Officers Spend Hours Removing Chained Protestors from Burton Hills Boulevard Private Property

8/6/2018

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Twenty persons, five from Nashville, were charged today for refusing to leave CoreCivic property at 10 Burton Hills Boulevard after repeated verbal warnings; ten of those persons arrested chained themselves together.

Dozens of protesters arrived at the location at 6:15 a.m. In response, more than 70 officers and 18 supervisors were pulled from their regular duties protecting Nashville’s neighborhoods. Officers made repeated announcements that trespassers needed to leave the property. After these numerous warnings were ignored, officers arrested nine persons who refused to leave or reentered the property. Officers then spent four hours in extreme heat, 95 degrees with a heat index of 102, meticulously and methodically removing the remaining ten, who had encased their chains in steel and concrete.

At 2:15 p.m. today, there were 62 calls for non-emergency police service pending due to the Burton Hills response.

“We understand the need of the people to engage in protest. We understand the right of the people to engage in protest,” Chief Steve Anderson said. “I think that all of Nashville knows that over the years we have taken all reasonable steps to facilitate and accommodate those views and those rights as people have engaged in protests. However, today's actions, by a handful of persons, can only be interpreted as a deliberate and calculated measure to impact public safety and to unreasonably expend public resources. These actions, by a few, go far beyond any need to or right to express a point of view. At any future sentencing for these illegal acts, there should be corresponding and commensurate consequences.”

The following persons were charged with criminal trespassing today:

Jeannie Alexander, 46, Fowler Street, Old Hickory, TN

Ansley Wolfe-Nelson, 22, Rosa L. Parks Blvd, Nashville, TN

Dustin Steele, 27, Hawthorne Avenue, Knoxville, TN

Russell Manning, 27, Island Home Avenue, Knoxville, TN

Wesley Hufstader, 26, Buchanan Road, Asheville, NC

David Hayes, 25, Hawthorne Avenue, Knoxville, TN

Thomas Gonzales, 22, Chloe Cove, Atoka, TN

Gary Crays, 42, Elsmore Lane, Liberty, TN

Johnathan Bonini, 32, Laurel Lake Road, Brackney, PA

Lillian Hsu, 37, Buttercup Ridge Road, Liberty, TN (also charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct)

Riley Bigg, 38, Mount Clarke Avenue, Asheville, NC

Joseph Fennell, 32, Meade Lake Road, Millington, TN

Bethney Foster, 44, Homestead Road, Nashville, TN

Tuesday Gilliam, 37, Sanctuary Lane, Liberty, TN

Julie Henry, 33, Earlene Drive, Nashville, TN

Caleb Brock, 19, Waheela Drive, Chattanooga, TN

Hunter Duncan, 26, Highway 12 South, Ashland City, TN

Ashley Dixon, 34, Pinewood Drive, Nashville, TN

Danielle Burton, 31, Grand Avenue, Watertown, TN

Juliette Allen, 25, Grand Avenue, Watertown, TN

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