A 64-year-old white woman from Milwaukee was arrested by police on June 6 after she blocked George Floyd protesters from marching with her car and after she spat on a black man.
Hate crime
The video of the confrontation between the woman and the protesters and the spitting incident was shared on Facebook and Twitter. The footage shows a car parked in the middle of North Oakland Avenue and it obstructed protesters from marching down the street.
The white woman was then seen outside of her car, yelling at protesters and telling them to get away from her before she spat on a black man in the crowd.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the person that she spat on was a young black man. Protesters who were surrounding the old woman urged her to get back to her car and drive away but someone said in the recording that the woman refused to move her car, so they can't go.
On June 7, the Shorewood Police Department identified the woman as attorney Stephanie Rapkin. She was immediately taken into custody and the charges related to the encounter will be referred to the Milwaukee County District Attorney's office, according to the news.
David Bowen, a state representative, called for the woman's attorney licence to be removed because of the incident, he also shared the incident on Twitter.
The executive director of the state bar of Wisconsin, Larry J. Martin, said on June 7 that the video left him disturbed and disgusted and he also expressed his view that there is no justifiable reason for one person to spit on another individual, pandemic or not.
While Martin stated that he does not handle disciplinary actions for licensed attorneys like Rapkin, he referred all of the complaints to the State of Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation, according to the report of the Journal Sentinel.
The news site Newsweek tried to reach out to the State of Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation for their comment on the incident. The Shorewood Police Department did not reveal any other information about Rapkin.
Black Lives Matter protest
Massive protests have erupted across the United States and in other countries since last week. The protest was sparked by the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who was murdered by ex-officer Derek Chauvin from the Minneapolis police force.
After days of protest, all four officers in the incident were arrested and charged. However, the public are demanding justice for other senseless crimes done by police officers and they are calling for the end of police brutality especially towards the African Americans.
This is the first time that all 50 states in America came together to protest. Thousands of Black Lives Matter protesters are taking their sentiments to the streets and after days of marching, it shows no signs of stopping nor dwindling.
Fights also broke out between the police and the people, with cases of violence, vandalism and looting in some cities in the country. Numerous videos went viral on social media that shows how the police officers used rubber bullets, tear gas and violence when trying to break up a group of peaceful protesters.
