Ex-official sues over 2019 arrest, cites racism
Former councilman says officers threw him to floor
A former longtime Oakland City Council member has filed a federal lawsuit against the Oakland Police Department, alleging that his controversial 2019 arrest was the result of “racist” police officers who tackled the then73-year-old to the ground.
Wilson Riles Jr. alleges in a civil complaint filed last month that in October 2019, four officers “twisted his left arm behind him, and swept his legs from under him throwing him facedown to the floor,” after Oakland city planning staff called the police while he was pleading his case for being able to set up a sweat lodge in his 39th Avenue property for religious reasons.
The suit also alleges that two planning commission staff members made “racist and inflammatory” remarks about Riles during the incident.
“The injury to Mr. Riles is layered and situated in the injurious treatment by the (police) department and the individuals in the department, the racist reaction to him and the pattern of racist reaction to the public of which Mr. Riles is a member,” civil attorney Walter Riley wrote in the complaint. “It is a denial of his rights to be free from race discrimination from City of Oakland officials.”
On Friday, a federal magistrate gave Riles’ lawsuit the green light to proceed. Attorneys for the defendants have already filed a response that offered general denials and concedes the officers were called to a report of “a person having a mental health crisis,” not a report of a crime.
Named as defendants are Officers Jorge Yauger, Bryant Ocampo, Jonathan Low and Alexandra Lowe. Riles is also suing planning staff members Traci Block and Cecilia Sevilla, alleging they made racist remarks about Riles during a 911 call.
Riles, who served on the Oakland City Council from 1979 to 1992, was arrested on suspicion of battering a peace officer, booked into jail, and released after posting $20,000 bail the next day. Prosecutors never filed charges in the incident.
The suit seeks unspecified damages for “suffered scrapes and bruises and emotional distress” suffered during the arrest, as well as for Riles having to spend the night in jail based on the officers’ “false reports.”
“One officer claimed that Mr. Riles was refusing to give up his right arm, while defendant Low falsely claimed that Mr. Riles was biting him,” the complaint alleges. “The officers knew their statements were untrue. Each statement was made on video with the intent to develop a false narrative against Mr. Riles.”
The suit also calls the act of calling police on Riles an attempt to intimidate and silence him over the sweat lodge dispute.
A city spokeswoman claimed at the time that Riles “was detained following a 911 call regarding a city employee who reported a hostile man had chased a city inspector into the restricted staff-only area.” The suit claims that police attacked Riles as he was leaving a city building “calmly” complaining that city staff weren’t respecting a Planning Commission decision to issue him permits for a yurt and fireplace.
In 2019, after outcry from residents and several media reports on the arrest, thenPolice Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said she was opening an internal probe into the incident.