By David DeBolt
Contra Costa Times
OAKLAND, Calif. — The California Highway Patrol has concluded a plainclothes officer acted within department policy when he drew his gun and pointed it at protesters during a melee at a December anti-police brutality protest.
The unnamed officer was found to be justified for drawing his gun after his partner wrestled with a protester who struck him on Dec. 10, Avery Browne, chief of the CHP’s Golden Gate Division, said Thursday. The investigation concluded about three weeks ago.
“Was it unnerving? Yes. Shocking? Yes,” Browne said Thursday. “We take that seriously when there’s a display of a firearm, but had he not done that, today we might be having a different discussion.
“He saved his partner’s life and other citizens that were there too.”
The officer and his partner were dressed in plainclothes and followed the protest part of the way in their car, then went on foot from downtown Oakland toward Lake Merritt. Around 27th Street, some protesters became suspicious that the two men were police, not protesters, and at least one person attempted to pull off handkerchiefs the officers were using to hide their identities. The officer told his superiors he drew his weapon out of fear when his partner wrestled with a protester and a crowd began to close in around them.
In response to media inquiries about this undercover officer, @oaklandpoliceca referring us to @CHP_GoldenGate pic.twitter.com/15aZ1ij6BD
— Henry K. Lee (@henryklee) December 11, 2014
The two-minute melee became one of the most dramatic scenes locally during dozens of Bay Area protests in November and December over police killings in New York and Ferguson, Missouri. The previous night, CHP officers had fired beanbags from a freeway overpass at protesters on the street below after the marchers had briefly occupied lanes of Highway 24.
Multiple protesters, including Oakland resident Etta Johnson, said the officers did not identify themselves as police officers when asked, and the officer who drew his gun did not show his badge as CHP officials have said he did.
Johnson is the mother of 30-year-old Christopher A. Lander, who was shot dead by an unknown assailant in June 2013. Another of her sons was wounded in the shooting.
“All I could do is look down the barrel of the gun and think about my kids who were shot,” said Johnson, who filed a citizen’s complaint with the CHP in December. “I didn’t know he was a police (officer). Never once did he say he was or show a badge. All he said was, ‘get back,’ with his gun out.”
In a response to Johnson’s complaint, a CHP captain wrote to Johnson: “The California Highway Patrol maintains the highest level of expectations from our employees. I hope that if you should have any future contact with a member of this department it will be under more favorable circumstances.”
Browne said the investigation included statements from witnesses and review of surveillance footage. Browne, who defended the officers’ actions from the beginning, said their actions were appropriate since they felt threatened and were outnumbered by protesters.
The officers remained on active duty following the incident.
Copyright 2015 the Contra Costa Times