Kyle Rittenhouse: Political Prisoner

 

Image posted on Freerepublic as political meme, scaled by Dean Weingarten Top image, unarmed man beat to near-death by violent mob in Portland, Oregon. Lower image Kyle Rittenhouse after defending himself against multiple attackers in Kenosha Wisconsin.

Kyle Rittenhouse is a political prisoner.  Just before midnight on 25 August, 2020, Kyle Rittenhouse shot three people who attacked him in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in self defense. Rittenhouse was legally there performing voluntary actions to minimize damage done by rioters.  He was fleeing a mob pursuing him when he was forced to defend himself, shooting three of numerous pursuers at two separate locations. All three of the people shot got within contact range of Rittenhouse. Two were attempting to disarm him, the third had a semi-automatic pistol in his hand.  The first attacker had been aggressive earlier and had challenged a black man to shoot him, saying shoot me n*gga!" more than once. The first attacker was a felon and sex offender who chased Rittenhouse and tried to take his rifle.

After that defensive shooting, Kyle Rittenhouse fled the mob and attempted to turn himself in to police custody. There is audio of his intent to do so as he ran from the mob. One of his attackers asked him what he was doing while the attacker was live streaming and running close to Rittenhouse. Kyle Rittenhouse said "I am going to the police".  Rittenhouse was repeatedly attacked as he ran in an attempt to reach the police.

Rittenouse tripped and went down on the street, and was attacked in a coordinated manner by multiple assailants.

The second person shot had hit Rittenhouse on the head, neck and shoulder with a skateboard, a common Antifa tactic. He was trying to take Rittenhouse's rifle when he was shot. 

The third attacker was lunging at Rittenouse with a semi-automatic pistol in his hand, from less than body length, when Rittenouse shot him in the gun arm, stopping the attack. The actions were all videotaped; there were witnesses; they were clear cases of self defense. 

After successfully repelling those attacks, Rittenhouse continued on his way to the police. 

To prevent themselves from being shot, the attackers only had to allow Kyle Rittenhouse to run away from them, to the police, and refrain from attacking him. Several of Kyle's pursuers do exactly that, and are not shot.

There is video evidence of Rittenhouse with his hands up, attempting to surrender, walking to police vehicles as they ignore him, driving past. 

Just hours later, after returning to his home in Antioch, Illinois, 15 miles from the scene of the attacks. Kyle turned himself in to the police in his home town, on 26 August, 2020, accompanied by his mother, long before any court documents were filed in Wisconsin.

 Kyle Rittenhouse voluntarily surrendered to police in Antioch, Illinois.

Two guns were turned into police when a 17-year-old Antioch man charged in the Kenosha shootings surrendered himself, police said, but officials are not saying who owned the guns and whether they had valid firearm owners identification cards.

Kyle Rittenhouse was accompanied by his mother when he went to the police department Wednesday, Antioch Interim Police Chief Geoff Guttschow said Thursday. He faces multiple charges in Kenosha

 Kenosha is less than five miles from the Illinois border.

About the same time as Kyle turned himself into the police on 26 August, CAIRchicago was mobilizing a political campaign urging the political powers in Kenosha to prosecute him.  They named Kyle and urged a phone and email campaign. 

This may explain the rapidity with which the prosecutors created a warrant for Kyle's arrest, which was issued on 27 August, 2020. The criminal complaint is absurd; the facts it contains absolve Kyle; one statute does not even apply to Kyle.

No grand jury was convened to consider the case. The evidence is such as to vindicate a self defense plea rather than first degree homicide charges. 

An anomaly in the case, is the handwritten non-traffic complaint by the Antioch police dated 26 August, which appears to be before a complaint was issued in Wisconsin. It lists a Wisconsin warrant number, W261694050. 

Perhaps it was a simple mistake in the date. Perhaps an alert reader will be able to find the Wisconsin warrant and explain how it could be issued before a complaint was filed with the court, or how a prosecutor could do enough of an investigation to ask for a warrant less than 24 hours after the event, in which there were enormous amounts of evidence available. 

Image from Antioch police public domain cropped and scaled, green text added by Dean Weingarten

The District Attorney, Michael D. Graveley, did not have a reputation of being a far left politician, even though he attended Berkely for his batchelors' degree and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, for his law degree. He was unopposed in the last election. He is listed as a Democrat. 

The entire political structure of Kenosha seems incapable of resisting the mob of radical leftists who took over the center of the city, burning businesses.  Governor Evers of Wisconsin appeared similarly frozen from action. Just say the magic word "racist" and all Democrat politicians, and most Republicans, seem to be cowered into submission.

The case seems similar to the McCloskey's case in St Louis, or the Baca case in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  In each case, the people being charged defended themselves against attack by an angry mob; in each case the prosecutor charging them is a Democrat politician.  In all three cases the police were withdrawn from the area, giving full reign to the rioters.  

In each case there is clear video evidence of self defense.  Both Steve Baca and Kyle Rittenhouse were retreating from a mob of pursuers when assaulted by people armed with skateboards and attempting to disarm them; the McCloskeys were at their own home and threatened with beating and rape. In all three cases, the possession of personal defensive firearms prevented further physical assault.  In all three cases, the prosecutor bent the facts in extreme ways in order to prosecute the armed citizens.

Imagine if Kyle were black, and had defended himself against a mob chasing him. Kyle would be universally decreed a national hero. While defenses against mobs are thankfully rare, black peoples' defense of self and others are fairly common, and have been praised here on AmmoLand when known. 

 None of Kyle Rittenhouse's attackers have been charged with their crimes.

Police do not routinely release information on people who defend themselves, so it is harder to know their skin color.  Numerous uses of guns to defend themselves are recounted in Negroes and the Gun: The Black Tradition of Arms.

Second Amendment supporters universally praise minority groups use of arms to defend against mobs. "Roof Koreans" has become a phrase because of Korean shopkeepers during the LA riots. Condoleezza Rice often recounted how her father and other black men defended themselves with firearms.

CAIRchicago gave a list of handy contact points for politicians who could effect the Kyle Rittenhouse prosecution.

This has become a political case rather than a legal one. The solution is political as well as legal. The prosecutor must be made aware his political decision to persecute Kyle has a political price. Fortunately, CAIRchicago listed these contacts:

• Call the Kenosha City Attorney at 262-653-4170.

• Call the Mayor of Kenosha and City Administration at 262-653-4000.

• Demand justice from the Kenosha Police Non-Emergency Line 262-656-1234.

• Call the Wisconsin Department of Justice at 608-266-1221.

• Kenosha District Attorney Michael D. Graveley at michael.graveley@da.wi.gov

• Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian mayor@kenosha.org

• Kenosha Police Department Chief of Police Daniel G. Miskinis dgm398@kenoshapolice.com

Political contacts work for anyone. There are many Democrats and black people in Kenosha who do not appreciate Antifa and BLM types coming in and burning up their town. 

 The criminal complaint against Kyle reads almost as if the people writing it were his defense attorneys.

The first person he shot was witnessed chasing Kyle in concert with others, throwing an object at him, (laughingly called a plastic bag in the criminal complaint, when clearly there was an object inside the bag) and grabbing for his gun while Kyle was attempting to evade him and those who were following behind him. 

The other two people he shot were chasing him and attempted to disarm him. One hit him on the head, neck and shoulder with a skateboard while attempting to disarm him, after three previous, failed attacks against Rittenhouse.  This is laughably referred to as "the skateboard makes contact with the defendant's left shoulder".  The last person shot "moves toward the defendant" and "Grosskreutz appears to be holding a handgun in his right hand when he was shot". None of this makes the cut for a charge of First Degree Homicide. All of it indicates justifiable self defense. 

The last charge, Possession of a Dangerous Weapon by a Person Under 18, isn't even a criminal offense, because it does not apply to people over 16, except in special circumstances, which where not germane to Kyle.

All three of the people Kyle Rittenhouse shot had police records, indicating their propensity for violence, or at least, willingness to break the law.

It is sad to see elected officials so fearful of radicals in their own party, they allow themselves to be bullied into persecuting innocents.  That is what happened in the French Revolution, where the Left earned their political nomenclature as being "on the left". 

A terror where hundreds of thousands of innocent people are killed to satisfy the insanity of a radical mob, is something we need to fight, not encourage. 

Free Kyle Rittenhouse!

©2020 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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