At least 22 people arrested in second day of protests, night of looting in Sacramento
Sacramento’s core erupted in chaos Saturday, as mass looting followed widespread non-violent protests led by those mourning the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.
Twenty-two people were arrested after the day’s peaceful demonstrations — at the state Capitol, Golden 1 Center and the Downtown Commons, to name a few locations — as emotions flared Saturday afternoon on the Capitol Park grounds and the calls for justice and peace gave way to destruction along J Street at night.
The protest began at the Capitol, where helmeted California Highway Patrol officers faced off with protesters who chanted slogans such as “I can’t breathe” — a phrase Floyd said shortly before he was killed by an officer who had planted his knee over Floyd’s neck.
The scene around the downtown landmark briefly became tense in the afternoon, and scuffles ensued. CHP officials confirmed that four arrests — people were cited and released — were made in total, and although officers were being pelted with bottles, oranges and other projectiles, no serious officer injuries have been reported.
Faceoff at the Main Jail
The crowd at the Capitol came and went, splitting up into several roaming groups throughout the day. The Sacramento County Main Jail in downtown proved to be the site of some of the most violent confrontations between authorities and protesters.
There, several people wearing face masks were seen kicking in the glass panes on the front doors of the jailhouse. They returned after sundown and confronted a line of Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputies guarding the shattered entrance. Eventually, deputies fired rubber bullets and pepper balls into the crowd to push them back.
One man, seen in a video taken by other protesters, was badly bloodied, suffering from what appeared to be a wound to his left eye.
Sacramento Police Department spokesman Officer Karl Chan said that an 18-year-old man later arrived at a hospital for treatment, saying that he had been struck in the face by officers’ non-lethal projectiles in front of the jail.
While it was unclear if this was the same man shown in the video, Chan said the police department is looking into it.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to requests for comment on the number of people it may have arrested or if any officers were injured. It also is unclear if the agency made any arrests as protesters spilled into the Arden Arcade area.
Looting and dispersal in midtown
After several hours, officers with the Sacramento Police Department responded to rampant vandalism by firing pepper balls and rubber bullets at protesters.
As the evening wore on into the morning hours, with no signs of letting up, police began issuing multiple orders to scatter, deeming the continued presence in the streets an unlawful assembly.
What followed was mass looting at a number of shops along J Street from 3rd Street and Interstate 5 downtown east to 22nd Street in midtown.
Some broke into the Macy’s department store in DoCo. Others targeted the Kicx Unlimited shoe store along 7th Street. Countless others were seen Sunday morning with shattered windows.
Sacramento police largely backed off as the protest dissolved into looting.
“They were worried, and I think rightfully so, that if they had moved in and attempted to make mass arrests, that the violence would’ve been worse and could’ve resulted in serious injury or death,” Mayor Darrell Steinberg told Capital Public Radio on Sunday morning.
Arrests by Sacramento Police
Some burglary arrests were made, however. Chan said that seven arrests were made for burglary and 11 more were made for unlawful assembly. All those arrested were booked into the Sacramento County jail, according to Chan.
Like CHP, Chan said officers were hit with various projectiles. Fireworks were seen being lobbed into police barricades as the night raged on.
The second day of protests in Sacramento marked a dramatic uptick in violence and property damage from those on Friday night, which were largely peaceful. Only two people were arrested on Friday, but seven Sacramento officers and two CHP officers were injured.
The Sacramento chapter of the National Lawyers Guild issued a statement regarding the violence Sunday, denouncing the tactics used by law enforcement during the protest.
The lawyers claimed that peaceful protesters were fired upon, while looters went largely unchallenged.
“NLG legal observers reported that police attacked the wrong targets,” the chapter said in a prepared statement. “They took an hour or more to arrive in the area of J Street Saturday night where businesses were being looted. The looters then left.”
Sacramento Bee reporters witnessed some instigation among lingering protesters after looters scattered, including some who threw rocks and fireworks at law enforcement and set small fires around the area.
The chapter said that one of its board members, Danny Garza, who was clearly identifying himself as a legal observer with a labeled cap, was hit in the forehead by a rubber bullet from 25 feet away. He was hospitalized around 2 a.m., barely able to speak.
One Sacramento Bee reporter was hit in the foot by a nonlethal round as well.
The guild chapter described the actions of police and deputies on Saturday as “indiscriminate brutality.”
This story was originally published May 31, 2020 at 11:26 AM.
