San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
POLICE TUSSLE WITH PROTESTERS; THREE ARRESTED
Police forcefully pursue man accused of taking cellphone
San Diego police officers used pepper spray and brute force to ram their way through a small group of protesters Friday night in order to arrest one protester who’d been accused of robbing a man of a cellphone.
The police officers, who had the alleged victim’s description of the person he said took the phone, corralled the protesters at Columbia and B streets, then pushed and shoved their way through the group to arrest the man. Officers slammed at least one woman onto the ground and pepper sprayed several others.
A police spokesman defended the actions, saying the victim’s statement gave them probable cause to make the arrest, and the other protesters surrounding the man were interfering with officers.
During a follow-up interview with police, the alleged victim had “identification issues,” police spokesman Lt. Shawn Takeuchi said. Because he was unable to identify the man who was arrested as the same one who stole his phone, police released the man they arrested without charging him.
Police arrested two others on suspicion of interfering with his arrest, according to a tweet from the Police Department. The violence came at the end of a third straight night of marching and protesting following Wednesday’s announcement that a grand jury in Kentucky would not indict any Louisville police officers for the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor.
Friday’s march and protest was smaller than the two previous nights’ demonstrations, with fewer than 100 people participating.
On Friday night, the protesters met at the San Diego County Superior Court building on Union Street and then marched through the Gaslamp Quarter.
Protesters and bystanders got into at least four shouting matches and one brief physical altercation while the group marched and chanted through the busy, crowded streets. Police officers did not intervene in any of the arguments in the Gaslamp Quarter until the final one, when a man in a “Trump 45" baseball-style jersey and his companions began arguing with demonstrators. Officers on bicycles rode in to separate the groups after a few minutes.
The march had nearly ended a little before 9:30 p.m. near where it began at the steps of the courthouse. There, as the protesters milled about and prepared to disperse, a man began filming a selfie-style video with the protesters in the background.
About a dozen black-clad demonstrators confronted the man and his teenaged son, and the argument appeared to escalate into pushing and shoving before one of the protesters apparently took the man’s phone.
A few minutes later, police arrived, and the alleged victim described the man he said took his phone. About 25 protesters, including the man accused in the theft, began walking away in a tight group, and officers on bicycles followed for several blocks.
On the southwest corner of Columbia and B streets, the bicycle officers moved in to surround the group as dozens of police vehicles arrived with more officers.
“They gave no warning and came in with pepper spray and riot batons,” Khopper Evans, a protester who works on local political campaigns, said.
A bicycle officer sprayed pepper spray at a protester and other officers began shoving their way toward the man they were trying to arrest. As the officers moved to make the arrest, a hectic scene unfolded, with an officer throwing a woman to the ground, where she also hit the front bumper of a parked car.
“There were about 30 protesters to about 60 or 70 police,” Vincent Rios, one of the protesters, estimated. Rios described seeing two officers use their bicycles to push protesters against the wall.
A Black woman with “Legal Observer” clearly written on her clothing, was pepper sprayed.
Takeuchi defended the actions of the officers and said that while the courts require higher evidentiary standards, police need only probable cause to make an arrest. He said the victim pointing out and describing the alleged phone thief was enough probable cause.
“If individuals are blocking our ability to apprehend (a suspect) we can use reasonable force,” Takeuchi said.
Takeuchi said that despite the victim’s inability to later identify the person he accused of taking his phone, officers still had the legal right at the time to make the arrest.