Mother believes Sacramento police ‘targeted’ Stevante Clark in the way he was arrested
Sequette Clark on Wednesday criticized the Sacramento Police Department for the way officers arrested her son Stevante Clark, the older brother of Stephon Clark, who was shot and killed by police in 2018.
The mother said members of a Sacramento police career criminal assessment team showed up unannounced wearing tactical gear at her home and took her son into custody as her 9-year-old daughter watched. She said the officers arrested Stevante as he was bringing in groceries, and the incident traumatized her daughter, Cailyn.
“We understand you have a job to do, but it’s how you do your job that matters,” the mother told The Sacramento Bee in an exclusive interview.
Police officers arrested Clark, 27, on Monday afternoon in connection with an alleged assault last month. Officer Karl Chan, a police spokesman, has said the incident was investigated, and the report was forwarded to the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office for review.
The Bee on Wednesday asked the Police Department if wanted to respond to the mother’s criticism of the arrest.
“On May 18, Sacramento Police Department detectives arrested Mr. Clark for his active felony assault warrant stemming from a domestic violence incident,” said police Sgt. Sabrina Briggs. “Mr. Clark was cooperative and taken into custody without incident.”
The department did not have any further comment. Police officials have not released any other details because the incident was related to domestic violence.
On Monday, Clark was booked at the Sacramento County Main Jail in lieu of a $50,000 bail bond. By Wednesday, Clark had been released from jail and scheduled for his arraignment hearing next Tuesday afternoon in Sacramento County Superior Court.
Clark faces felony charges of battery resulting in serious injury and assault by force likely to cause great bodily injury, according to court records. He spoke to The Bee briefly Wednesday, but he declined to discuss any details about the case or the allegations made against him.
“We don’t want any children to be traumatized. I’m not the news, children being traumatized is the news,” Stevante Clark said in the backyard of his grandmother’s home.
The Bee’s attempt to reach Clark’s defense attorney on Wednesday was not successful.
Clark’s mother chose to speak to The Bee at the home of Sequita Thompson, Clark’s grandmother, not far from the spot where Stephon was shot by officers in the backyard of the grandmother’s Meadowview neighborhood home.
The grandmother has told The Bee that police arrested Clark as he was carrying groceries into his mother’s house with his younger sister. Thompson has said she asked what the the warrant was for, but police told her they didn’t know.
Clark was catapulted to national fame in 2018 after his brother was killed, and Clark took to the streets in protest. He didn’t have a criminal record before March 2018.
He was arrested less than a month after his brother died after causing damage to a north Sacramento hotel room. Clark was held for for mental health evaluation, because he was deemed by authorities a danger to himself or others. He was later transferred to a mental health treatment center.
Clark was arrested a second time after a days-long incident in Del Paso Heights, in which he barricaded his street with trash cans and threatened neighbors and a roommate. His case was resolved in mental health court, which allowed him to avoid a criminal record upon completion of a court-mandated program.
His mother said Wednesday that she believes Monday’s arrest shows police were targeting Stevante.
“Today, I come before you with a heavy heart,” Sequette Clark said. “As a once proud citizen of Sacramento, it pains me to know that the Sacramento Police Department has targeted another one of my sons.”
She said the team of officers tracked down Stevante to her north Sacramento home and apprehended him. She said it was about eight officers in six vehicles who arrived in front of her home to arrest her son
“Their blatant excessiveness displayed while arresting my son was shameful and traumatic,” the mother said. “My daughter and my mother were traumatized beyond belief.”
She told The Bee that her daughter was “crying, sobbing” frightened by police and scared for her brother’s life. She said she believes Stevante had been making true progress with Police Chief Daniel Hahn in “bridging the gap” between the community and the department.
Clark has become an advocate for police reform, helping propel AB 392 to law. The bill signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year regulates when police officers can use use deadly force. Clark has made public appearances with Hahn, including a panel discussion in Washington, D.C., at the Congressional Black Caucus’ Legislative Conference.
“Every night, I pray for the District Attorney and Chief Hahn and the Sacramento Police Department as a whole,” the mother said. “I pray that God turns their hearts back to the hearts of the people of Sacramento.”
After her son’s arrested earlier this week, Sequette Clark said “it saddens me to see that we have not made any progress.”
This story was originally published May 20, 2020 at 3:19 PM.
