Date: September 13, 2016
Agency: Morton County Sheriff's Department
Contact: Morton County PIO (701) 426-1587
Mandan, N.D. — The Morton County Sheriff’s Office, ND Highway Patrol and other law enforcement agencies responded around 10:45 am today as a result of a protest. The calls for assistance were placed by Dakota Access Pipeline workers on the scene.
Approximately 50 law enforcement officers responded to the Dakota Access Pipeline worksite located just north of I-94 at exit 120.
Twenty-two protestors were arrested and transported to the Morton County jail for processing. Twenty protestors were charged with criminal trespass and two, who were bound to the equipment, were charged with disorderly conduct and hindering law enforcement.
When officers arrived on the scene they found around 17 protestors in the construction area which is on private property. Around a dozen protestors were congregating on the road. Dakota Access Pipeline workers left the construction site shortly after the protestors arrived.
The scene is currently being processed by law enforcement investigators.
“The Dakota Access Pipeline company has shown good faith in the legal process by removing their equipment from their worksites east of Highway 6. But rather than respect this, a small element of the protest group has decided to go and find DAPL equipment and sites wherever they are and interrupt their work that the pipeline company has legal right to conduct. This site near Interstate 94 at exit 120 is over 80 miles from the original protest site,” said Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier.
Since the start of the Dakota Access Pipeline protests 60 have been arrested for protest activities.
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