The San Diego Branch of the NAACP along with 14 individual plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in Federal Court on Monday October 17th, against County of San Diego, City of El Cajon, Sheriff William Gore and El Cajon Police Chief Jeff Davis alleging that the they violated the free speech rights of demonstrators late at night on October 1-2 and again on October 15-16, 2016 shortly after midnight, and are now illegally threatening anyone who visits the site with trespassing.
On October 1-2, approximately 80 people were gathered for an all night vigil at the site where Alfred Olango was shot and killed by police. The community had created a makeshift memorial at the site, with candles, photographs of Alfred Olango, a canopy and signs. The community was peacefully gathered, praying and paying their respects to Mr. Olango and his family. Mourners had received approval from Los Panchos to hold the vigil in the parking lot behind the taco shop located at 777 Broadway, in El Cajon, California.
The Sheriff’s deputies declared the assembly unlawful pursuant to California Penal Code section 407, despite the peaceful nature of the crowd. At approximately midnight, two rows of Sheriff’s deputies lined up at either end of parking lot. Most community members left at that time.
Shortly after midnight, the Sheriff’s deputies descended on the gathering with riot gear and attack dogs. Many of the plaintiffs were arrested while standing in a circle praying for Alfred Olango and his family.
“We were holding a candlelight vigil and a prayer circle for a friend and the police in riot gear lined up and began moving in closer and closer trying to intimidate us. I instructed everyone to remain peaceful and ignore the police. People tried to plead with them to leave us alone. People were scared. They arrested us while we were holding hands and praying silently.” Said Jean Vilsaint one of the personal friends of Alfred Olango. “To eject us once was bad enough. They did it again last night [October 15-16]. We want to continue to hold our vigil until justice is served on behalf of Alfred Olango.”
Dr. Branch, the president of the San Diego NAACP explained, “The Constitution does not simply apply during business hours. It is up to the protesters themselves to disperse when they are satisfied that their message has been received. In this case, law enforcement was either enforcing an unwritten and illegal curfew or was simply tired of observing a peaceful assembly. Breaking up a peaceful vigil was entirely uncalled for and unconstitutional.”
The night of October 15th-16th, 2016 (just after midnight), the police again declared an unlawful assembly ordering people to disperse. This time the Police ordered the prayer vigil, including the candles and photographs of Alfred Olango, to be removed from the property. The police are now threatening to arrest, on charges of criminal trespassing, anyone who goes to the site where Alfred Olango was shot and killed.
Plaintiffs will be seeking an injunction to prevent further police harassment of protesters and demonstrators.
