TERRE HAUTE, Ind – Monday afternoon we spoke with Terre Haute Police Chief Shawn Keen to get a recap of this past weekend’s activities in the city.
Chief Keen said that for the most part protesters that gathered at the courthouse and in front of police headquarters were peaceful.
There we no arrests and no damage to buildings.
He added that as the day wore on, the crowd increased in size and there were some who seemed to want cause trouble.
One person was apparently attacked as she tried to drive through a crowd that was blocking 3rd Street. Indiana State Police are investigating that incident.
Keen said that a little after 1:00 a.m. after the protests had concluded there was an incident at the Casey’s Convenience Store on 3rd Street.
Apparently as two of the protesters were walking north to return to their vehicles, they got into an altercation. One man attempted to intervene and that is when one of the men went to his car, retrieved a ball bat and struck the person who intervened.
Keen said that the person who was struck was taken to an Indianapolis hospital in critical condition.
The person with the bat, was a juvenile and was arrested.
Keen said he was proud of how his officers behaved when they were antagonized, called names and yelled at.
He did not go into the number of city officers that were on duty and participated in peacekeeping. He said that they do not discuss operational tactics. He did not have a dollar amount that was spent on overtime and other expenditures to maintain safety. He said it make take a week or more to know that amount.