Campbell County, TN: On Thursday, August 18, three complaints were filed at the Campbell County Sherriff's office by members of the anti-surface mining group Mountain Justice Summer(MJS) against Bill Nance, a National Coal (NC) employee. Mr. Nance faces two complaints of Assault and Battery filed by mountain defense activists Paloma Galindo and Daniel Lee, and a third complaint of Assault With a Deadly Weapon filed by Sarah Shapero.
The MJS members hope that by filing their complaints, Mr. Nance will face repercussions for his actions. They also hope to prevent future brutality against nonviolent protesters.
The complaints stem from the events of Monday, August 15, when members of MJS attempted to stop work at NC's Zeb Mountain surface mine site with a blockade consisting of two people locked to a car and one person elevated in a 30-foot tripod. They were there in protest of National Coal's practice of Crossridge mining, which has contributed to the permanent loss of over 500 sq. miles of mountain peaks and over 1200 miles of streams across Appalachia.
Mr. Nance arrived on the scene at about 5:45 am along with several other NC security members. While other NC staff shouted at protesters stationed at the blockade with threats of arrest, Mr. Nance revved the engine of his truck and accelerated toward them from 40-50 feet away.
Paloma Galindo attempted to stop his vehicle by standing in front of it. “I was pushed back toward the blockade while continually telling the NC employees that if he continued he would be committing murder and none of us wanted that. He laughed at me until he saw the dedicated looks of the line of activists defending the people locked down, and standing in defense of the mountains. They had put their bodies in the way of his truck and refused to move,” Ms. Galindo said. Ms. Galindo filed an Assault and Battery complaint for the incident.
Sarah Shapero, a schoolteacher from South Carolina, was sitting in the blockade with her arms locked to a car and her back to Mr. Nance. “His intention was to kill us-- I felt that my life was in danger,” she said. Shapero filed a complaint of Assault with a Deadly Weapon.
Mr. Nance then got out of his truck and began to approach the tripod, which was supporting a protester elevated 30 feet in the air. “I told Mr. Nance repeatedly and calmly that he would be putting this person's life in danger if he upset the tripod,” said Daniel Lee, who filed his Assault and Battery complaint after receiving a kick in the stomach from Mr. Nance. “I take responsibility for my act of civil disobedience in defense of these mountains,” Mr. Lee said. “They might want to think about taking responsibility for their actions.” The tripod was toppled to the ground by a combination of police and NC security, resulting in a knee injury for the person suspended inside it.
Galindo, Shapero, and Lee all claim that police presence at the scene of the action did little to prevent the physical assault or reckless disregard for safety exhibited by Mr. Nance. “I was calling to the officers to bring attention to the violence being committed against me, but none of them responded to me directly,” said Lee. Shapero describes officers' behavior after the car was moved with her still attached: “Cars drove within six inches of my body as I was still locked down to the car. One officer stood behind me and others stood apart joking.”
National Coal's practice of Cross-Ridge mining on Zeb mountain destroys the mountain, the adjacent valleys, and the watershed. Zeb mountain is an integral part of the Cumberland mountains, which are some of the most biologically diverse mountains on earth, hosting many endangered land and aquatic species.