Houston Texans wide receiver Kenny Stills is facing a felony charge after he and a large group of people were arrested at a protest in Louisville on Tuesday.
Stills and several other protesters went on an organized march to the home of Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron. The purpose of the protest was to demand action against the police officers who shot and killed Breonna Taylor back in March. According to Lucas Aulbach of the Louisville Courier Journal, Stills and 86 other protesters were arrested.
Stills was charged with intimidating a participant in the legal process, which is a felony. He is also facing misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and criminal trespass. The others involved are facing similar charges.
Louisville Metro Police Lamont Washington said in a statement that the protesters stood on Cameron’s lawn and chanted. Washington said authorities gave all of the protesters a chance to leave before arresting anyone, but the protesters were ultimately charged “due to their refusal to leave the property and their attempts to influence the decision of the Attorney General with their actions.”
Taylor, an ER technician, was shot and killed when Louisville police were serving a no-knock warrant over the suspected sale of drugs back in March. Gunfire was exchanged between officers and Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker, who said he believed the officers were intruders. The primary targets of the investigation were two other men, one of whom Taylor had a prior relationship with.
Stills has been one of the most outspoken players in the NFL with social justice issues. He has supported Colin Kaepernick for years and was more recently critical of an NFL owner who made a charitable donation to a social justice cause.
