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Officer Edmund Hoyt, 34, was being held without bail. He shot and killed 42-year-old Kelvin White in January after what Chesapeake police called “a physical confrontation.”
The misdemeanors carry no jail time but would cost Lucas-Burke her seat. Many activists have pointed to a long history of white people using the criminal justice system against powerful Black leaders.
Vice Mayor Lisa Lucas-Burke, whose mother was among those arrested, said Chief Angela Greene promised her department would not keep investigating the case.
Democrats, including Gov. Ralph Northam, criticized the timing. Sen Mamie Locke called the charges a “thinly veiled attempt to intimidate and silence the most powerful Black woman in the Virginia legislature.”
James Boyd and Louie Gibbs, who said the police chief told them they were allowed to be at the site, said they plan to sue the city over their arrests.