A man whose job it was to keep Kyle Rittenhouse alive during his trial has some words for those haters of his client who insist the kid is a racist.
T.C. Willis shadowed Rittenhouse throughout the trial and is disgusted by the mischaracterizations of the now-18-year-old by people who have no idea why he was found not guilty for the Kenosha shootings. He told a Knoxville TV reporter that people need to inform themselves “so at least when you do go into a debate you can debate efficiently and effectively.” The lead security professional also said that “most people are driven by their emotions, I’m not saying don’t have any, but don’t be driven alone by those.”
Willis, who has worked for a Knoxville, Tennessee-based security firm for ten years, says the Rittenhouse job was the most unusual and fraught protective job he’s ever had because the stakes were so high. He told WATE TV, “When you have a client and their family you go to court and it says ‘the state versus the individual that a little bit of a harrowing experience, that’s a different level.”
While it didn’t change how he did his job, the fact that he’s black and protecting a man the Left has reflexively labeled a “white supremacist” or “racist” put “a different perspective [on things] and I guess being black, obviously, for someone that was being called a racist for over a year and a half … no, they are definitely not racist.”
Willis says he was interviewed with the permission of the Rittenhouse family.
He didn’t divulge specific dangers or concerns during the Rittenhouse trial, but says the job meant “I have to think about everything that the client shouldn’t have to think about or wouldn’t think about, that’s my responsibility.” The threats against Rittenhouse were probably much higher during the trial. It’s unclear if his company continues to provide security, but the “Free Kyle” group and another group raising money for his defense have also paid for security for months.
The experience, he said, was a cautionary tale because “one bad decision could change your entire life, everything about it, he made one bad decision [to be there] and potentially could have ended up in prison.” Of course, Kyle Rittenhouse had every right to protect the businesses and dispense medical help on the third night of the Kenosha riots, and Willis advised that ”you have to be vigilant in your responsibility as an individual, as a person, as an individual person walking around America.”
Rittenhouse was found not guilty of all charges in the shootings of three men who attacked him during the third night of the Kenosha riots. Two of the men died. One man was wounded. The men had long police records for, among other things, child rape, domestic violence, and assorted riot-related charges.
Related: Why a Rittenhouse Federal Investigation Is a Non-Starter
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