Arrests, vehicle incidents and police’s ‘solidarity’

After a weekend of protests brought hundreds to downtown Eureka rallying against the controversial police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, law enforcement and local activist groups on Monday addressed the chaos.

Across two days, three individuals were arrested, while protesters spray-painted multiple buildings and smashed windows at some locations. One arrest led to a GoFundMe page for bail payments; the fundraiser has over $11,000 in donations at press time.

Law enforcement officials joined protesters on Sunday afternoon to chant with the crowd for justice in Floyd’s case and echoed the sentiment in a public statement on Monday, but a local activist group later called the Sunday incident “trauma-inducing” and “humiliating.”

Separately, a witness at the protest on Saturday said she saw a large truck pushing its way through protesters on the street in front of the Humboldt County courthouse — an experience she called “really, really scary.”

Here’s our Monday recap:

Law enforcement: ‘Trust does not happen overnight’

On Monday afternoon, Sheriff William Honsal and Eureka police chief Steve Watson issued a joint public statement denouncing Minneapolis police’s fatal arrest of George Floyd.

Floyd died after an officer, Derek Chauvin, held his knee to Floyd’s neck as he begged for air. Chauvin was arrested Friday and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

Many protesters are demanding the arrests of the three other officers involved.

“Those officers deserve to be held accountable for their actions,” Watson said, “and not just the officer that knelt on (Floyd’s) neck for over eight minutes, but the officers that stood there and did nothing are every bit as guilty.”

Along with Arcata Police Chief Brian Ahearn, Watson decried racism within police institutions and said it would be up to individual departments to bring change.

He also promised that officers will be trained to “de-escalate” tense situations at protests.

“We will continue to meet with minority groups… to establish trust,” he said. “Trust does not happen overnight; it happens every day, in every contact.”

Witness describes truck driving through protesters

Kathleen, a protester on Saturday who asked to be identified by only her first name, said she witnessed a large, white truck drive through a group of protesters who had been standing on Fifth Street in front of the county’s courthouse.

The truck was “brandnew,” Kathleen said, and the incident upset many of the protesters who had been organized in the roadway.

“It was really tense,” she said, “and really, really scary.”

On Sunday night, law enforcement used pepper-spray paintballs and “less-than-lethal” shotguns with pellets to address what Honsal said Monday was “moments where the peaceful protest crossed the line into crime and property destruction.”

Activist group disavows Sunday hugs

Humboldt Grassroots, an activist group that helped organize part of the weekend’s demonstrations, distanced itself from a Sunday afternoon moment of unity between protesters and law enforcement.

An online clip showed Honsal and Watson chanting “No justice, no peace, no racist police” alongside protesters, one of whom gave the sheriff a side-arm hug. Honsal said Monday the protester was from out of the area.

“He said he appreciated us being there and listening, and he had no ill will for local law enforcement,” Honsal told the TimesStandard.

But the grassroots group wrote in a Facebook post that the protest was coopted by others and disavowed involvement with the “trauma-inducing, humiliating situation with the cops.”

“We organize our events based on anti-authoritarian principle, which did not leave room for any cop lover to speak from a place of authority,” the group posted on Facebook.