Black Lives Matter #fundie bostonherald.com
The daughter of an octogenarian whose ambulance was diverted during a Black Lives Matter protest last winter on I-93 said the defendants -- who today avoided jail time with guilty pleas -- treated people like her beloved father as “collateral damage.”
“The foolishness, when you hear about adult diapers and cement and people asking, 'Please get out of the way,' and you can hear the ambulances in the background, then I'm angry,”' said Pauline McDonough of Plainville, whose then 82-year-old father was diverted to a Brockton hospital instead of Boston Medical Center when protesters blocked the highway chaining themselves to cement blocks on Jan. 15, 2015.
Some of the protesters wore adult diapers expecting to snarl traffic for hours, authorities said.
“Once all of the risks that were presented to these individuals and they still chose to disregard that, almost like there was going to be collateral damage. — We believe that Black Lives Matter is certainly a noble cause. — But you know, it's a bigger picture than that. We have loved ones and all lives matter. And my dad's life mattered,” McDonough said.
McDonough's father, Richard McGrath, survived a serious accident that day in Easton but died in August from heart failure.
Ten protesters today pleaded guilty to willfully impending an emergency vehicle and were given six months unsupervised probation and 60 hours of community service even though prosecutors requested 90 days behind bars.
Afterward, the group said they had no remorse.
“We understood that there would be consequences of this action. But we are neither remorseful nor grateful,” said group spokesman Noah McKenna. He said the “real story” is the systemic violence against black bodies.
Along with McKenna, guilty pleas were entered by defendants James Billman of Brookline, Eli Cohen of Somerville, William Connolloy of Hanson, Emily Osmum of Somerville, Mark Schwaller of Jamaica Plain, Nicole Sullivan of Somerville, Brett West of Boston, Angela Davis of Somerville and Joshua Nickel of Roslindale. The defendants ranged in ages from 25 to 44 and six said they held bachelor's degrees.