A Crafton man who already pleaded guilty in state court to charges stemming from last year’s protests in Downtown Pittsburgh over the death of George Floyd in Minnesota entered a similar plea Tuesday in federal court.
Raekwon Blankenship, 25, pleaded guilty to a single count of obstruction of law enforcement during civil order before U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab.
He will be sentenced in federal court Nov. 4.
Blankenship already is scheduled for sentencing in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court on Aug. 12.
According to federal prosecutors, Blankenship threw projectiles at officers inside their vehicles and interfered with their ability to do their jobs.
He also attempted to poke a police horse, the government said.
In the state court case, Blankenship pleaded guilty to two counts each of aggravated assault on police officers, criminal mischief and taunting police animals, as well as one count each of rioting and propelling missiles into an occupied vehicle.
Pittsburgh police said they saw Blankenship holding a stop sign still attached to its pole that day, which he later used to strike mounted police units during the protests. They also said he threw the sign “javelin style” into the windshield of a police car.
Blankenship also jumped onto the hood of a police SUV — the same vehicle that was set on fire a short time later, investigators said.
He was identified several days later — through review of video taken during the protests and by a distinctive “HA HA HA” tattoo on the back of his neck.
Several people have pleaded guilty in federal court to charges relative to the protest — and specifically for the destruction of the police car that burned.
