Trans BLM Protester Puts His Hands On Cop During Protest In Pittsburgh, Cop Knocks The Female Right Out Of His Body

A Wilkinsburg police officer punched a trans-BLM protester to the ground during a demonstration against police brutality on April 16. The group of around 20 people gathered to demand justice for Jim Rogers, a Black man who died in October 2021 less than 24 hours after Pittsburgh Police officers tased him eight times.

It was at the group’s second stop at the intersection of Penn Avenue and Center Street in Wilkinsburg, while Diamond Rogers, the niece of Jim Rogers, started to talk about her uncle, that police from various departments, including Wilkinsburg and Edgewood, got on the speaker system and told protesters to leave, stating that it was an ‘"unlawful assembly."

Members of the protest immediately confronted the officer, getting in his face, upset that he had interrupted Diamond Rogers. It was then that the officer told protesters they were not allowed to be in the intersection while the demolition of a building was going on nearby.

Once the officer who gave the orders to disperse from the street came out of his vehicle, several other officers joined in the effort to get everyone on the sidewalk. During an altercation between officers and two protesters, another member of the march stepped in and put his/her hands on the officer to push him back. It was then that a Wilkinsburg Police Officer Taylor was witnessed punching the intervening protester and knocking them to the ground.

The protester who was struck was identified as Vuestro Merced, and has been released from police custody according to a Twitter post.

That protester then had multiple officers and a K-9 unit descend upon them, and was handcuffed and put in the back of an Edgewood police cruiser while one of the protesters arguing with police was also handcuffed and put into another police vehicle.