The protester who was a picture of calm alongside Louisiana cops in full riot gear is a New York nurse and mother, it was revealed Monday.
Ieshia Evans was so moved by the slaying of black suspect Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, she traveled down South to take part in her first protest on Saturday — walking right into the middle of the fray.
“She’s a vision with a beautiful heart and peaceful stance in life. I’ve known her for 20 years. She was the maid of honor at my wedding. I’m a godmother to her son,” friend Natasha Haynes told the Daily Mail.
“She’s everything to me and I’m just happy she’s safe, not hurt and — most importantly — happy that she got up and did something about injustices here in the States.”
Protesters blocked a road in front of the Baton Rouge Police Department when cops from agencies around the region moved to clear the way.
“I had turned to look over my right shoulder, I think that I had heard this woman say something about she was going to be arrested, and I saw this woman, and she was standing in the first lane in that road,” freelance photographer Jonathan Bachman, who snapped the viral image for Reuters, told The Atlantic magazine.
“It happened quickly, but I could tell that she wasn’t going to move, and it seemed like she was making her stand. To me it seemed like, ‘You’re going to have to come and get me.’ And I just thought it seemed like this was a good place to get in position and make an image, just because she was there in her dress and you have two police officers in full riot gear. It wasn’t very violent. She didn’t say anything. She didn’t resist, and the police didn’t drag her off.”
Evans, 28, a licensed practical nurse, was among 102 people arrested.