FRANKFORT — The Kentucky Senate passed a bill Thursday evening to enhance penalties for crimes related to rioting after more than an hour of heated debate, according to reports.
Sen. Danny Carroll, R-Benton, a retired police officer, said his Senate Bill 211 would crack down on and send a message to those who “tried to destroy the city of Louisville” in the civil unrest last year.
In addition to raising punishments on crimes related to rioting and prohibiting early release on such offenses, SB 211 would make it a crime to provoke an officer verbally to the point it could create a violent response, Courier Journal reported.
Though Carroll said “insulting an officer is not going to cause anyone to go to jail,” his bill states a person is guilty of disorderly conduct — a Class B misdemeanor with a penalty of up to 90 days’ imprisonment — if he or she “accosts, insults, taunts, or challenges a law enforcement officer with offensive or derisive words, or by gestures or other physical contact, that would have a direct tendency to provoke a violent response from the perspective of a reasonable and prudent person.”
The bill passed by a 22-11 vote, with six Republicans joining Democrats to vote ‘no.’
Sen. Julie Raque Adams of Louisville, one of the Republicans voting against the bill, explained her opposition to the mandatory 48-hour holds and the provision on insulting or taunting police, hoping the House sends back an amended bill striking those sections.
Sen. Gerald Neal, a Democrat who represents a majority-black district in west Louisville, said he was insulted by Carroll’s bill, which he viewed as a direct attack on his constituents who protest for and demand racial justice.
“This is another hammer on my district,” Neal said. “This is a backhand slap. And I resent it. I personally resent it.”
An angered Neal twice said “how dare you,” calling the bill “beneath this body. It’s unwise. It’s provocative. It’s unnecessary. It’s unreasonable.”
Carroll stood by his bill amid the criticism by Neal and other Democrats, saying the legislature would take the steps necessary to protect police officers and property in Louisville that Mayor Greg Fischer failed to take last year, the Journal reported.
“The silent majority in this state supports this legislation,” Carroll said. “They are as troubled by what has happened in this country, by what happened in Louisville, as I am. I will not apologize for this bill.”
