday.

He was in the Kohl’s parking lot when police started to move forward after a demonstration against police brutality, Ishii said.

“People weren’t having it. People were too upset to actually listen to this, so they pushed back,” Ishii, 23, said.

Ishii said he was “in the front line” of protesters facing the police officers, but that he was trying to speak to the other protesters to calm them. When he realized no one was listening to him, he decided “to back off” before he got hurt, Ishii said.

The police then started to fire tear gas, and Ishii said he inhaled some of it and he started to tear up and throw up. Ishii said he then started to walk toward his car and he was hit in the back with four or five pellets.

Ishii then said a police vehicle approached and the officer inside told him that he was under arrest. Panicked, he started to run, Ishii said.

“At that time, I believe I was clotheslined, and put down on the ground. Then, the cop’s dog proceeded to bite me before I was cuffed. As they put the cuffs on, the dog was still latched to my leg and my butt and thigh. After I was cuffed, I was still getting bitten, at that point it was latched on my shoe,” Ishii said.

“I believe that I truly did nothing wrong being that I was removing myself from the situation and I didn’t provide any officers or did not give reason to provoke any officers upon the aggression that they showed,” Ishii said.

Local police and the Lake County SWAT team responded to the protest. The Lake County Sheriff’s Office did not return requests for comment.

The police officers were likely frustrated because some property was damaged, Ishii said, which he understands. But, Ishii said he did not damage property and was leaving the protest when tensions began to increase.

“I understand that they were simply trying to do their jobs,” Ishii said. “They could’ve done that a lot more peacefully. They fired upon people that were not vandalizing.”

Protesters said that a group of people, who were not apart of the peaceful protest, started damaging property, which led to a clash with police.

The protest was held in light of the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Footage showed a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, 44, kneeling on Floyd’s neck. Floyd, 46, died after his arrest outside a Minneapolis convenience store.

Chauvin has been charged with murder, but Floyd’s death has sparked nationwide protests in many cities, including Indianapolis, as well as protests around the world.

The protest started in the parking lot outside the Cooper’s Hawk and grew to about 200 people by 4 p.m., which is when police presence increased, according to the protesters.

According to two witnesses, there was a group of people that started to break windows of businesses at the mall, including Shoe Carnival, and nearby businesses, like AaLand Diamond Jewelers in Merrillville, but that those people were not with the protesters.

Bianca Brisco, 29, of Gary, attended the protest, and said that it started out peacefully. But, “the whole mood and energy seemed to change” as more police arrived, she said. Brisco criticized the police for using tear gas and police dogs on the peaceful protesters and not on the individuals that were damaging property.

The people damaging property did not have signs and wore masks, Brisco said. But, according to Brisco, the police focused their attention on the peaceful protesters.

“The attention was focused so much on the people with signs that were just protesting and saying ‘I can’t breathe’ or ‘No justice, no peace’ that that group seemed to just be able to run wild and I don’t understand it,” Brisco said.

Sam Abbott, a pastor at The Crossing in Hobart, said the protest started out “very peacefully.” The protest started to escalate after individuals – who did not have signs and didn’t appear to be with the protesters – began to “bait the police,” he said.

“In that gathering, you had some absolutely wonderful people who had gathered for the right purpose for their voice to be heard. But, you had a segment of people that were there — you could point them out — you could see them and they were not there to be heard. They were there to act.” Abbott said.

People who damage property during peaceful protests take away from the protester’s message, Brisco said.

“We are just really crying out for help. We don’t know anyway other way to do it other than cry out and scream people’s names,” Brisco said. “We’re tired and tired of (police misconduct) being swept under the rug. It doesn’t seem to change.”