The group pushed into the D.C. abortion clinic, barricaded the entrances, and roped and chained themselves to the waiting room chairs, federal prosecutors say.
The group of nine protesters in D.C. began conspiring through calls and text messages Oct. 15, 2020, prosecutors said. They were scattered in various states, including Virginia, New York, Massachusetts, Michigan and New Jersey, court records show, and agreed to meet in D.C. to execute their plan.
At some point after Oct. 15, Handy, a 28-year-old, called the clinic to make an appointment for 9 a.m. on Oct. 22 under the alias “Hazel Jenkins,” the indictment says. Handy arrived minutes before the clinic opened and approached a medical specialist, identifying herself as Jenkins, the indictment says.As the rest of the group waited for the clinic to open, Darnel, 40,
of Arlington, Va., created a Facebook event called “No one dies today,” prosecutors said, adding in the description “Starting soon! Tune in!”Once the facility opened, Darnel started a Facebook Live video, and the group “forcefully pushed through the clinic door into the clinic’s waiting room,” the indictment says. As he charged in, Jay Smith, 32, of Freeport, N.Y., caused a nurse “to stumble and sprain her ankle,” prosecutors said.
As members of the group blocked the doors with chairs, Paulette Harlow, 73, of Kingston, Mass., allegedly unloaded a duffel bag filled with a chain and rope. She and four others then sat in the chairs and “chained and roped themselves together,” according to the indictment.Meanwhile, two others — William Goodman, 52, of the Bronx and Heather Idoni, 61, of Linden, Mich. — stationed themselves in front of the employee entrance.
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