The surviving man whom Kyle Rittenhouse shot during the 2020 Black Lives Matter riot in Kenosha, Wisconsin, is suing him and Wisconsin officials involved in handling the case.
Gaige Grosskreutz, the only survivor among three men whom the 17-year-old Rittenhouse shot, is seeking damages for “emotional distress, humiliation, loss of enjoyment of life, and other pain and suffering on all claims,” Fox News reported. Two others — Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber — were fatally shot by Rittenhouse during the Aug. 25, 2020, riot.
Grosskreutz accused the Kenosha Police Department and County Sheriff’s Department of refusing to view Rittenhouse, who carried an AR-15 style rifle at the riot, as a threat to safety.
“Astonishingly, the Kenosha Police Department, Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department, their supervising officials and police officers, and law enforcement officers from surrounding communities did not treat Defendant Rittenhouse or any of the other armed individuals patrolling the streets as a threat to the safety of themselves or the citizens they were sworn to protect,” the lawsuit reads. “Instead, the law enforcement Defendants deputized these armed individuals, conspired with them, and ratified their actions by letting them patrol the streets, armed with deadly weapons, to mete out justice as they saw fit.”
Rittenhouse said in a tweet posted late Tuesday that the lawsuit is an attempt to undermine an individual’s right to self-defense. He posted a link to his GiveSendGo account for users to donate funds to pay for his legal expenses.
“This lawsuit is an attempt to drown anyone who legally and justifiably defends there [sic] lives from attackers in a mountain of legal debt. We can not let them win. If they can come after me they will come after you,” he tweeted.
This lawsuit is an attempt to drown anyone who legally and justifiably defends there lives from attackers in a mountain of legal debt. We can not let them win. If they can come after me they will come after you. https://t.co/CJxXlGnUMO
— Kyle Rittenhouse (@ThisIsKyleR) February 21, 2023
Rittenhouse was tried and acquitted of all five charges brought against him for the shooting, including first-degree reckless homicide, first-degree intentional homicide and use of a dangerous weapon, in his November 2021 trial. (RELATED: ‘Make The Media Pay’: Kyle Rittenhouse Vows To Hold Facebook, Big Tech ‘Accountable’)
Huber’s father filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Rittenhouse and Kenosha law enforcement. US District Judge Lynn Adelman dismissed motions on Feb. 2 from Rittenhouse’s legal team to block the suit, allowing it to proceed.
Rittenhouse has planned to take legal action against media figures, celebrities and organizations who publicly defamed him during and after his trial. He launched the Media Accountability Project in February to fundraise and bring forth legal action against these individuals and organizations.
He previously vowed to sue NBA star LeBron James over accusations of fake tears during his Nov. 10 testimony in court. President Joe Biden suggested that Rittenhouse was a “white supremacist” in a video accusing former President Donald Trump of not disavowing white supremacists in Sep. 2020. Democratic Missouri Rep. Cori Bush referred to his acquittal as “white supremacy in action.”