Police arrest man in connection with May 30 protests

Police have arrested a suspect in connection with the May 30 protests in Downtown Pittsburgh.

Christopher West, 35, of Pittsburgh, is charged with recklessly endangering another person, robbery, criminal mischief and riot, officials said. He is being held in the Allegheny County Jail.

Detectives and a multi-jurisdictional task force analyzed video and photos taken May 30 to identify West and other individuals accused of rioting, police said.

Police asked for the public’s assistance identifying West on June 13, saying he was accused of assaulting a man at Washington Place near Fifth Avenue and vandalizing a police cruiser.

The May 30 gathering was to protest police brutality and racism following the murder in Minneapolis of George Floyd, a black man who died after an officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes. In Pittsburgh, most protests were largely peaceful, but the May 30 incident escalated in the afternoon when several stores were vandalized, two cruisers were torched and multiple people were injured.

West is also among eight people indicted in federal court on charges connected to the protest.Most of those indicted were connected to the destruction of two Pittsburgh police cruisers that were set ablaze.

“Throwing IEDs and bricks at police officers, throwing projectiles at and striking police horses, and setting police cruisers on fire are not the protected First Amendment activities of a peaceful protest; they are criminal acts that violate federal law,” U.S. Attorney Scott Brady said of the indictments this week.