Tensions simmer in Sacramento shooting protests
SAN FRANCISCO – More events are planned for this week in Sacramento as the city responds to outrage over the death of Stephon Clark, an unarmed black man who was killed by police March 18.
Sunday was calm after a tense confrontation at a peaceful vigil Saturday evening in which a sheriff ’s SUV struck a protester.
“Be on the look out” for upcoming protests, the Sacramento Black Lives Matter group said on its Facebook page Sunday. “We will continue to demand justice for not just Stephon, but for all lives that have been unjustly taken at the hands of law enforcement.”
Saturday’s incident occurred around 8:40 p.m. when about 150 people gathered at a vigil south of the city in an area of unincorporated Sacramento County.
Sacramento County sheriff ’s deputies driving two marked patrol cars were surrounded by a group of protesters who “began yelling while pounding and kicking the vehicles’ exterior,” according to a statement by Sheriff ’s Office spokesman Sgt. Shaun Hampton.
One of the cars sounded the siren four times. Then an officer used the car’s loudspeaker to say “Back away from my vehicle.” He drove slowly away from the crowd, footage aired by ABC10, a local Sacramento station, shows.
The second car drove behind the first and struck Wanda Cleveland, who was walking across the street, knocking her to the ground. The car left the scene.
Sacramento Metro Fire Department personnel took Cleveland to Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center, where she was treated for bruises on her arm and the back of her head, The Sacramento Bee reported.
Cleveland was described by the Bee as a former paraeducator in a local school district and a regular at Sacramento City Council meetings. At the hospital, she told the newspaper that she began walking to the curb after the first patrol car made the request to move but that the second car made no request.
“He never even stopped. It was a hitand-run,” she said. “If I did that I’d be charged.”
The vehicle “sustained scratches, dents and a shattered rear window. The damage to the vehicle was not a result of the collision involving the pedestrian but was caused by vandals in the crowd,” Hampton said in a statement.
An internal review is being done by the Sheriff ’s Department. The California Highway Patrol also is investigating, the Sheriff ’s Department said.
After the incident, about 150 protesters stayed in the intersection, shutting down traffic in all directions, video footage shows. A small group walked to a nearby Sacramento County Sheriff ’s Department station but stopped well away from it, chanting “hit and run.”
Tensions have risen after the release Friday of an independent autopsy report by Clark’s family, which found he had been shot eight times, and most shots were in the back. Clark was 22.