‘God, bless me.’ Video shows Sacramento woman unconscious after incident with Solano deputies

Sacramento community leaders gathered to support Nakia Porter in front of the Robert T. Matsui United States Courthouse, one year after she was assaulted and beaten unconscious by Solano County Sheriff’s deputies.

“What I want you to do is, I want you to go through this experience with me,” said Porter, at the press conference. “To be beaten down, as if you were less than a human being, that’s what happened on August 6.”

Porter and her representatives filed a lawsuit against the sheriff’s office on Wednesday.

After spending the day in Oakland with her two daughters, niece, and father Joe “JB” Powell at the Malonga Casquelourd Center, Nakia Porter drove home to Orangevale. Porter was tired so she exited the freeway in Dixon to let her father drive the remaining distance.

As they both exited the vehicle, deputies Lisa McDowell and Dalton McCampbell approached the family.

Porter told Officer McDowell that she pulled over to switch seats and McDowell allegedly signaled to Porter giving her the permission to change seats. Porter initiated the switch with her father by walking to the passenger side of her vehicle and was then told to go back to the driver’s seat. She complied.

Deputy body camera footage obtained and released on the CAIR Sacramento Valley Facebook page via YouTube, shows McCampbell pointing his gun at and approaching Porter, commanding his partner to detain her.

“God, bless me,” Porter says in prayer.

The footage then shows Nakia Porter cuffed on the ground, being repeatedly punched while her face was shoved in to the asphalt until eventually she falls unconscious.

The deputies continue to detain and arrest Porter through her unconsciousness. They also arrested her father but both were later released with their charges dropped. Porter’s daughters and niece, ages six, four, and three witnessed the incident from the backseat of the car.

Porter and Powell are being represented by Attorney Yasin Almadani.

Almadani demanded that Solano county immediately assemble an oversight board to oversee the activities of their sheriff’s department, reform of unlawful practices in policing, and justice for Porter and her family.

“The deputies, their sergeant, the sheriff, and the county all bear responsibility for this violence,” said Almadani.

Solano County Sheriff, public information officer, Lt. Jackson Harris was unavailable at the time of contact.

This story was originally published August 19, 2021 at 11:56 AM.