On May 30, 2020, local political activist Lawrence Nathaniel (pictured above with megaphone) led a crowd marching from Columbia City Hall to the South Carolina Statehouse to bring attention to police misconduct after the death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis City Police. The event, dubbed “I Can’t Breathe”, was largely non-violent over the course of ten hours that day. But tensions grew as activists marched towards Columbia Police headquarters to address local grievances. Chief Skip Holbrook and Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott struggled to maintain order as cynical actors provoked confrontation throughout the day.
Photos by Thomas Hammond
Protestors march down Main Street from Columbia City Hall to the South Carolina Statehouse.
Rep. J. Todd Rutherford, Minority Leader for the State House of Representatives, speaks on the steps of the statehouse in Columbia surrounded by family and supporters of Joshua Ruffin, a 17 year old teenager killed by Columbia Police Officer Kevin Davis in the parking lot of Eau Claire High School.
Protestors converge in front of the headquarters of the Columbia Police Department after rallying at the South Carolina statehouse just a few blocks away.
A modest force of Columbia Police Department officers and Richland County Sheriff’s deputies hold the line preventing protestors from accessing department headquarters at 1 Justice Square. Reinforcements to help clear the area would not arrive for a few hours.
Tyrieck Davis-Newton confronts a Richland County Sheriff’s deputy in front of Columbia Police Headquarters at 1 Justice Square.
A Columbia Police Department officer attempts to remove a damaged inceptor from the scene unfolding on Washington Street west of police headquarters after a fight spirals out into open confrontation with law enforcement. Police officers retreated back to HQ after a woman was injured in order to calm tensions and wait for reinforcements.
Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook rallies his forces outside of HQ in an attempt to begin clearing Justice Square of protestors.
For a little over an hour, local security forces held back as some people began setting police interceptors and other vehicles on fire. Followers of the anti-government “Boogaloo” movement are believed responsible for inciting the vandalism.
By dusk, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott had been given command of multiple law enforcement agencies, including state police, to enforce a hastily enacted curfew order given by Mayor Steve Benjamin and the Columbia City Council.
A group of protestors resist the city’s curfew order on Lady Street in the The Vista, a popular hospitality district in downtown Columbia.
From start to finish, the events of May 30, 2020 would last approximately ten hours. Mayor Steve Benjamin and Representaive J. Todd Rutherford were the only civic leaders spotted (briefly) on the ground struggling to comprehend the scene unfolding before them. Sheriff Lott would eventually succeed in clearing downtown, arresting scores of curfew resistors. White “Boogaloo Boys” and black gang members accused of committing the limited acts of violence and looting were not identified or charged until days after the event. As the summer dragged on, civic leaders made vague statements regarding police reform while law enforcement leaders made statements asking for more resources. Officer Kevin Davis was eventually cleared of any wrong doing in the shooting of Joshua Ruffin outside of Eau Claire High School in North Columbia.