Woman charged with inciting riots after posting Facebook Live video
A Michigan woman faces up to 10 years behind bars for encouraging others to loot and throw bricks at buildings in a Facebook Live video, according to a report.
Alexandria “Ally” Lyons posted the livestreamed video over the weekend during riots in Grand Rapids that left more than 100 businesses damaged, MLive.com reported.
In the video, Lyons is seen swigging beer — likely stolen from a bar called Mojo’s in Grand Rapids — and showing off clothes allegedly swiped from F. David Barney Clothiers, according to court records.
At another point, “she is heard multiple times encouraging her friends and others to throw bricks or other objects at windows of multiple businesses downtown and at one point picks up a brick herself and mentions heading ‘back to the courthouse,’” the arrest affidavit said.
Lyons is also accused of stealing jewelry from a smashed case on the sidewalk, telling her friends “to get her a gold bracelet because she already has silver ones,” police said in the affidavit.
The 22-year-old was nabbed after numerous people ratted her out to police, saying she “was responsible for causing and creating a lot of damage in the downtown area,” police said.
While she was at the police station, cops received videos via text message allegedly showing her kicking in a window of a county building during the riots.
Lyons is charged with inciting a riot, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, and malicious destruction of property, a five-year felony. She is being held on a $40,000 bond, according to MLive.com.
Grand Rapids descended into chaos over the weekend following a protest over the police-involved death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.