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Cyclists attack Calif. university officer, steal his bodycam and keys

One member of the group facing off with the officer attempted to ram him with his bike

By Vincent Moleski
The Sacramento Bee

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Sacramento State Police Department officer was swarmed Friday night by a group of cyclists, one of whom stole a law enforcement body camera.

Chief of Police Mark Iwasa said that a man was arrested and a boy was sent to juvenile hall after a large group between 20 and 30 people appeared on campus riding bicycles.

Iwasa said that officers sometimes run into groups of bikers on campus — they come to do trick jumps off of stairs and other structures, he said.

But when an officer approached a group Friday night, instead of clearing out, several of them circled and taunted him. The officer had been sent out upon reports of bikers ripping down a sign and using it to do tricks near Guy West Plaza on the east side of campus.

One member of the group facing off with the officer attempted to ram him with his bike. The officer grappled him and tried to take the boy into custody as other bikers circled around and tried to pull him free from the officer.

Two more campus police officers were sent to the scene to assist, according to Iwasa. These two encountered a man who raised a fist to take a swing at the officers. An officer deployed a stun gun against the man and took him into custody.

During the melee, one of the officers’ body-mounted cameras was removed. Iwasa said that it has been tracked to a location near the railroad tracks, but it has yet to be recovered.

Iwasa described this incident as “pretty unusual.”

“That type of thing we haven’t seen before,” he said.

After a helicopter arrived overhead, the rest of the group scattered. The boy who tried to ram the first officer was booked into juvenile hall. The man who tried to fight with the officers was medically cleared at a hospital and then arrested and booked into jail.

None of the three officers were injured.

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(c)2021 The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.)

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