Former Ferguson, Mo., officer arrived outside Kenosha court to support Rittenhouse with rifle

A former Ferguson, Mo., police officer arrived outside the Kenosha, Wis., courthouse with an AR-15 to support Kyle Rittenhouse. 

Jesse Kline, the former officer from Missouri who was first identified by a Twitter user, shouted his identity to the crowd, saying he was “prior Ferguson police officer Jesse Kline,” The Washington Post reported. 

In a text message to the Post, Kline said he “traveled all the way from Arizona to support constitutional rights, and the right to self-defense.”

Rittenhouse was on trial for killing two protesters and wounding a third at a protest in Kenosha last summer. The jury found him not guilty of all charges. 

Rittenhouse said he used his AR-15 in self-defense after protesters began to attack him.

Kline showed up outside the courthouse Wednesday with an AR-15. Officers told Kline that, by law, he could not have a gun that close to a school, which was across the street.

Kline put the weapon away and continued to come back each day to support Rittenhouse. He clashed with protesters and screamed obscenities about the Black Lives Matter movement.

The Chicago Tribune reported that Kline was fired over stalking charges and charges that he made threats to a couple, although the charges were dropped in 2020 when the woman and man refused to testify. 

Kline was accused in 2018 of stalking a woman whom he had previously dated, and threatening her new boyfriend with a gun. 

The Hill has reached out to the Ferguson Police Department for comment.