After turning police, a Wisconsin father and daughter say they were simply defending the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on Tuesday afternoon when they were arrested for using a rifle during a protest over the loss of bear hunting.
According to a police report, the duo, named as Scott Fitzgerald and his 17-year-old daughter Marietta, brought a rifle, allegedly a revolvers, to a few groups of black-clad protesters on Monday night before marching with them downtown in response to the state’s bear hunting policy. The protest included hundreds of protesters, including a few BLM members, who claim to be part of the group from Milwaukee, when they marched downtown for their first signs-heavy day Tuesday, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
Groups of protesters, known as Rittenhouse Buddies for its group name, marched for about 10 minutes with a long wooden pole and a bullhorn. In response, Fitzgerald and his daughter, with a brief supply of protesters nearby, allegedly began to brandish weapons in a pointed demonstration of “self-defense,” authorities said. A group of police officers watched what was going on while others, described as just “a few bystanders” in a police report, were left to collect the aftermath.
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Police say after an hour of studying the area and discussing what had been going on, a few of those officers issued Fitzgerald and his daughter a citation. The duo was later arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.
Fitzgerald’s daughter defended her father, stating to the paper that “in hindsight” the father and daughter “should not have engaged in what we did.” The pair was released later that night after a judge reviewed the case and chose to not hold them.
A handgun pistol was recovered from Fitzgerald’s car, and his daughter reportedly “knocked over a bottle of medicine,” but otherwise the man and his daughter are charged with a misdemeanor.