Steve Thurston (2021)
Protestors outside the Saratoga Springs Police Department door video tape a woman inside talking to police. She was receiving information about arrests made Tuesday evening, Sept. 7.
[Editor's Note: A correction in italics, below.]
Shortly before the start of the Saratoga Springs City Hall meeting Tuesday evening Sept 7, Lexis Figuereo, the firebrand leader of Black Lives Matter Saratoga, was arrested.
Lt. Robert Jillson of the Saratoga Springs Police Department told FoothillsBusinessDaily.com that Figuereo’s arrest was a result of his actions on July 14 when the Black Lives Matter protest he was leading took to the streets, blocked Broadway and held a car in place for about 10 minutes. [Read more here.]
When a group of people came to City Hall to protest the arrest, the police arrested three of those people for their actions on July 14, as well, Jillson said. A fifth person was detained for throwing a bottle outside City Hall Tuesday evening. Jillson did not discuss charges.
The police have a list of people they believe were involved in the traffic-stopping activity July 14, and more arrests will be made, Jillson said.
It appears that holding the car may become the issue for those arrested.
Although Jillson did not release the names of those arrested. People outside city hall said they were Figuereo, his sister and activist Chandler Hickenbottom, Samira Sangare and Molly Dunn. They were arrested for their activity on July 14.
The fifth, Gabriele Eliot, was arrested for her activity outside city hall Tuesday evening.
Eliot’s arrest may have shaken people the most as she was arrested in front of her child who sat in the stroller Eliot was holding. Figuereo is the child's father.
“This city has reached an all-time low,” Hollyday Hammond told the city council during public comment at the start of the meeting. She is a leader of MLK Saratoga, a social justice group.
The accusation was made by people outside city hall Tuesday evening that the police department waited until after track season was over to make these arrests, but Jillson pushed back on that.
“We don’t wait for the news on this” Jillson said, indicating that it was just the process of the investigation that was going on. He said the department has been looking at social media video and other evidence to find the people who they thought should be arrested. They have also been kept busy working at the Saratoga Race Course and policing a particularly violent summer at the bars on Caroline Street. It was just coincidence he said that the arrest came after the end of track season.
People outside City Hall did not buy it.
They said Figuereo has been very public in a number of events and protests in recent weeks, and he was also in court in Albany on separate charges related to a different protest, and the police could have arrested him there, family and friends said.
They believe it was a trap to get people down to City Hall where they could be easily arrested. They were being held at the police station.
Protestors outside pointed out that Figuereo was driving down to the University of Albany for his first class there, an event he had posted about publicly. They say that the arrest was timed to that.
“Lex was so excited to be taking this class. The whole idea is that they would do what they can to break his spirit,” said Tracy Krosky-Sangare, the mother of Samira Sangare. “They’re all people just trying to make life better.”
Jillson said a sheriff's deputy first stopped Figureo for a traffic violation and then contacted SSPD which had a warrant for his arrest. He was not sure, but thought Figuereo might have been driving without a license.
Figuereo’s mother, Nedra Higgenbottom, said she thought it had to do with a misunderstanding about Lexis's phone, which he was holding and using as a GPS. He was picked up in southern Saratoga County. His mother said the sheriff brought him to the Mobil station near Exit 13N and handed him over to SSPD.
The Public information officer who answered the phone at the Saratoga County sheriff's department said “we know nothing right now“ but they will be issuing a press release on this if something more occurs.
Throughout the evening about three dozen people came to the Saratoga Springs City Hall and chanted outside the police entrance on Lake Avenue.
Ron Kim, the Democratic candidate for mayor, came to the protest later in the evening and said he heard “from a credible source” that the charges may have been escalated. He was not sure to exactly what the charges are, but that they could be related to illegally detaining a person, he said. This could not be corroborate before deadline.
Robin Dalton, the Commissioner of Public Safety did not respond to the three people who spoke about this at the start of the the city council meeting, and she did not respond to a request for comment by the time of this publication.
Steve Thurston (2021)
Protesters blocked traffic, stopping three cars at one point, along Broadway in Saratoga Springs on July 14.