PTSD Blamed For Mask Scuffle; Two Kenosha Looters Sentenced

July 26, 2021 10:45p

From WGTD News: 

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is what’s being blamed for setting off a scuffle over mask-wearing at Woodman’s Grocery Store in Kenosha last winter. 53-year-old Benjamin Kunz of Salem Lakes was charged with battery and disorderly conduct after he got into a skirmish with a security guard who told him to wear a mask or leave. In court Monday, Judge Mary Wagner approved a six month-long deferred prosecution agreement, meaning the charges will be dropped if Kunz stays out of trouble. Kunz’ attorney told WGTD that his client suffers from P-T-S-D as the result of an accident that occurred while in the military. Kunz has been receiving treatment.

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Two women who were in a group that looted a pair of stores in the riots that followed the shooting of Jacob Blake last summer were sentenced Monday. 20-year-old Anayah Bonner and 19-year-old Dezarea Flores-Weyrauch were among several dozen people who’ve been arrested on similar charges. Both Bonner and Flores-Weyrauch received probation, time served and community service from Judge Mary Wagner. Both had cooperated with investigators, and the latter was a witness for the prosecution in the Martice Fuller murder trial earlier this year. In court, Judge Wagner tried to impress upon Bonner the seriousness of the charges. "Do you understand that the maximum penalty for this type of offense is 12 and-a-half years in the Wisconsin State Prison?" Wagner asked. "Yes," was the apologetic reply. "I have no words for myself," Bonner said. Both women earned praise from Wagner for earning their high school diplomas while in jail awaiting the resolution of their cases.

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Once again, video from a surveillance camera gave Kenosha police a lead that enabled an arrest in a ‘shots fired’ case last week. 21-year-old Robert Jackson has been charged with five counts of endangering safety, one count of criminal damage and another count of carrying a concealed weapon. Bond was set in court Monday at $75,000. According to the criminal complaint, shots were fired from two vehicles that were racing through the area of 54th St. and 13th Ave. Thursday night. The gunfire sent residents scurrying. Video enabled police to identify one vehicle as a Chrysler 200. Police checked out several of those models that were registered in the area, and zeroed in on one with a warm engine that was parked on 45th St. Police confronted the vehicle’s owner, who is the defendant’s girlfriend. Jackson was eventually taken into custody and later gave police a statement admitting a degree of involvement. Three guns were also recovered. Jackson, who police say is a known gang member, said the gunshots stemmed from a disagreement that he and his cousin had while playing basketball earlier in the evening at the Boys and Girls Club.

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A new site has emerged as a possible location for a state-of-the-art juvenile detention center in Racine County. Officials are now looking at a 29-acre parcel in Caledonia on Three Mile Road just north of Batten airport. A public information meeting is scheduled for a week from Wednesday at the Caledonia Village Hall. The first potential site for the center—on Taylor Ave. in the city—was opposed by a majority of the city council in a vote taken last year. Then county officials found out that poor soil and environmental conditions would boost building costs there by 3-5 million, according to what County Exec Jonathan Delagrave told the Journal Times. The detention facility would be paid for with mostly state money. It’s one of several regional centers that are to replace troubled state-run facilities. The center proposed for Racine County would serve as many as 50 juveniles at a time from Racine, Kenosha and three other counties in eastern Wisconsin.

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For the moment at least, Racine Unified will join Kenosha Unified in making the wearing of face masks optional this fall. R-U-S-D Superintendent Eric Gallien made the announcement at last night’s school board meeting. Gallien said things could change if the number of COVID cases in the community increase. He said the district is in the process of revising COVID protocols.

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