John Huber, the father of one of the men killed by Kyle Rittenhouse at the Black Lives Matter riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 2020, is suing Rittenhouse for wrongful death. On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that the lawsuit against Rittenhouse, police officers, and others, which was filed in 2021, could proceed.
Anthony Huber, John’s son, was shot and killed during the Kenosha riots when he physically attacked Rittenhouse who was 17 years old at the time, trying to beat him to death with a skateboard.
Anthony Hubert has an extensive history of violently attacking innocent people, including members of his own family, who he threatened to “gut like a pig” and to burn the family house to the ground “with all you f**kers in it!”
According to Heavy– Court records in Wisconsin show that Huber was convicted of disorderly conduct in 2018 as a domestic abuse repeater. It was a misdemeanor. He was cited for possessing drug paraphernalia.
His most serious case came when he was found guilty of a felony for strangulation and suffocation, domestic abuse. He was also convicted in that case of felony false imprisonment with a dangerous weapon and domestic abuse.
A charge of second-degree recklessly endangering safety was dismissed and read-in, as was a charge of battery and two charges of disorderly conduct. He was ordered not to possess weapons, and no contact orders were issued.
In court, Rittenhouse’s defense attorney Corey Chirafisi gave more details about the case. It turns out it involved his brother.
“[Anthony] Huber told his brother that if he didn’t start cleaning a room in his house, he was going to gut him like a pig,” Chirafisi said in court, adding, The New York Post reported that Huber “did this while holding a 6-inch butcher’s knife to the brother’s stomach.”
“Huber grabbed his brother by the neck, dug his nails in, and choked him for approximately ten seconds,” Chirafisi said. “He put a knife to his brother’s left ear, and his brother felt it cut.” The defense attorney said that Huber said: “I’m going to burn the house down with all you f***ers in it.” NPR reported he also kicked his sister in another incident.
After an intense trial, Rittenhouse was exonerated of any wrongdoing by a Wisconsin jury of his peers.
However, on Wednesday, a federal judge in Wisconsin dismissed motions filed by Rittenhouse and the government defendants seeking to dismiss the suit, ruling that Huber’s lawsuit against Rittenhouse, police officers, and others can proceed.
In the lawsuit, Huber accuses police officers of permitting a dangerous situation to occur that resulted in his son’s constitutional rights being violated and, ultimately, his death. Huber also alleges that Rittenhouse conspired with law enforcement to cause harm to the Kenosha protestors.
“The police are supposed to serve and protect,” said Huber. “But that’s not what the Kenosha police did. They walked away from their duties and turned over the streets of Kenosha to Kyle Rittenhouse and other armed vigilantes. If they had done their job, my son would still be alive today.”
Huber is seeking unspecified damages from city officials, officers, and Rittenhouse.
U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman said that, by allowing this case to proceed, Anthony Huber’s death “could plausibly be regarded as having been proximately caused by the actions of the governmental defendants.”
Anand Swaminathan, one of the attorneys for the parents of Anthony Huber, said that this ruling puts the Huber family “one step closer to justice for their son’s needless death.”
“The Kenosha officials that created a powder keg situation by their actions tried to claim that they cannot be held accountable for their unconstitutional conduct; that argument was soundly rejected today,” said Swaminathan.
When asked about this ruling, Rittenhouse’s attorney Shane Martin stressed the fact that allowing the case to proceed to the next phase does not, in any way, address the merits of the Hubers’ accusations.
