What’s next for Beaufort County protests over death of George Floyd and Trey Pringle?

After a weekend of protests across the country over racism, police brutality and the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Beaufort organizers are planning to keep their demonstration going “every day.”

More than 100 people joined Saturday and Sunday protests at Boundary Street and Ribaut Road led by Corey Wright, Tim Garvin and Cliff Parker of Beaufort. A group showed up again Monday morning.

Protesters brought food and drinks, along with signs that read “Please, I can’t breathe”; “My son will not be next” and “Honk for justice.”

And in a welcome gesture of friendship, some Beaufort police officers brought grills to cook for the protesters.

Wright plans to keep the protest going every day this week, starting around 9 a.m., he said.

“After today, we’re going to sit down and talk about having an off day, maybe at the end of the week,” Wright said Monday as cars behind him honked in support. “But we’re basically doing this more than we’re resting.”

While protesters in Bluffton and Savannah focused on the death of George Floyd, Wright had someone else to dedicate his protest to: his cousin Trey Pringle, who died in 2018, three days after Beaufort County sheriff’s deputies Tased him multiple times and a firefighter put him in a chokehold while responding to a 911 call.

“We need all this to go down so people can come together as one and ask as many questions as they want to ask,” Wright said. “Mine was that I had a fallen cousin that died through Beaufort County.”

Pringle’s family had called the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office for help in controlling him in 2018. The 24-year-old had a history of mental health issues and had injured himself during an episode in which he smashed a TV, officials and documents say. An autopsy determined Pringle died during “restraint in a prone position with chest compression.”

Last year, Duffie Stone, 14th Circuit solicitor, announced no charges would be brought in the death. “I do not believe that the officers or medical personal intended to harm Trey Pringle,” Stone said at the time. “They were trying to protect him and the others around him.”

Wright said “We had Trey Pringle’s mom out there today. She was in tears. She couldn’t believe how many different ethnicities were out there.”

Wright and Garvin said they wanted their protest to be peaceful, especially after seeing footage of looting, tear-gassed protesters and violence at other events.

“We see that every other state and every other city — they’re destroying it, they’re damaging everything,” Garvin said. “I watched people work real hard and spend their tax dollars to make Beaufort beautiful… we don’t want to destroy Beaufort, we want to bring people together.”

The organizers didn’t plan for the event to extend into the week, but people showed up again on Monday to discuss future protests. Among them were police from the City of Beaufort, carrying grills to cook food for protesters.

“We want to keep this going as long as we have people behind us, supporting us,” Garvin said.

On Monday, Wright had a hard time being heard over the cars honking around him as he went to thank motorists — and the police officer working the grill — for their support: “Every day, it gets better and better.”

This story was originally published June 1, 2020 at 2:45 PM.