Nurse in widely-viewed U.S. protest photo
holds first interview
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[July 15, 2016]
(Reuters) - The black woman who was
photographed in a long, flowy dress standing before a pair of
heavily-geared riot police during a protest in Baton Rouge last weekend
gave her first public interview since the photo went viral, CBS News
said on Thursday.
Ieshia Evans, 35, was made famous by the widely-shared picture, which
encapsulated for some the spirit of demonstrators across the United
States protesting against how police treat people of color. The photo
was snapped by Reuters freelance photographer Jonathan Bachman.
Evans, a licensed nurse, spoke to CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King
about the July 9 incident, saying she felt compelled to walk into the
street even though police had ordered protesters off the roadway.
"I just—I needed to see them. I needed to see the officers," Evans said
in an excerpt of the interview aired on Thursday. The full interview is
to air on Friday morning.
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"I'm human. I'm a woman. I'm a mom. I'm a nurse. I could be your nurse.
I could be taking care of you. You know? Our children could be friends.
We all matter. We don't have to beg to matter. We do matter," she added.
Baton Rouge has become a flashpoint for protesters after Alton Sterling,
37, was shot and killed last week by city police who were responding to
a call that he had threatened someone with a gun outside a convenience
store where he was selling CDs.
Sterling's death, followed by the fatal shooting of another black man,
Philando Castile, 32, near St. Paul, Minnesota, revived a wave of
protests that has swirled for two years under the name Black Lives
Matter.
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![](../images/071516PICS/news_h11.jpg)
Protestor Ieshia Evans is detained by law enforcement near the
headquarters of the Baton Rouge Police Department in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana, U.S. July 9, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Bachman/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Jul/15/images/ads/current/castlemanor_lda_SPRINGFLING_2016.png)
Bachman said police had cleared a group of protesters from the road
before Evans walked onto the highway and stood before a wall of
officers. Her face bore no expression and she did not speak, he
said.
Bachman said the officers grabbed Evans and hurried her away, with
the whole incident lasting only about 30 seconds. Evans was arrested
on a charge of simple obstruction of a highway and released from
custody, according to a jail log from the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's
Office.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Andrew
Hay)
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