Protester recounts attack by police dogs, being gassed
Joseph Malott was riding his bike near downtown Walnut Creek on Monday when he saw a crowd marching along North Main Street.
Having seen notices on Instagram about a rally at Civic Park to protest the killing of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis after a police officer who pinned his knee on his neck for almost nine minutes, Mallot figured out what the gathering was about.
Cars around him honked in support as the crowd of about 1,000 people made its way down the road, waving signs that read, “Justice for George Floyd” and “Black Lives Matter!”
The 22-year-old Walnut Creek resident, who is black, hesitated to join because he didn’t have a mask and was concerned about the risk of getting COVID-19. But when a friend swung by and offered him an extra mask, he donned it and participated.
“I was surprised to see that many people,” Malott recounted later in an interview .“It was a mix of everyone, of all ages .”
But the peaceful demonstration suddenly became chaotic, and before it was all over, Malott says he was attacked by two police dogs that bit and scratched him, was hit with rubber bullets and was hit by teargas.
He also was arrested for what police say was “assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer” and resisting or obstructing an officer. The deadly weapon apparently was a tear gas canister that police tossed toward him and other protesters and alleged he tossed back in their direction.
Days later, Malott is still on crutches, a bandage around his stitched-up leg, and the bite marks and bloody scratches still cover his back.
“I’m well aware of the injustices that happen against minority groups and African Americans in this country — the aggressive action that officers take against us,” Malott said in an interview. “When I noticed that people were peacefully protesting this, I chose to partake in this. In doing so, I was subjugated to exactly what I was protesting, which was police using excessive force on civilians, especially those of color.”
His attorney, Peter Johnson, denounced the response as an “egregious” example of police misconduct. “No matter how far the police will go to try to justify their conduct based on the allegations against Mr. Malott, nothing they are alleging will overcome the illegality nor provide lawful justification for their misconduct.”
Others in Walnut Creek also have criticized the police response, including a group of religious leaders who gathered Thursday to condemn it.
Lt. Steve Brinkley, commander of the Central County SWAT team, said in an email Friday the team was deployed after California Highway Patrol officers requested assistance when being “overrun by violent individuals who engaged them in physical altercations.”
As for the use of police dogs, he said “canine are a law enforcement tool that have multiple applications. Assisting in the arrest of a subject that has committed a violent crime is one of those applications.”
Only one of the two bit Mallot, he added.
The police swarmed in after demonstrators marched onto Interstate 680. Malott said he joined the hundreds of mostly young people who had convened on the freeway.
One group took a seat on the pavement, forming a line across the lanes of I-680 as more police arrived, including the SWAT team and at least two officers with police dogs.
The situation exploded when police started tossing tear gas canisters and flash-bang grenades into the crowd, causing people to flee, Mallot said, adding that “everyone began to panic a little bit.”
Eventually, protesters moved off the freeway, but a small group remained along Lawrence Way, the road leading up to the freeway.
“Once we had cleared the highway, we felt like we could continue the peaceful protest,” Malott recounted.
By then it was 6 p.m. and police warned that a curfew had kicked in there as well as some other Bay Area cities after three nights of demonstrations and some looting.
Officers continued to press against the remaining protesters, advancing with the two barking dogs and pointing riot gun launchers atthem.
In a post online offering a summary of the police response earlier this week, Lt. Tracy Reese of the Walnut Creek Police Department wrote that “several protesters began committing acts of vandalism on a nearby business, prompting officers to deploy tear gas on those who remained,” and that “some of the protestors began throwing projectiles at officers, including a large rock.”
Malott did not directly respond to police allegations that he tossed back a tear gas canister but noted he was hit in the leg with one of the rubber bullets and began to slowly retreat. People helped him walk and carry his bicycle when officers marched toward him, slammed his body against a fence and brought him to the ground as a police dog bit his hand, he said.
Even as officers pinned him to the ground, Malott said, a police dog scratched his back and bit him several times, leaving bloody scratches and puncture wounds. Another dog bit his leg, leaving a wound that needed 10 stitches later in an emergency room at John Muir Health center.
“I was thinking, ‘When are they going to take the dogs off me?’ ” Malott recalled.
The dogs kept scratching and biting until police secured his wrists with zip-tie handcuffs, he added.
Released on bail, he has not yet been formally arraigned and doesn’t know what comes next. But as he waits for his injuries to heal, he urges police officers to find a way to protect communities without using violence.
“African Americans and minority groups don’t deserve this. They deserve better,” Malott said. “They deserve to feel safe with officers around. If their job is really to protect and serve, they should do a better job ofthat.”