Woman arrested at Board of Supervisors meeting said she wanted to address lockdown

A woman was arrested Tuesday at a Calaveras County Board of Supervisors meeting at the Government Center in San Andreas and charged with battery on a peace officer and trespassing.

Sandra Kay Wesley, 58, of Copperopolis, said she went as a concerned resident because she wanted to make sure she could have her say on the current stay-at-home order and how pandemic-related restrictions are hurting small businesses.

Wesley said she’d heard Gov. Gavin Newsom was locking down the whole state and she wanted to listen to the supervisors and show support for small businesses, especially so close to the holidays.

An account of Wesley’s arrest from the Sheriff’s Office says she entered a closed session of the board about 9:10 a.m. Tuesday. She disputes that the board was still in closed session at that time.

The Sheriff’s Office said deputies were called to respond when Wesley was asked to leave and initially refused. They got her to agree to leave and escorted her from the chambers. Outside in the lobby, Wesley tried to push her way past the deputies back into the board room, the Sheriff’s Office said.

“As she was pushing her way past the deputies she used her fist to strike one of the deputies in the upper arm area,” a Sheriff’s Office statement said. Wesley was arrested on the trespass and battery charges, both misdemeanors. The deputy she allegedly struck was not injured. The public door to board chambers was unlocked that morning.

Wesley said on Thursday that

it was a public meeting and she felt she had a right to be there.

“I thought it was a public meeting, and it was a public meeting, and I had a right to be there,” she said. “I was there to support small businesses. I was told to leave. I resisted that and got arrested.”

Wesley declined to discuss what happened further.

Merita Callaway, the District 3 supervisor and board chairwoman, said board meeting procedures and public access have changed at least twice in the past nine months since March.

Back in the early months of the pandemic, the board’s meetings were conducted on Zoom with the individual county supervisors taking part remotely. The board room was closed to public access. The public could observe and take part via Zoom.

As pandemic restrictions were eased in May, the board began meeting in person again in the board room with distancing. A limited number of people were allowed to come into the audience area to observe and make public comment when appropriate.

The county closed the board room to the public on Monday this week and switched back to Zooming the meetings for the public to observe and submit comments when appropriate, Callaway said.

Callaway said the woman later identified as Wesley came back into the board room and would not leave. Callaway said deputies were called and escorted Wesley out, but Callaway did not see Wesley strike a deputy. If that happened, Callaway said, it happened outside the board room.