Springfield city officials said during a news conference on Wednesday that they felt the curfew was no longer necessary. The first night led to five arrests and the second led to zero arrest. City Manager Bryan Heck said that both nights were relatively quiet and noted that there has not been additional property damage in that area.
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City officials on Wednesday praised peaceful protest in the city that have occurred recently following the death of George Floyd who was killed in Minneapolis police custody. That includes a large one held in downtown Springfield Sunday afternoon as well as a much smaller one that occurred at City Hall Plaza Tuesday afternoon.
“We with our organization, the City of Springfield support the peaceful protest and demonstrations that have occurred around the injustices that exist within our community and within our country,” Heck said.
“What we cannot support is the violence and the vandalism that occurred later Sunday night into Monday morning. That caused us to implement a curfew,” he added.
When the curfew was announced on Monday, Springfield Police Chief Lee Graf noted that those who violated it and chose not to leave after first being warned by law enforcement would be arrested.
The curfew pertained to several blocks with is northern border being East North Street, the western border was Center Street, the eastern border was Spring Street and the Southern border was West Jefferson Street.
“We were very pleased and encouraged that our community remained compliant during the curfew period and that we had very little incident or interaction that caused any issues,” Heck said, who also added that he wanted to thank the community as well as members of the city’s police division.
The only arrest made as result of the curfew were two adults and three juveniles.
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A 23-year-old man, from Columbus, and 14-year-old boy, from Springfield, were arrested Monday evening on Center Street after refusing to leave the curfew area, according to a copy of the police report.
It was also reported that one of them was carrying a book bag that contained a black gas mask, gloves, several small cartons of milk and grocery bag with several eggs as well as other miscellaneous items.
A 20-year-old man, a 17-year-old boy, whose places of residence was listed as at large, and a 14-year-old boy from Springfield were arrested on South Limestone Street after not complying with officers who told them to leave, according to the police report.
All five were arrested for disorderly conduct after police stated that those individuals did not comply after repeatedly being told to leave the area.
“Police will remain throughout and will have a presence throughout our community, to make sure that all of our citizens are safe, protected and served. But I want to thank the people of Springfield who stepped away from pulling apart and tearing down and have chosen a route of moving forward together,” Springfield City Commissioner David Estrop said.
No arrests have been made as of Wednesday afternoon in relation to the property damage that occurred Sunday night and Monday morning. Local law enforcement are continuing to investigate the incident, Heck added.
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