Prison looking into correctional officer’s comment
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation staff won't say if a correctional officer at the Sierra Conservation Center prison outside Jamestown has been disciplined for posting on Facebook “Strap a Ar on your back ( which I would love to do ) and go down town and see what happens” before the George Floyd protest earlier this week in Sonora.
Correctional Officer James Hiller was responding to a Tuolumne County Sheriff's Office post about the killing of Floyd in Minneapolis last week at the hands of police officers, and preparations for the protest that happened Wednesday in Courthouse Square.
The mere suggestion of a George Floyd protest scared many Tuolumne County residents before the event, because of what they'd seen on television and read about other Floyd protests that devolved into riots and looting.
Many Sonora and Tuolumne County residents feared outof-town agitators would come to the Courthouse Square protest. Online rumors and threats added to the concerns of many locals.
Earlier this week, Ricardo Jauregui, a lieutenant, administrative assistant, and public information officer for the Sierra Conservation Center, told The Union Democrat that Hiller's comments “are not aligned with the department's expectations of its employees.”
Two correctional officers at other CDCR facilities were suspended last week for comments they made about George Floyd on social media, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesperson Dana Simas said.
Hiller is still employed at the Jamestown prison. Hiller, whose Facebook profile says he lives in Sonora and is a graduate of Summerville High school, has not responded to efforts to reach him for comment. The acting warden at SCC, Patrick Eaton, is aware of Hiller's comments.
“SCC will respond appropriately,” Jauregui said.
Hiller’s comments came during a week of televised protests that started in Minneapolis, where Police Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes before Floyd died on May 25. Floyd’s in-custody death was captured on video, and images of the black man slowly losing consciousness with a white cop’s knee on his neck have fueled angry protests, violent reactions, and criminal looting in multiple cities across the U.S.
At a meeting the night before the Sonora protest at Willow Springs, about 200 people turned out to discuss with Sonora’s police chief and the Tuolumne County sheriff what could be done to protect downtown Sonora businesses and other property if the planned protest spawned rioting and looting. Both the police chief and the sheriff asked people not to bring guns downtown and reminded everyone California is not an open-carry state.
The Sonora protest on Wednesday included a group that portrayed themselves as protectors of downtown Sonora from potential criminal vandals and looters. There was back-and-forth shouting and competing chants between the two sides, as well as handshakes at one point.
There was no violence. Sonora police made two arrests and neither were for acts of violence or vandalism, Turu Vanderwiel, the Sonora police chief, said Thursday.
A report that someone spray painted the words “George Floyd” in yellow paint on asphalt at South Stewart and East Church Street came into dispatchers shortly after 1 p.m. Wednesday.
There were no followup issues overnight Wednesday to Thursday. A spokesperson for the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday there were no incidents related to the protest to report.