Representative Katherine Clark’s daughter is charged with police assault

BOSTON — The daughter of U.S. Representative Katherine Clark of Massachusetts was arrested Saturday night during a protest on Boston Common and later charged with assault after a police officer was injured.

In a statement on its website, the Boston Police Department said the 23-year-old is expected to face charges in Boston Municipal Court.

Clark, the House Democratic whip, said in a tweet that her daughter, Riley Dowell, had been arrested. “I love Riley, and this is a very difficult time in the cycle of joys and pains of parenting,” Clark wrote. “This will be judged by the justice system and I have faith in that process.”

Clark has spoken publicly about her own non-binary child’s fears amid bigotry targeting transgender people.

Police said officers were responding to a report at the Parkman Bandstand Monument in Boston Common. They found one person, identified as Dowell, a resident of Melrose, who, according to police, defaced the monument with spray paint and anti-police slurs.

During the arrest, “a group of about 20 protesters began to surround officers shouting profanity through megaphones in the street, causing traffic to come to a standstill,” police said, adding that “an officer was punched in the face and could be seen bleeding from nose and mouth.”

Dowell was charged with assault by using a dangerous weapon, destruction or injury to personal property and damage to property by graffiti/tags, police said.

A deadly police shooting earlier this month in nearby Cambridge sparked protests over the use of force. A 20-year-old student at the University of Massachusetts Boston, Sayed Faisal, was shot dead by Cambridge police. He had advanced on officers with what police described as a kukri, a type of sword, and a less-than-lethal “sponge round” had failed to stop him, police said.

Clark is in her sixth term in the House, representing the state’s 5th congressional district.