A federal lawsuit against Kyle Rittenhouse and governmental defendants over the death of Anthony Huber, who Rittenhouse shot and killed during protests in Wisconsin in 2020, was allowed this week to move forward, towards discovery and a trial, by a judge. The judge specifically rejected motions to dismiss the case, including from Rittenhouse.
Huber’s parents, John Huber and Karen Bloom, are behind the push. “Make no mistake: our fight to hold those responsible for Anthony’s death accountable continues in full force,” they said after the ruling. “Neither Mr. Rittenhouse nor the Kenosha Police who authorized his bloody rampage will escape justice. Anthony will have his day in court.” Rittenhouse killed Huber and a second man but was later acquitted by a jury of homicide charges and has since become somewhat of a B-list figure in conservative circles — although he has also seen multiple event venues evidently cancel on him as he’s tried to stage some kind of show of public support for gun rights, free speech, or whatever related concept he might abuse.
As the statement from Huber’s parents suggests, the lawsuit also targets local police. Among the specific allegations at issue is that police forced demonstrators towards armed individuals, including Rittenhouse, who wasn’t living in the city where the shooting took place. Judge Lynn Adelman, who handled the decision allowing the case to move forward, noted defendants’ “conduct, as alleged in the complaint, involved forcing protestors into a confined area with hostile, armed individuals, and then failing to protect the protestors from violence perpetrated by the armed individuals.” Adelman also said Huber’s death “could plausibly be regarded as having been proximately caused by the actions of the governmental defendants,” indicating some of the core arguments were proven to an extent necessary to proceed to further hearings.
The ACLU has also outlined some of the allegations, using firsthand evidence including comments from an extremist involved with one of the violent movements. Available info also includes that officers “documented their knowledge that armed civilians and militia members were concentrated in that direction,” per that civil rights organization. Rittenhouse shot and killed Huber at a location apparently just a few streets down from an intersection identified by the ACLU as a focal point for the armed groups.
In addition, serving Rittenhouse with the lawsuit evidently proved difficult, reportedly leaving the team for John Huber spending over 100 hours trying to track him down. The judge concluded Rittenhouse had been “deliberately cagey about his whereabouts.” Rittenhouse was also sued by the third man he shot that night, Gaige Grosskreutz, and that case is continuing elsewhere. Despite his rhetorical claim to fame being that he killed two people, Rittenhouse has received support even from Donald Trump.
