NDN Collective CEO pleads not guilty to assaulting officer
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - Nick Tilsen, president/CEO of NDN Collective, pleads not guilty Thursday to assault of a law enforcement officer.
In June 2022 Tilsen allegedly threatened to hurt an officer. His charges are aggravated assault, a class 2 felony; and obstruction of a law enforcement officer, a class 1 misdemeanor.
These charges were brought to Tilsen in July 2023, one year after the incident. Tilsen’s arrest happened on July 3, one day before NDN Collective’s July 4 protest in Rapid City. However, Lara Roetzel, Pennington County state’s attorney, at the time said this was merely a coincidence and not planned.
On Sept. 13, Tilsen and other Indigenous leaders were arrested in Washington D.C. They were arrested at the White House as they urged President Joe Biden to grant clemency to Native American activist Leonard Peltier; who is serving life in prison after being convicted of the murder of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1975.
On Nov. 15, Tilsen will appear at a bond revocation hearing, which means the state believes he violated the terms of his bond.
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