The founder and leader of the Black Women’s Defense League was detained and later released by police after she streamed live video of last week’s attack in Dallas that left five officers dead, police said.
As shots rang out at the conclusion of a Black Lives Matter rally Thursday night, Niecee Cornute was said to have used her cellphone camera to “depict the murder of one or more police officers in the downtown area…,” according to an affidavit obtained by a local CBS News affiliate.
The affidavit said the “video depicting the capital murder offenses being carried out was uploaded, live, to Ms. Cornute’s Facebook page,” the affiliate reported.
Ms. Cornute was taken into custody, her video was duplicated and she was released, with the affidavit saying “there was not sufficient probable cause to believe that Ms. Cornute was involved in the capital murder offenses.”
In a statement, a Dallas police spokesman said they plan to examine the video contents of Ms. Cornute’s phone “with all the other body cam footage they have,” CBS reported.
“The phone’s contents will be examined as the investigation continues,” the spokesman said.
Ms. Cornute’s attorney, former New Black Panther Party leader Malik Shabazz, said police released his client after only four hours but they were holding on to her car.
He said police were looking for evidence that Ms. Cornute had some connection with Micah Johnson, the accused gunman in Thursday’s attack. He said she had not been contacted by police since the attack.
“She was detained and released because she has no involvement in the shooting,” Mr. Shabazz told The Daily Beast. “She was a demonstrator. She has been a person that has obviously been surveilled, not that she had anything to do with it.”
Mauricelm-Lei Millere, founder of the African American Defense League, a group liked by Johnson on Facebook, said that Ms. Cornute marched in the Dallas protest before the gunfire started, but insisted “she has absolutely nothing to do with it,” The Daily Beast reported.
The Dallas-based Black Women’s Defense League was also one of the dozens of Johnson’s likes on Facebook, The Daily Beast reported. It’s self-described as “a coalition of women of color on the path to total liberation through defense training and community building.”
“Please don’t ask me for details,” Ms. Cornute wrote on Facebook after her release, The Daily Beast reported. “I am fine and out of custody currently. All further questions will need to go through my lawyer Malik Zulu Shabazz.”
On Friday afternoon, Ms. Cornute said she was traveling from Chicago to Philadelphia.
“Much love for all the love I’ve gotten over the last few hours,” she wrote, according to The Daily Beast. “Yall rollin DEEP. I am proud of my sisters and brothers. Stay vigilant be smart and be AWARE.”
Her Facebook account appeared to be disabled by Tuesday afternoon.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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