On Monday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that a Georgia trooper involved in arresting a Black state lawmaker after she knocked on Gov. Brian Kemp’s office door invoked the Capitol riot to explain why he considered her a potential threat.
“The officer, Lt. G.D. Langford, said in a 13-page incident report that he was worried that other protesters would have been ’emboldened’ to follow state Rep. Park Cannon’s lead if he didn’t arrest her after she refused his requests to stop knocking on Kemp’s private second-floor office in the Georgia Capitol,” reported Greg Bluestein. “‘The events of January 6, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol were in the back of my mind,’ he wrote in a report obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.”
Cannon’s arrest, which triggered outrage from voting activists, came as Kemp signed a controversial election bill that has been characterized as a new Jim Crow law.
It rolls back voting access in a number of ways, including a more burdensome process to submit mail-in ballots, a provision that lets legislature-appointed officials take over local election boards, and a criminal ban on giving voters food and water while they stand in line. Already, multiple lawsuits have been filed to overturn the measure.
Georgia Rep. Park Cannon arrested outside governor’s office www.youtube.com
*story by RawStory
