Louisville Men's Basketball Director of Operations Kahil Fennell Arrested at Breonna Taylor Protests
Kahil Fennell, the director of basketball operations for the University of Louisville men's basketball program, was arrested Saturday night while at the Breonna Taylor protests and charged with unlawful assembly, as first reported by Lucas Aulbach of the Courier-Journal.
Fennell was arrested because he "refused to comply with the listed curfew order," according to The Athletic's Danielle Lerner. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer had implemented a dusk-to-dawn curfew for Saturday and Sunday night, which was to take effect from 9:00 p.m. to 6:30 a.m.
According to the citation and jail records, however, Fennell was arrested at 8:00 p.m. and was not booked until 8:58 p.m., both ahead of the curfew set in place by Fischer.
"Earlier this morning, Kahil and I spoke and I was made aware of his booking," head coach Chris Mack said to Aulbach. "I stand by my statement I made later in the morning and I stand by Kahil. When he feels the time is right he will comment."
On Sunday, Mack issued a statement via Twitter as a response to the nationwide George Floyd protests and local Breonna Taylor protests in which he hoped "that we can play a part in helping to heal an entire community we proudly represent."
Floyd was an unarmed black man who died last Monday after a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeled on his neck for several minutes, preventing him from breathing in Minneapolis. Three other officers stood by. (All four officers were fired, and Chauvin was arrested and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.) Taylor was a black woman who was shot and killed inside her home by Louisville Metro Police Department following a "no-knock" search warrant in March.
As a result, a plethora of nationwide protests have been held, with people speaking out against police brutality. The city of Louisville is no exception, as demonstrations have taken place every day since Thursday, May 28.
Since Fennell's arrest was made public knowledge, many within the program have spoken up in support of him, including graduate assistant Taylor Barnette and forward/center Malik Williams.
Fennell has been with the Louisville men's basketball program since 2018, joining Mack in his first year. He was previously with Portland State.
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