Violent activists rarely go to court
Challenging to build cases for those involved in melee
Scenes of chaos have repeatedly emerged from Berkeley this year — people pummeling each other with punches, kicks and makeshift weapons, from sticks to pepper spray to bike locks, amid clashes between right-wing activists and left-wing counterprotesters in the famously political city.
But though scores of videos of violence at demonstrations have gone viral, and despite authorities’ efforts to stop the mayhem, relatively few of those in the thick of things have been hauled into court.
As of Tuesday, the Alameda County district attorney’s office had charged nine people with crimes in connection with well-documented confrontations on March 4 and April 15 that sprang from provocative rallies in support of President Trump at Berkeley’s Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park.
It remains to be seen how many people will be charged after another rally on Sunday turned ugly, with counterprotesters driving their opponents from the park.
One woman, 22-year-old Yesenia Mendez, was charged Tuesday with misdemeanor counts of assaulting and obstructing an officer who said she had thrown an apple at him and later tried to run after escaping handcuffs. But no one has yet been accused in the day’s most stark piece of video-recorded violence, when four counterprotesters set upon a defenseless man with fists, kicks and stick blows, until a
journalist stepped in to shield the victim.
Berkeley police officials did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment, and county prosecutors have said little about the effort to put together criminal cases. All of the melees this year remain under investigation.
“We look at every incident on its own,” said Teresa Drenick, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office. “We carefully and thoroughly look at the circumstances and make a decision.”
Public records and independent experts suggest prosecutions have been complicated by a number of factors: Many suspects — including those who committed Sunday’s mob beating — have worn masks. Many victims haven’t come forward to press charges. And, often, police officers haven’t been in position amid the disarray in the streets to witness crimes and make swift arrests.
“Their first concern in these cases is to defuse the situation. You don’t go into these with the idea that you’re going to build a case for court,” said Steve Clark, a criminal attorney and former prosecutor in Santa Clara County.
The problem, he said, is that punishing offenders is key in deterring future violence. “That would be the last message you would want to send, that this is going to be tolerated,” he said. “It could raise the level of violence if people feel like they have a level of impunity.”
Even if authorities can prove someone took violent action, experts said, they may not have enough evidence to counter a suspect’s claim that he or she used self-defense or engaged in mutual combat.
White supremacist Nathan Damigo, who was captured on video punching a female counterprotester in the face on April 15, has asserted selfdefense. Not only has he avoided charges, he has celebrated the image.
Video footage has been a central focus of Berkeley police as they seek to identify offenders. In one case, footage prompted charges against Eric Clanton, a 28-year-old former professor at Diablo Valley College.
After the April 15 protests, a video circulated of a masked man bashing Trump supporter Sean Stiles over the head with a bicycle U-lock, leaving him with a wound that required five staples. Soon, an online army of white nationalists and others distributed images they said proved Clanton was the disguised culprit.
Clanton was later charged with four felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly beating at least four people with the metal lock, including two victims who apparently never came forward. Clanton, who has pleaded not guilty, has since criticized police, saying they did the bidding of Internet trolls.
“My case threatens to set a new standard in which rightwing extremists can select targets for repression and have police enthusiastically and forcefully pursue them,” Clanton wrote online.
Two other men were charged in connection with the April 15 event. Robert Peete was accused of two felonies, assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a club, while Guy Lee was accused of four misdemeanors, including battery and assault.
Another case that suggests the difficulty of prosecution involves Kyle Chapman, a 41-year-old Daly City resident who became known in rightwing circles as Based Stickman for his actions March 4 in Berkeley.
In police reports, officers said they reviewed videos of a man they believed was Chapman “causing violence” that day by swinging a “makeshift billy” and dousing crowds with pepper spray.
But after Chapman was arrested by police on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, he was charged only with one felony count of possession of a billy club. He was released on bail, but could face jail time if he is convicted due to his past crimes.
In another case from March 4, witness testimony from police and firefighters convinced prosecutors to charge five people — Nathan Perry, Jeffrey Armstrong, Dustin Santelle, Scott Hedrick and Taylor Fuller — with misdemeanor counts of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury.
As paramedics stitched up Daniel Quillinan, a right-wing demonstrator who had suffered a cut, the five defendants allegedly attacked him with kicks and punches.
Tom Del Torre, a former San Francisco police officer who worked hundreds of protests in his 32-year career, said authorities must figure out how to stop violent people from exploiting the turbulence of a crowd and the mandate that police allow free expression.
“If we saw three guys on the streets taking someone out, throwing a rock or hitting someone with a bottle, they’d be arrested right away. The same should apply for the demonstrations,” he said. “There should be one law for everyone.”
“We look at every incident on its own. We carefully and thoroughly look at the circumstances and make a decision.” Teresa Drenick, spokeswoman for the Alameda County district attorney’s office, on the difficulty of building court cases