Father of man killed in Kenosha protest accuses cops of conspiring with militia members

(CN) — The father of a Kenosha, Wisconsin, protester shot and killed by counterprotester Kyle Rittenhouse last summer has sued the city and its police department, saying it conspired with an impromptu militia to assault and threaten people protesting the department’s shooting of an unarmed Black man. 

John Huber, whose late son Anthony Huber was one of three people shot by the then-17-year-old Rittenhouse in August of 2020, filed a complaint Tuesday in Milwaukee federal court alleging that the city was on notice about the intent of right-wing militia members, led by a former city alderman, to fire on protesters seen as threatening property.

Those groups, the elder Huber alleged, included Rittenhouse and were effectively deputized by local law enforcement, who gave them “a license… to wreak havoc and inflict injury.” 

“Defendants did nothing to stop Rittenhouse’s illegal conduct,” Huber’s attorney Anand Swaminathan of Chicago firm Loevy & Loey wrote in the complaint, “They did not arrest him for illegally carrying a gun. They did not disarm him.” 

“They did not stop him from shooting individuals after he started,” the filing continues. “They did not arrest him, detain him, or question him even after he had killed two people.” 

The lawsuit names as defendants both the city and county of Kenosha, along with the Kenosha Police Department, Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office, Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth and past and present police chiefs Daniel Miskinis and Eric Larson.

Huber, 26, was cast in the complaint as a hero for chasing Rittenhouse and attempting to disarm him after he shot fellow protester Joseph Rosenbaum in the parking lot of an auto dealership.

Rittenhouse, now 18 and out on bail, faces murder charges for the deaths of Huber and Rosenbaum and attempted murder charges for shooting a third man, Gaige Grosskreutz, and leaving him partially paralyzed. He is also charged with reckless endangerment and possession of a dangerous weapon while under the age of 18. Rittenhouse’s trial was postponed in March and is now scheduled to begin in November. He has maintained that he shot all three men in self-defense. 

The teen has courted controversy by crossing state lines to drink in his hometown bar while out on bail, leading Kenosha County Circuit Court judge Bruce Schroeder to order him not to possess or consume alcohol or to fraternize with any known militias or hate groups. In previous hearings, the elder Huber has accused Rittenhouse of “enjoying the media circus” surrounding his case. 

Swaminathan wrote in the complaint that the fact that Rittenhouse is alive to stand trial at all is evidence of a pattern of racial discrimination by the KPD.

“If a Black person had approached police with an assault rifle, offering to patrol the streets with the police, he most likely would have been shot dead,” the lawsuit states. “If a Black child had shot three citizens with an assault rifle and was seen walking away from the scene of the shooting with the assault rifle in hand, while other citizens yelled he was an active shooter, he would have been shot dead.

It continues, "In none of these circumstances would defendants have permitted the individual to roam the streets, illegally and heavily armed, shoot civilians, and then walk past a dozen officers, talk to them, and simply go home.”

Even before the shooting, according to the complaint, the city had failed to address obvious threats to the public. The former alderman, Kevin Mathewson, had posted on Facebook on behalf of a militia group he had formed called the Kenosha Guard, the lawsuit states.

In an Aug. 25, 2020 post, Mathewson allegedly called for “patriots willing to take up arms and defend our City tonight against the evil thugs” who had protested the repeated shooting of unarmed Black Kenosha resident Jacob Blake in the back over the previous two nights. Hundreds responded to the post saying that they would be attending, the complaint said, including many who expressed the intent to kill. Mathewson himself published an open letter to then-Chief of Police Miskinis saying that 3,000 volunteers would be patrolling the streets that night. 

Law enforcement then acted in concert with these armed individuals, the complaint alleges, “handing out assistance and praise” even as they ordered protesters to disperse. Miskinis, in a press conference following the shooting, refused to condemn Rittenhouse or any of the other armed individuals.

“By inviting, deputizing, conspiring with and ratifying the actions of armed individuals, who were empowered to patrol the streets of Kenosha, defendants created an extremely and obviously dangerous and deadly environment,” the lawsuit states.

Attorney Samuel Hall of Crivello Carlson, representing the Kenosha County sheriff, said in a statement, “While we understand that the family of Anthony Huber is grieving his loss, we must make it clear that the allegations against Sheriff Beth and the Kenosha Sheriff’s Office are demonstrably false and that the facts will show that Mr. Huber’s death was not caused by any actions or inactions of Kenosha County law enforcement.”

The attorney for Huber's father did not return a request for comment Tuesday night.

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