Morning Mix <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/>
‘They just need to disappear’: Kenosha sheriff once called for Black
shoplifters to be ‘warehoused’ and kept from having children
Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth speaks during a news conference
regarding the protests and shootings that came after Jacob Blake was
shot by police in Kenosha, Wis. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)
Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth speaks during a news conference
regarding the protests and shootings that came after Jacob Blake was
shot by police in Kenosha, Wis. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)
By
Katie Shepherd <https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/katie-shepherd/>
Washington Post, August 28, 2020 at 4:48 a.m. EDT
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After five young Black people allegedly stole about $5,000 of clothing,
sped away from police and then crashed into a teenage driver in 2018,
Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth had a harsh message. Although no one
was seriously injured, the maximum sentences the suspects could face
were not long enough for the sheriff, theKenosha News reported
<https://www.kenoshanews.com/news/local/sheriff-apologizes-for-comments/article_237219aa-5037-5b65-a942-e2cab649bec0.html>.
“These people have to be warehoused,” Beth, who is White,said at a news
conference
<https://rumble.com/v4b335-kenosha-county-sheriff-reacts-five-milwaukee-suspects-charged-in-pleasant-p.html>.
The three men involved in the crime should be removed from society so
that they could not father children, he suggested, adding that all five
suspects, whose ages ranged from 16 to 23, should go to prison for life.
“We put them away for the rest of their lives so the rest of us can be
better,” Beth said.
Although Beth swiftly apologized, his inflammatory comments resurfaced
Thursday as the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin called for
his resignation. The group also charged that his officers offered
support to armed militias at a Tuesday protest in Kenosha, before a
17-year-old allegedly shot and killed two protesters.
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The ACLU also called for Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis to resign
for appearing to blame the fatal shootings on the victims. Miskinison
Wednesday noted
<https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/27/us/kenosha-shooting-police-chief-curfew-blame-trnd/index.html>that
the victims were violating a city curfew put in place to quell protests
after one of his officers shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back on
Sunday.
“Sheriff David Beth’s deputies not only fraternized with white
supremacist counterprotesters on Tuesday, but allowed the shooter to
leave as people yelled that he was the shooter,” theACLU said in a
statement
<https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-calls-immediate-resignation-kenosha-police-chief-and-kenosha-county-sheriff>calling
for his resignation on Thursday. “Sheriff Beth was also criticized last
year after calling for five people of color who had been arrested for
shoplifting to be put into warehouses.”
Beth and Miskinis did not immediately respond to requests for comment on
the ACLU’s calls for their resignations.
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Beth’s inflammatory comments came in January 2018 after five people
drove into Kenosha from a nearby town, stole clothing from a Tommy
Hilfiger outlet and then sped away, pursued by a police cruiser.
The shoplifters blew through a red light and slammed into another car,
driven by a 16-year-old boy who had just earned his driver’s license.
Despite the close call, no one was seriously hurt in the crash, and five
suspects were promptly arrested.
But Beth suggested all five people involved were beyond redemption.
“I have no issue with these five people completely disappearing,” he
said. “These people are no longer an asset to our community, and they
just need to disappear.”
At the time, Beth’s remarksrankled many community leaders
<https://www.kenoshanews.com/news/local/local-faith-leaders-decry-sheriffs-comments-apology/article_87b43943-c271-578e-b0ac-089a59763b63.html>,
from church leadership to local politicians. Beth later denied that his
remarks were racially motivated andapologized
<https://www.kenoshanews.com/news/local/local-faith-leaders-decry-sheriffs-comments-apology/article_87b43943-c271-578e-b0ac-089a59763b63.html>if
he had offended anyone, but he refused to retract his statements and
repeatedly defended his tough-on-crime rhetoric.
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Now he’s under fire again over how his deputies treated armed militias
in Kenosha in the lead-up to Tuesday’s deadly violence, as well as their
failure to stop the alleged gunman afterthree people
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/08/26/jacob-blake-kenosha-police-protests/?itid=lk_inline_manual_21>were
shot. Kyle Rittenhouse was charged Thursday with first-degree
intentional homicide in the fatal shootings.
How a night of protest turned deadly in Kenosha
Washington Post reporter Whitney Leaming described how the night of Aug.
25 unfolded in Kenosha, Wis., and her close encounter with the alleged
gunman. (Whitney Leaming, Whitney Shefte/The Washington Post)
17-year-old charged with homicide after shooting during Kenosha
protests, authorities say
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/08/26/jacob-blake-kenosha-police-protests/?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_23>
As officers responded to the gunshots, they passed Rittenhouse even as
other people in the crowd shouted that he was the shooter and urged
police to arrest him. The teenage boy was arrested about 20 miles away
in his hometown the next day.
Beth has said his deputies did not stop Rittenhouse because of confusion
during the chaotic moments following the gunfire.
“There’s screaming, there’s hollering, there’s a squad car running,
there’s bearcats idling and, if the officer happened to be in the car,
the radio traffic was nonstop,” hetold reporters on Wednesday
<https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/illinois-teen-arrested-in-connection-to-deadly-shooting-in-kenosha?fbclid=IwAR1KN3MHIEHUFv8uP0_yvvhi5o0pheQDt2N1bWPodmhRh4GN8XxaZFYsaIo>.
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Although he has been criticized for his deputies’ actions on Tuesday
night, Beth did condemn the armed men who showed up to the Kenosha
protests, some from out of town, claiming to protect local businesses
from looters.
At least one group of self-styled militia members asked Beth to deputize
them to police the crowds in Kenosha, the sheriff said. His response was
a resounding no.
“I had a person call me and say, ‘Why don’t you deputize citizens who
have guns to come out and patrol the city of Kenosha?’ And I’m like, oh,
hell no,” hesaid at a news conference
<https://www.npr.org/2020/08/27/906791713/oh-hell-no-why-the-police-doesnt-need-militias-help-at-riots>Wednesday.
“There’s no way I would deputize people.”
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