Complaint says Sacramento police officer pushed demonstrator, damaging cellphone

The National Lawyers Guild filed a citizen’s complaint with the Sacramento Police Department, alleging “unnecessary and excessive force” against a woman by an officer during Friday night’s demonstration in downtown Sacramento.

The complaint, announced in a news conference Tuesday, alleged the officer assaulted the demonstrator during the protest over the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The complaint alleges the officer committed an assault by pushing her to the ground and later slapping a cellphone out of her hands.

Elizabeth Kim, president of the National Lawyers Guild, said in the news conference that she witnessed the incident and called it “rude and abusive” in the complaint.

“Most importantly, we witnessed an assault and battery and vandalism by law enforcement,” Kim said.

Cellphone video of the incident shows the woman falling to the ground and her back hitting an exterior wall. Kim said the officer pushed the woman, but the incident is partially obscured in the video by a tree.

A few seconds later, the woman gets up and follows the officer, attempting to identify him while holding her cellphone in her right hand. The officer, dressed in riot gear, stops and faces her and then hits the phone out of her hand.

Kim said the slap caused the phone to strike the ground and crack.

In the complaint, the officer was identified as Officer Smith of the Sacramento Police Department. But in the video, the officer does not appear to wearing the department’s badge, making it unclear if he is from the department or was an officer deployed as part of mutual aid.

The victim is not identified in the complaint.

“At all relevant times, Officer Smith was acting under the color of law as a member of the Sacramento Police Department,” according to the complaint.

Kim also took issue with an unknown officer who was present at the incident for not intervening, the complaint said.

“When officers witnessed this, they did nothing,” Kim said. “They have a duty to intervene and stop officers from committing assault and battery against any civilian.”

The Sacramento Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This story was originally published September 1, 2020 at 4:53 PM.