We spoke to the NC photographer behind the viral Charlotte protest photos
His name is Jonathan Brashear and he didn’t think he’d get there in time
Jonathan Brashear, a native of Concord, N.C., sat down on Tuesday night to edit pictures. He had returned from a photoshoot earlier that day and expected to be home for the rest of the night.
Credit: Jonathan Brashear
“Then I started seeing stuff on my Facebook feed,” he said. “It was about 11:30 and I didn’t think anyone would still be there.”
Credit: Jonathan Brashear
By “anyone”, Jonathan meant the people who were protesting the killing of 42-year-old Keith Lamont Scott by a police officer. By “stuff”, he meant the protesters who had gathered on Old Concord Road.
Credit: Jonathan Brashear
His feed was flooded with the news of what soon became a riot.
Credit: Jonathan Brashear
By the time he arrived at the scene, Jonathan said there was a pretty calm atmosphere. There was still teargas in the air, but the crowd had dispersed. The riot police were trying to move people away from the bridge over Harris Blvd.
Credit: Jonathan Brashear
Things soon escalated. Jonathan said: “I think what shocked me the most was when they started looting the tractor trailers. They were throwing stuff out, setting stuff on fire.”
Credit: Jonathan Brashear
The entire time, Jonathan was never worried for his safety because the crowd was nice to him. He only began to worry that he would be hit when people were throwing rocks.
Credit: Jonathan Brashear
“I do want to say, it wasn’t the whole crowd that was rioting,” he said. “There was another, larger group that didn’t agree with that, and they tried to stop the others from looting and rioting.”
Credit: Jonathan Brashear
Referring to his photos, Jonathan said: “I didn’t think I would get that much emotion in it.”
Credit: Jonathan Brashear
Charlotte is still recovering from the damage as it braces itself for more protests in the upcoming days.
All photos by Jonathan Brashear. For more, click on his Facebook album.