Governor Cooper explains decision to veto riot bill

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — We have new details on Governor Cooper vetoing a bill aimed at increasing punishment for rioters.

House Bill 805 aimed to put harsher sanctions on men and women who damage property, loot, injure, or kill others, especially emergency workers, while apart of a protest or riot.

The bill is back in the North Carolina Senate after Cooper vetoed it Friday. In his visit to Wilmington Wednesday, Cooper said of the veto:

“If people are involved in a riot and commit crimes, they should be prosecuted. And there are laws on the books for that. I believe this bill though, the intention of it was to intimidate people who want to gather for peaceful protests. And we don’t want to do that.”

In an email, the New Hanover County Black Leadership Caucus referring to the bill as an anti-black lives matter bill.

Three-fifths of both state legislative chambers will need to vote in order to override Cooper’s veto.