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 Relatives of Tony Robinson, 19, had expressed disappointment at
Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne's decision on Tuesday
that Madison officer Matt Kenny, who is white, used justified lethal
force in the March 6 shooting.
More than two dozen people were arrested, mostly on suspicion of
obstructing the road, and then released, Madison Police spokesman
Joel DeSpain said, describing their acts as peaceful civil
disobedience.
Demonstrators marched from the house where Robinson was shot to a
courthouse and a jail.
Protesters in Minneapolis, Minnesota, marching in solidarity with
their Madison counterparts on Wednesday night said on social media
that police used mace against demonstrators, including a 10-year-old
boy.
Minneapolis Police Chief Janeé Harteau in a statement late on
Wednesday night promised a "thorough investigation" of the
allegations.
Robinson's shooting was one of several officer-involved deaths that
have led to increased scrutiny of police use of force, particularly
against young black men.
Brandi Grayson, co-founder of the Young Gifted and Black Coalition
that organized the protest, said the group wanted community control
over the hiring and firing of officers and a U.N. probe into racial
disparities in Dane County and Wisconsin.
"We don't have time-set goals. We understand the struggle for black
liberation will be generational," Grayson said.
Lakaya Horton, 13, of Madison, got permission to go to the protest
with her mother and a friend instead of school.
"No matter who you are, you should be charged for killing a person,"
Horton said.
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Ozanne said Kenny was responding to multiple emergency calls
reporting that a man had battered someone and was dodging traffic in
the street. Robinson's friends called 911 to say they were afraid of
him because he was acting violently and was on drugs.
Robinson struck the officer in the head and Kenny shot Robinson
seven times, Ozanne said. Robinson had psilocybin mushrooms,
marijuana and the psychoactive drug Xanax in his system, he said.
There were large but orderly demonstrations in Madison after
Robinson's shooting. The city of 240,000 people is nearly
four-fifths white and 7 percent African-American, according to U.S.
Census figures.
Attorney Jon Loevy, who represents Robinson's family, said on
Tuesday the decision left many unanswered questions.
Kenny is on paid administrative leave pending completion of a
department internal investigation.
(Additional reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee and Curtis
Skinner in San Francisco; Writing by David Bailey; Editing by Alison
Williams)
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