A Mobile woman has been brought up on federal charges for actions taken during a May 31 protest in Alabama’s port city.
Tia Deyon Pugh is alleged to have brought a bat with her to the protest which she used to smash the passenger window of a police car.
She and a group of unnamed demonstrators are further alleged to have left the main protest and blocked off all traffic on an I-10 on-ramp, causing a disruption of interstate commerce.
The charges were announced by the office of Richard Moore, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama.
The protest on the I-10 on-ramp in which Pugh took part in forced a shipment of hazardous waste to take a 19.5-mile detour, according to Daniel Driskell, an engineer with the Alabama Department of Transportation.
An affidavit submitted by FBI Special Agent Paul Roche says Pugh admitted to him that she broke the window of the police vehicle.
According to MyNBC15, the damage done to the police car was the only destruction done amidst the protests.
The base of the monument to Confederate Admiral Raphael Semmes was also vandalized during the unrest.
Officers at the scene said that Pugh’s actions seemed to be an attempt to further provoke the assembled demonstrators into more aggressive acts of destruction.
An officer was inside the vehicle when the window was smashed.
Before being brought up on federal charges triggered by the disruption of interstate commerce, Pugh was charged by local prosecutors for inciting a riot and criminal mischief, third degree.
Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: [email protected] or on Twitter @HenryThornton95
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