The founder of Black Lives Matter Lake County, who has since been ousted, was arrested Thursday after he allegedly went to an employee’s home near Zion, smashed a window and then tried kicking down the door.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office responded around 8:05 p.m. Thursday to a residence in the 9700 block of 17th Street in unincorporated Zion for a report of criminal damage to property in progress.
Sheriff’s deputies arrived and met with the victim, who reported that Clyde McLemore, 67, of Zion, came to his home and approached the front door while shouting, according to Lake County Sheriff’s Office Chief Christopher Covelli.
McLemore was reportedly swearing at the victim and attempting to order him to come outside.
Covelli said the victim refused and McLemore then smashed the front window of the residence and fled the scene.
McLemore was upset about recently being terminated from his employment and was angry that the victim remained employed there, Covelli said.
Chet Andrew Grant, who is the victim, told Lake and McHenry County Scanner that he currently works for Black Lives Matter Lake County.
McLemore founded Black Lives Matter Lake County and was also the Executive Director of the organization but has since resigned from the position.
Grant began working for Black Lives Matter Lake County a year ago as the Director of Media and Social Affairs and continues to work in the position under the organization’s new executive director.
Grant said McLemore has been mad at him ever since losing his position with the organization earlier this year, knowing that Grant remains working for the organization.
Grant said McLemore thought Grant would be thrown out of the organization, like McLemore was, but that did not happen.
Grant said it was uncovered that McLemore committed fraud and embezzled money from Black Lives Matter Lake County.
Grant said he had nothing to do with the fraud, which is why he was allowed to continue working for the organization.
“[He] has been harassing me and calling me, making phone and text threats that if I didn’t talk to him, he would get me,” Grant said, adding that McLemore is jealous of him.
“I’m still there and he lost his position, has advanced cancer, lost his name and feels betrayed by me,” Grant said.
Grant said that McLemore came to his home in unincorporated Zion on Thursday evening, at which time he and his wife heard loud pounding on their door.
Grant opened a window to the left of the entryway door and McLemore allegedly began screaming at Grant, asking him why he told people that Grant had not been paid by McLemore while working at Black Lives Matter Lake County.
Grant told Lake and McHenry County Scanner that McLemore had not paid him for his work and reportedly said that the organization had no money, with Grant only later finding out that McLemore was embezzling money.
McLemore continued screaming and threatening Grant’s family as he stood on the porch of the home, Grant said.
Grant closed the window and told McLemore to leave his property but McLemore allegedly smashed his window twice, breaking through the screen and glass.
McLemore then tried kicking the front door down and continued screaming that he would get Grant and his family, Grant said.
Glass was all over the kitchen and even got into the basement of the home.
Grant called 911 and McLemore fled the scene. Deputies came to the home and documented the damage.
Covelli said sheriff’s deputies located McLemore at his residence in the 2100 block of Bethesda Avenue in Zion.
He was taken into custody and transported to the Lake County Jail where he was charged with criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct.
McLemore was processed at the jail and released with an initial court hearing on June 17.
Grant said that McLemore was only jailed for a short time on Thursday evening before being released.
McLemore began threatening Grant over the phone and by text, repeatedly calling him, after he was out of jail, Grant said.
Grant notified the police again. Grant said that McLemore is becoming “unstable” as he has lost people around him that he previously relied on.
Grant called the Thursday evening incident “shocking” and never expected him to become violent and act in “such an outrageous way.”
Black Lives Matter Lake County is now dealing with tax issues related to the theft allegedly committed by McLemore, Grant said.
Grant said that he saw McLemore as a “modern-day Jesse Jackson” when he first met him in 2020 and became interested in being involved in the cause.
Grant said he was brought on to his position at Black Lives Matter Lake County approximately a year ago by McLemore and Nyesha Hill.
In April, McLemore officially resigned from his position at the organization, which he said had been the “honor of my life.”
“As I must step back to care for my health, I do so knowing the movement is in capable hands,” McLemore said.
He said that he had “full faith” in Zakee Darr, who was named the new Executive Director, to continue the work of the organization.
The resignation came after Lake and McHenry County Scanner published a story on March 3 with a video, which went viral on the internet, about McLemore engaging in a physical fight at his organization’s Waukegan office with Hill.
The video surfaced after the Waukegan Police Department responded around 12:30 p.m. on January 12 to the Black Lives Matter Resource Center, 668 Lenox Avenue in Waukegan, for a report of an unknown subject and a battery call.
A police report obtained by Lake and McHenry County Scanner said officers spoke with McLemore and Hill at the scene.
McLemore told officers he was in his office on his computer when Hill, who is a worker at the organization, came into the office asking for money and cigarettes, the report said.
McLemore said he told Hill no because he did not have any money and asked her to get out.
Bodycam video shows McLemore telling officers his organization “ain’t got no money” so he could not pay Hill for her work. “That money is gone,” McLemore said, referring to a grant.
He said she refused and he put on his jacket to leave when she grabbed him by the hood and hit him, leading to a physical fight, the report said.
McLemore told officers the two pushed each other around the office until he called 911.
McLemore was seen with a scratch on his forehead and lip from the fight but he told officers he did not want to press charges, the report said.
Officers then spoke with Hill, who said she works for McLemore as a project manager and went to his office to ask where her money was, and he told her he was not giving her anything and to get out of his office, the report said.
“I told him, ‘it’s not fair that I come here and I work and you running around taking care of other things that don’t got nothing to do with Black Lives Matter with Black Lives Matter money.’ I’m the one that make this joint work,” Hill told officers, according to bodycam video.
Hill said she refused to leave his office until he paid her for working at the organization.
She told officers that he then got up from his seat and shoved her back with his hands and they began fighting. Hill was observed to have a scratch on her lip and broken nails.
She also told officers she did not want to press charges because she “does not want to see a black man in jail” but wished to file a police report and a witness statement.
In police reports, Hill told officers that she saw McLemore spend money allocated for Black Lives Matter on other things, including “girls” and gambling.
Officers noted that they did not have probable cause to make an arrest because of both having injuries and due to the conflicting statements.
Officers told Hill and McLemore not to have contact with each other and informed them of how to obtain an order of protection, the report said.
In addition to being the Founder and now-former Executive Director of the Black Lives Matter Lake County chapter, McLemore is also a member of the Lake County Regional Board of School Trustees.
A surveillance video captured a separate physical fight between Hill and McLemore from months earlier.
It is unclear when exactly that incident occurred as Hill told officers the video was from November 24, while McLemore told them the video was from November 2, the police reports show. The video itself shows a timestamp date of October 24.
Police obtained a copy of that video after being called to the January 12 physical altercation involving the two.
Detectives spoke to McLemore after obtaining the November video. That fight also stemmed from a money dispute, the police reports said.
He told them he did not have video footage of the January 12 incident on his office’s surveillance system as that occurred inside his office, which is not covered by video surveillance.
McLemore also told detectives he did not have a copy of the November video as the system only retains footage for approximately two months.
McLemore, a Zion resident, initially told Lake and McHenry County Scanner he had no comment on the incidents before issuing a lengthy statement announcing he was resigning.
“Regardless of how the situation began, I regret that the disagreement escalated and I sincerely apologize for the example that it set and for the disappointment it has caused. My conduct in that moment is not reflective of the mission or the values of the Black Lives Matter movement, which is rooted in respect for human dignity, accountability, and justice,” he said.
In the bodycam video, Hill can be seen telling officers that she and McLemore routinely got into altercations over money issues when he did not pay her for working for him while she “sits here hungry” with her child.
In October 2024, McLemore was sentenced to 40 days in jail for taking photographs in Lake County Circuit Court and posting them online in violation of courthouse rules. He posted a video online admitting to his actions while saying, “I do what I want to do.”
McLemore has previously been arrested for trespassing at a Waukegan City Council meeting in October 2022 and participating in civil unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in February 2021.