Ky. Rep. Attica Scott discusses moments leading up to arrest, felony charge

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - At least two dozen people were arrested during protests last night in Louisville, including democratic State Representative Attica Scott. She is Kentucky’s lone Black female state representative.

Scott was released from Metro Corrections Friday morning but still faces a felony charge.

She was recording a livestream in the minutes leading up to the arrest.

“Hey sir, we’re all going to the church if you want to join us,” someone in the video yelled to another pedestrian near the start of the livestream.

Scott said she was walking from Broadway to First Unitarian Church in hopes of reaching it before curfew went into effect.

“I want y’all to see, we’re trying to get to sanctuary,” Scott can be heard saying in the video.

The group then encountered police, both sides trying to yell to communicate with each other.

“Where do you want us to go?” Scott yelled.

Police eventually surrounded the group and told them to sit in an area near the Main Library on York Street.

“They’re saying, ‘Circle us,’” Scott said over the video. “Ok. Y’all, they want to kill us.”

An LMPD report stated she was with a group that set fire to the Main Library, but Scott said she wasn’t. Her livestream did not show looting or a fire being set at the library as she walked past it.

“[I] never saw any of this so-called violence against the library,” Scott said Friday. “I’m offended that would be a charge against me because I was one of the main advocates for the library.”

Supporters of Scott, including library workers, took to social media Friday echoing that claim.

Scott was arrested and charged with felony rioting, failure to disperse, and unlawful assembly.

Fellow State Representative Josie Raymond, (D) Louisville, posted that Scott and Brett Hankison received the level of charges.

“The claim that they are trying to do anything other than love our community was really just a slap in the face,” State Representative Charles Booker, (D) Louisville, said.

Not all were supportive though. The Kentucky Freedom Coalition spoke out against those defending the lawmaker.

The Louisville Jefferson County Democratic Party called for an investigation Friday into what happened.

“I want a full investigation, full accountability,” Virginia Woodward, party chair, said. “Was this the easiest group to pick up after what happened at the library?”

Scott is the author of Breonna’s Law which would create police reforms across the state.

“If they keep ignoring us, and our cries, what does Fischer expect?” Scott said. “What do the police expect? What does the Governor expect? Listen to us. Listen to Black people. Stop trying to throw us away as if we are not part of the fabric of this community.”

Another state lawmaker told WAVE 3 News that Scott would not automatically lose her seat in the legislature if convicted of a felony. Instead, other lawmakers would have to decide on their own as to whether she could be censured, fined, or expelled.

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