There was a large arrest, of about 100 people, made on October 22, 2016. The local jail was not large enough to hold that many people and so many of those arrested were brought to other jails and detention centers. This left many of the arrested hours away (by car) from where they were seized and from where they were scheduled to appear in court. In many cases, the protectors that were arrested were released from jail and expected to appear in court for arraignment that very same day. I wish to stress that North Dakota has very little in the way of public transportation and phone service at the camps was pretty much nonexistent. As such, a large number of those released on bail, having no means of communication or transportation, were forced to walk back to Morton County. One such person walked for over 9 hours in an attempt to make it back to his scheduled court appearance; and yes, he was released with no transportation and scheduled to appear in court that same day.
I mention all of this because the man that this painting depicts was driving back and forth between the main camp and the various local jails in an attempt to not only help people find their friends and family but also to help the water protectors make their court appointments. The aforementioned protector that had walked for over 9 hours was only able to make his appointment because this man picked him up and drove him to the courthouse. The image that this painting is based off of was taken on October 24, 2016 at Oceti Sakowin outside of the legal tent. At this time he was attempting to aid a young woman in finding her boyfriend, who was swept up during the arrest on the 22nd.
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