Matthew Bruce, the organizer for Des Moines Black Lives Matter, turned himself into the Des Moines Police Department on Wednesday morning.
He was with Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad (D-Des Moines). Plenty of media was in attendance, though The Iowa Standard doesn’t seem to receive press releases from whoever notified the media of this event.
Bruce and Abdul-Samad went upstairs with detectives and DMPD Sgt. Paul Parizek. The Iowa Standard has left multiple messages with Parizek since Saturday’s BLM protest at Hy-Vee.
We’ve left messages on Monday, Tuesday and this morning.
We asked a few questions in Monday’s first voice mail and then sent an email on Wednesday morning, asking five questions:
- How many officers were at the location?
- How much damage (in value) was done to the DMPD vehicle at that Hy-Vee?
- Why were no arrests made?
- Were the actions of the protestors within the confines of the law? Is it legal to block entrances to private businesses and parking lots?
- Will charges be filed for vandalizing police property?
UPDATE: Just prior to publication, reports indicate that Bruce has been charged with first degree criminal mischief.
This morning, Bruce posted on Twitter that DMPD “is forcing me to turn myself in for criminal mischief aka being an upitty negro. All is well. Imma be out, about and louder than ever. If y’all wanna support me in this hour then head to the Polk County Jail.”
Des Moines Register reporter, Robin Opsahl, tweeted that the warrant was not public, but there were negotiations for Bruce to turn himself in with police and his attorney, according to Rep. Abdul-Samad. Bond was first set at $10,000 and reduced to $1,000.
