Pete Buttigieg Confronted By Angry Protestors After Fatal Police Shooting
Pete Buttigieg left the campaign trail on Friday to head back to his home town of South Bend, Indiana after police fatally shot a black man last weekend. When he got there, he was confronted by impassioned protesters demanding that police violence in the city be addressed, according to The New York Times.
The South Bend Mayor has been on the campaign trail as he ramps up his bid for president in the upcoming 2020 election. But for the second time this week, he was forced to pull himself off the campaign trail, this time to address the growing unrest in his city.
“Part of my job is to promote healing,” he said, announcing that he needed to engage “members of the community, especially the black community, who are concerned with whether they can trust the police.”
When he arrived in town, family members and friends of the slain Eric Logan, as well as members of the community concerned about police brutality, confronted the 37-year-old politician.
“You’re running for president and you want black people to vote for you? That’s not going to happen,” a woman in the crowd yelled.
Another questioned whether he was there because he wanted to promote healing or to gain attention for his presidential run.
“Are you really here because you care about blacks, or are you just here because you want to be the president?” a woman asked.
“Do you believe black lives matter? Can you say to us today in front of all these cameras that black lives matter?” shouted another.
“Are you really here because you care about blacks, or are you just here because you want to be the president?” Pete Buttigieg faced emotion and anger on Friday as protests over the fatal shooting of a black man by a South Bend police officer continued. https://t.co/1an1FIcMRQ
— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 22, 2019
Logan was shot by officers who were responding to reports of a man breaking into cars in the area. The official word is that Logan pulled a knife and made a motion towards one of the officers, who shot and killed him.
There doesn’t appear to be any body camera footage of the incident and the man’s body was taken to the hospital via police car rather than an ambulance, prompting speculation about what took place. Logan’s family plans to file suit against the City of South Bend.
Buttigieg stayed largely calm during the confrontation, though when asked if he believed that black lives matter, he responded with a heated “of course black lives matter.”
The president of the South Bend NAACP, Michael Patton, attended the event, but didn’t get involved in the shouting. He said that he believes that Buttigieg showed empathy and praised the mayor for his response. Earlier in the day, Patton had endorsed Buttigieg for president.
