A Wisconsin state Senator said he was attacked by protesters overnight as he was heading to the State Capitol Building. A WKOW 27 News crew came across Senator Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) around midnight. Carpenter said he was assaulted for taking a photo of the protest, an incident he apparently captured in a cell phone video which he posted to Twitter.
A few moments later Carpenter collapsed and an ambulance was called. He was able to get into the emergency vehicle on his own.
I took this pic- it got me assaulted & beat up. Punched/kicked in the head, neck, ribs. Maybe concussion, socked in left eye is little blurry, sore neck & ribs. 8-10 people attacked me. Innocent people are going to get killed. Capitol locked- stuck in office.Stop violence nowPlz! pic.twitter.com/Zw2hdfYG66
— Tim Carpenter (@TimCarpenterMKE) June 24, 2020
Also overnight, two statues on the grounds of the Capitol were taken down, during demonstrations over the Tuesday arrest of an activist. Protesters were demanding the release from jail of 28-year-old Devonere Johnson
Police took Johnson into custody outside a downtown restaurant at around 12:30 p.m. He was tentatively charged with disorderly conduct while armed, resisting arrest and attempted escape.
The Madison Police Department shared video of Johnson inside Coopers Tavern, and of his arrest. The footage inside the Tavern shows Johnson emphasizing that he is disturbing the restaurant and holding a baseball bat while speaking through a bullhorn. Johnson followed a man into the restaurant that he called a racist.
The two statues that protesters pulled down were of Forward, which normally stands outside the State Capitol at the top of State Street. and left it lying in the middle of the road.
The same group also tore down the Colonel Hans Christian Heg statue on the opposite side of the Capitol a short time later. That statue was then thrown into Lake Monona. Heg was Norwegian immigrant who was killed in action while fighting in the Union Army during the Civil War.