Polk County Sheriff's Office Declares State Of Emergency

LAKELAND, FL — Protesters gathered over the weekend in several areas across Polk County, and while many of those protests were peaceful, others who are not from around the Polk County area attended protests to cause trouble, said police.

A protest that police consider peaceful took place in Munn Park in Lakeland on Sunday. It was so peaceful that police stayed at the Lakeland Police Department, and respected the space of protesters, said Lakeland Police Department Chief Ruben Garcia on Facebook Live. A protest of around 150 people also took place in front of the police station, and everyone was respectful unlike across the bay in St. Petersburg where protesters were arrested in front of the St. Pete Police Department on Sunday night as reported by the St. Pete Patch.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd joined Garcia on Facebook and said that the protesters who created the problems at Florida Avenue and Memorial Boulevard were outsiders not from Florida who had out of state and county car tags. Judd held up a photo of what he referred to as an “organized rioter” and showed that he wore a mask and professionally designed clothes that would seal out pepper spray and tear gas.

People blocked the intersection of Memorial Boulevard and Florida Avenue. Police said that the individuals seen at the intersection who contributed to actions that would soon follow were not locals.

Mercedes Werbinsky, co-organizer of the Lakeland Black Lives Matter rally that took place at Munn Park, said she contacted the Lakeland Police Department the night before the event to report outside groups threatening to tear up the city, reported the Ledger.

On Sunday, Werbinsky said she saw two white men arrive at the rally — one wearing a confederate flag hoodie and face mask — who began antagonizing the gathered crowd. The event co-organizer said she learned the men were from Orlando and reported them immediately to police.

“Lakeland police department was aware of what was happening and chose to ignore it,” she said. “It shows exactly what is wrong with our justice system.”

Judd held up another photo that showed a man standing on the top of a red car that showed physical damage. "This red car supposedly bumped into or hit a protester standing in the middle of the road," Judd said on Facebook Live. "The man standing on top of this car with the windows smashed in is not a protester, he's a rioter that's evil and it's criminal and it's wrong."

Police want for the person driving the red car to contact them so that they can investigate, and hear that person’s side of the story. Judd said police understand if they feared for their life and that's what caused them to drive through a crowd.

Several people, such as Twitter user Emily, posted the video of the red car hitting a person and people yelling at others to attack the driver. Details of the victim who was hit or the extent of their injuries have not been released by authorities.

Sheriff's office and police department want to find the people who caused unrest in Lakeland, and arrest them.

Polk County Sheriff’s Office declared a state of emergency on Sunday night with a 10 p.m. curfew until 5 a.m. Monday. The Polk County Sheriff's Office has placed another curfew for June 1 from 8 p.m. until 5 a.m. Tuesday, a news release reported.