Group Plans Griggs Protest in Pasco Over Arrest of Shoplifter

If they look familiar, it's because they're the same Facebook community group who back in July who took to the stage in Columbia Park and read off a series of "demands" regarding defunding Police in Tri-Cities. They call themselves "Unbound-Tri-Cities."

They also staged an anti-police protest August 22, as a counter to the Back The Blue event that was held that day. They've also been associated with some other anti-police sentiment in our area.

Now, they have announced they are going to protest the arrest by Pasco PD of a shoplifter who was apprehended on September 21st. It's interesting that their page contains the following statement about their planned protest Sunday from 3-5PM:

"Police have created a culture where unlawful physical brutality of the common citizen is justified by a small non violent crime, and that violence will result in ZERO consequence. Therefore, WE WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCE! Those responsible WILL be held accountable. There will not be silence! "

During the incident with the shoplifter, the well known Griggs Loss Prevention Team were the ones who caught and subdued the perp. Juan Francisco Javier Lopez was knocked of his bike as he peddled away from the store with his stolen merchandise, then he upped it to a potential felony by punching the LP officer in the head.

The group mentions the word "brutality" on the event information.

So it appears if they're going to be factually 'correct' in their assumptions, they will also be protesting one of the most well known Loss Prevention teams in Eastern WA? The perp was held down after he hit the Griggs worker in the head, and detained until officers arrived. So technically, it was the Loss Prevention team who did the initial work.

According to their event invite, it's from 3-5 at Griggs in Pasco, a number of other Facebook groups are indicating they will be 'shopping' at the store to show their support for Griggs, the LP Team and law enforcement.

According to their page, 25 people have indicated they plan to attend the event.