PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Lawyers for student protesters detained in Pennsylvania for four days after a scuffle with police say their clients had no idea the stocky older man in street clothes who joined the fray and put his arm around a 15-year-old girl’s neck was the local police chief.
The attorneys said the students from Quakertown Community High School who were demonstrating against immigration enforcement policies acted in self-defense and will fight the charges. They include a simple assault charge elevated to aggravated assault, a felony, because the alleged victim is Police Chief Scott McElree.
“He charged from his vehicle into the middle of this group of kids,” defense lawyer Donald Souders said Wednesday. “Many of the kids jumped in, in an attempt to defend her. They assumed that this was a counterprotester.”…