House Minority Whip Katherine Clark’s child was arrested Saturday at an Antifa protest, and has been accused of assaulting a police officer and vandalism, according to a press release from the Boston Police Department (BPD).
Twenty-three-year-old Riley Dowell, whose birth name is Jared, was charged with “Assault by Means of a Dangerous Weapon, Destruction or Injury of Personal Property and Damage of Property by Graffiti/Tagging,” according to the BPD’s press release. Clark has previously said Dowell is “non-binary,” and described Dowell as her daughter in a Tweet.
“Last night, my daughter was arrested in Boston, Massachusetts. I love Riley, and this is a very difficult time in the cycle of joy and pain in parenting. This will be evaluated by the legal system, and I am confident in that process,” Clark wrote Sunday.
Last night, my daughter was arrested in Boston, Massachusetts. I love Riley, and this is a very difficult time in the cycle of joy and pain in parenting.
This will be evaluated by the legal system, and I am confident in that process.
— Katherine Clark (@RepKClark) January 22, 2023
Dowell was one of two people arrested Saturday night at an Antifa riot near the Parkman Bandstand Monument in Boston Common, according to the BPD’s statement. Dowell allegedly spray-painted “No Cop City” and “ACAB” (All Cops are Bastards), phrases associated with Antifa rioters, on the monument. Roughly 20 protesters attempted to interfere with Dowell’s arrest, the department continued.
Dowell is not the first child of a congressional Democrat to be arrested for protest and riot activity. Linwood “Woody” Kaine, the youngest son of Democratic Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, was sentenced to probation in 2017 after entering the Minnesota state capitol while protesting a Donald Trump rally. (RELATED: Tim Kaine: ‘I Don’t Know Enough About Antifa)
Left-wing Twitter accounts advertised the Saturday night protest as a response to a member of the Atlanta Police Department fatally shooting Manuel Esteban Paez Teran, the environmental activist who shot a police officer Jan. 18. Activists protested and rioted over the shooting in several cities over the weekend.