Sorority girl, volunteer medic among 13 protesters arrested during clashes with Lancaster police

A sorority girl, a volunteer medic and a newspaper employee are among the 13 protesters who were arrested during clashes with police in Pennsylvania.  

The protesters were taken into custody on Monday in Lancaster and slapped with a slew of misdemeanor charges including arson, riot, vandalism and criminal conspiracy. 

A judge set bail for nine of the defendants at an astonishing $1million, including 20-year-old Kathryn Patterson, a Kappa Delta sorority sister at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster. 

A GoFundMe campaign raising money to help Patterson post bail describes her as an ‘ally’ of Black Student Union at her school, which charges nearly $60,000-a-year for tuition.   

Another campaign was set up for fellow defendant Taylor Enterline, 20, whose family said she has been working as a volunteer medic at the protests, ‘running around and helping those that were hurt and or tear gassed’. 

LancasterOnline identified defendant Matthew Modderman, 31, as an account services representative in the newspaper’s Client Solutions Department.  

Ten other people who ranged in age from 16 to 43 were also arrested on Monday morning in connection with protests over the fatal police shooting of Ricardo Munoz on Sunday. 

Police said the protests devolved into rioting that damaged Lancaster’s police headquarters and produced an arson fire that blocked a downtown intersection. 

The other adults charged were Jamal Shariff Newman, 24; Barry Jones, 30; Frank Gaston, 43; Yoshua Dwayne Montague, 23; Talia Gessner, 18; T-Jay Fry, 28; Dylan Davis, 28; Jessica Marie Lopez, 32; and Lee Alexander Wise, 29.  

Among the eight for whom charging documents were available, not all face identical charges, accusations that include arson, rioting and institutional vandalism. 

One has been charged with carrying a concealed weapon without a permit.

A 16-year-old boy, who was not named, has been charged with riot, disorderly conduct, possession of instruments of crime, possession of a small amount of marijuana, propulsion of missiles onto a roadway and institutional vandalism. 

Patterson’s father Chip spoke out about her arrest on Tuesday, calling her $1million bail ‘obscene’ and saying that she had been acting as a medic as she has at other protests in the recent past.

‘Everything that I know so far, which is not a lot, indicates that Kat is not guilty of those charges. But then again, we’ll have to wait and see,’ Chip said.

He said he has not been able to reach his daughter since her arrest.

‘I cannot tell you how long this night has been,’ he said. 

‘I think regardless of what these people did or didn’t do, the bail amount is just outrageous and clearly against the Eighth Amendment,’ which addresses bail. 

Patterson grew up in the tiny town of Mercersburg, according to her Facebook page, which is filled with photos of her racial justice activism.  

One post from August shows her pumping her fist in the air during a march. 

‘My left fist, to symbolize black power. BLM, all day everyday,’ she wrote in a comment. 

Patterson’s GoFundMe page has raised more than $44,600 as of Wednesday afternoon.   

A GoFundMe campaign was also set up for Enterline, the other 20-year-old arrested. 

The description on the page said Enterline, whose Facebook page says she works as a waitress in Manheim, Pennsylvania, was tending to injured protesters when she was ‘charged with guns by police along with another person from her activist group’.  

‘She is being held under false charges that all witnesses protest against, She was denied her family lawyer and charged with a $1,000,000 bail that is a direct violation to her 8th amendment rights,’ the page, which has already raised nearly $21,000, states. 

Enterline’s mother declined to comment on her daughter’s arrest when approached by the New York Post.

‘I’m not comfortable at this time,’ the mother said. 

A third GoFundMe campaign was launched for 23-year-old Yoshua Montague, whose sister Shacura described him as ‘a man of integrity with morals’.  

‘Yes he was downtown, yes he felt an injustice with the police killings, but no he did not set anything on fire, no he did not loot, no he didn’t deface the police station, no he did not help destroy business downtown,’ Shacura wrote on the campaign, which has raised just over $1,400. 

The sibling warned that Montague could remain behind bars for ‘years’ if he is unable to make bail while fighting the charges. 

Two of the people arrested on Monday – Lopez and Davis – had already been detained during a different protest last month, according to LancasterOnline.  

The protests concerned the police shooting death of Munoz, whose sister had called authorities in hopes of having him involuntarily committed for mental health treatment.

Police have made public the officer’s body camera video. 

It showed Munoz, 27, approaching the officer with the knife in what appeared to be a menacing manner, before the officer, who has not been publicly identified, shot and killed him.

Munoz had been out on bond, awaiting trial for allegations he stabbed four people last year, including a teenage boy who was stabbed in the face.

His sister said Munoz was mentally ill – diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia – and hadn’t been taking his medications. 

She said she had called a crisis intervention organization and a police non-emergency number to get her brother involuntarily committed.

‘He had an episode. He was just incoherent and acting out,’ she said. ‘I called to find out what the procedure was to get him some help.’  

Protesters gathered outside the police station in the wake of the shooting and, in video posted to social media, they chanted: “Hands up, don’t shoot,” “No justice, no peace” and “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!”

It was unclear how motivated protesters were by racism as they have been in other cities where deaths at the hands of police have stoked protest. 

Court papers list Munoz’s race as white.