Married LGBTQ leaders had been taking automobile for repairs earlier than their arrest in Philadelphia site visitors cease

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The married LGBTQ leaders arrested throughout a contentious site visitors cease in Philadelphia had been driving individually to take a automobile for repairs when a trooper pulled certainly one of them over, their lawyer mentioned Tuesday.

Celena Morrison, who leads town’s Workplace of LGBT Affairs and is a high aide to Mayor Cherelle Parker, and her husband had been detained Saturday for about 12 hours following the 9 a.m. freeway cease.

“She’s damaged up about it,” lawyer Kevin Mincey mentioned.

Morrison recorded cellphone video of a state trooper handcuffing her husband, Darius McLean, as he lay within the rain on the shoulder of an elevated freeway, earlier than she too was handcuffed and detained.

“The following exit up was the mechanic,” Mincey mentioned. “They had been going to get the automobile serviced.”

The state trooper had been driving in entrance of Morrison earlier than maneuvering himself between the couple’s two automobiles, the lawyer mentioned. McLean, who was following Morrison, stopped when she was pulled over. The trooper, on the video, mentioned he stopped her for tailgating and failing to have her lights on.

Each she and McLean, who runs a well known LGBTQ neighborhood middle within the metropolis, are cooperating with authorities, Mincey mentioned. Philadelphia District Legal professional Larry Krasner has not but determined whether or not to pursue the costs initiated by the trooper, which embody obstruction and resisting arrest.

Parker known as the scene captured on the video “very regarding.”

The trooper will be heard asking McLean why he was “rolling up” on him after the site visitors cease, as Morrison tries to clarify that he is her husband.

“I don’t know why he’s doing this,” McLean cries as he’s handcuffed. “It’s ’trigger I’m Black.”

“It’s not ’trigger you’re Black,” the trooper, who seems to be white, replies earlier than shifting to arrest Morrison as nicely.

“Give me your fingers otherwise you’re getting Tased!” he yells as she drops the cellphone.

Morrison, 51, who’s transgender, has held town publish since 2020. McLean, 35, is chief working officer of the William Approach LGBT Neighborhood Heart.

State police declined to establish the trooper however mentioned he was placed on restrictive obligation amid the investigation.