Kyle Rittenhouse is accused of making a hand gesture associated with white supremacist groups while at a bar, according to prosecutors in his Wisconsin case.
USA Today reports that prosecutors filed a motion asking a judge to bar Rittenhouse, 18, from going to bars and from associating with the Proud Boys. He is out on a $2 million bond. He is charged in connection with the shooting deaths of two people and the wounding of a third during unrest in Kenosha after the police shooting of Jacob Blake. He has pleaded not guilty, and his defense says he acted in self defense.
The motion says that about a week earlier, Rittenhouse went to a tavern in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, after a court hearing. According to USA Today, he was with his mother and others and was seen drinking beer. Wisconsin law allows a person his age to drink in a bar when accompanied by a parent.
Prosecutors say that Rittenhouse made what appears to be an OK hand sign, which some white supremacist groups have adopted as a symbol, in a photo outside the bar and again inside. They also say a group of men sang “Proud of Your Boy,” a song from a Disney film that the Proud Boys have used as an anthem, while he was there.
“The defendant’s continued association with members of a group that prides itself on violence, and the use of their symbols, raises the significant possibility of future harm. Further, this association may serve to intimidate potential witnesses,” the motion reads.
Rittenhouse’s attorney responded that his client does not associate with such groups. The attorney called the prosecutors’ request “a not so thinly veiled attempt to interject the issue of race into a case that is about a person’s right to self defense.” The judge had not ruled on the motion at the time of this report.
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