Story at a glance
- The man identified as Chris Green was part of a group of protesters trying to take down a Confederate monument in Portsmouth, Va.
- The man had been at the front of the statue when he was struck as it toppled down.
- Virginia State Police are investigating the incident and say the Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney will determine if any charges will be filed.
A protester suffered life-threatening injuries Wednesday night after a Confederate statue that was torn down by demonstrators in Portsmouth, Va., fell directly on top of him, according to WAVY.
The man identified as Chris Green was part of a group of protesters that were using bolt cutters, hammers and other objects to chip away at the Portsmouth Confederate monument. Demonstrators beheaded four Confederate statutes before pulling one down using a rope. The man had been at the front of the statue when he was struck as it toppled down.
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“It came and fully hit him in the head, and we could see that his skull was actually showing,” a witness identified as a Black Lives Matter activist told WAVY. “He was convulsing on the ground.”
After the man was injured, protesters stopped to offer prayers before police instructed them to leave the area.
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Virginia State Police are investigating the incident and say the Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney will determine if any charges will be filed, WAVY reports.
The monument sits at a site where slaves were punished on a whipping post, according to The Virginian-Pilot.
Demonstrators across the U.S. have targeted a number of Confederate statues and other monuments they believe are symbols of racism following the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in Minneapolis police custody after a white officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
A statue of Confederate leader Jefferson Davis was toppled by protesters in Richmond, Va., on Wednesday night. The toppling of the Davis statue is the third time in less than a week that demonstrators tore down Confederate monuments in Richmond.
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