Central ND News

On December 9, 2016, Morton County law enforcement made the 596th arrest related to the Dakota Access Pipeline Protests.

“Morton County officers arrested three male protesters who breached the barricade at the Backwater Bridge Thursday afternoon,” said a press release issued by the Morton County Sheriff’s Department.”The protesters came onto the bridge and after surveying the security on the barricade, crossed over to the north side”

“Law enforcement arrived at the scene and promptly arrested the protesters for Criminal Trespass,” said the release. “It appears that this event was deliberately staged by the protesters as a fourth person who did not cross the barrier was videotaping the entire incident. They were transported to the Morton County Correctional Center in Mandan.”

The Sheriff’s department said the arrest came despite an agreement between law enforcement and leaders of the protest campaign that officers “would pull back to a significant distance in an attempt to deescalate confrontations and allow the protesters to peacefully assemble on the south side of the bridge.” 

“This is concerning in that there appears to be a lack of leadership oversight at the camps,” said Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier. “We had an agreement that we trusted would be abided by those in the camp and it clearly was not.”

The Sheriff’s department said at the time that these arrests brought the total to 569 protesters arrested.

The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) protests of 2016 and 2017 aimed to halt the construction of the reported $3.8 billion pipeline and “drew thousands of people to camp out” in Morton County, the Associated Press reported.

The protests resulted in 761 arrests, according to MPR News. Charges ranged from trespassing to more severe offenses. A significant number of those arrested were from out of state.

California resident and actress Shailene Woodley was arrested in October 2016. Other figures, including actors Mark Ruffalo and Leonardo DiCaprio, participated in the protests but were not arrested.

Certain days of the protests resulted in dozens of arrests, such as February 1, 2017, when 76 people were arrested after Morton County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Rob Keller said a “rogue group of protesters” had trespassed on private property.

The State of North Dakota is currently suing the federal government to “recoup $38 million it claims it spent policing the protest camps,” Source NM reported.

Attorneys for North Dakota reportedly argued in court records that the protests “resulted from an illegal occupation on federal lands and led to ‘frequent outbreaks of illegal, dangerous, unsanitary, and life-threatening activity on federal, state and private property.’”

North Dakota Special Assistant Attorney General Paul Seby said in court that the aftermath of the protests “required a four-day cleanup of the camp and 600 bins to remove 9.8 million pounds of trash,” according to MPR News.

Former Morton County Commissioner Cody Schulz, who is now the director of the North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department, said in court that, “beyond the drain on law enforcement, the protests caused a range of impacts on Morton County — everything from minor inconveniences like sluggish traffic to damage to private property,” Source NM reported.