Chaos erupts during Sacramento City Council meeting with protesters upset over arrests during Stephon Clark protest

ByKate Larsen KGO logo
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Chaotic scene breaks out at Sacramento City Council meeting over arrests during Stephon Clark protest
Many were expressing outrage about the police department's response to a protest Monday night.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KGO) -- A raucous City Council meeting in Sacramento Tuesday night. Many were expressing outrage about the police department's response to a protest Monday night.

Demonstrations started over the weekend after the Sacramento County District Attorney announced that the two officers who shot and killed 22-year-old Stephon Clark last year, would not face criminal charges.

RELATED: California attorney general will not charge Sacramento officers in Stephon Clark shooting

Police arrested 84 people Monday night, after a march through an East Sacramento neighborhood.

About an hour into Tuesday night's meeting, a man jumped up on the lectern as council members attempted to call for the next speaker. Police swarmed the man while the audience began to chant, repeating Stephon Clark's name.

Many of the people at the meeting were part of the march and group that got arrested Monday.

"I put my hands behind my back and didn't even resist and let them take me," said Khalil Ferguson, who was arrested along with many other Sacramento State students.

Ferguson says police told them to disperse but left them no room to actually disperse.

"We're like whoa what's going on? We literally have nowhere to go!"

So when police took out their batons at the meeting, in front of people who were arrested the night before, the anger reached boiling point.

"I need you all to please, please, put your batons down. You are traumatizing us," screamed one woman.

Mayor Darrell Steinberg called a recess of the meeting. The council members eventually returned and resumed hearing from the public.

Earlier, Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced his office would not file charges either.

"I think we did everything we could to turn over every stone to figure out what we could about those minutes before Stephon Clark died."

Becerra said Clark ignored officers' commands to show his hands, and that officers saw a flash of light as he advanced toward them.

RELATED: 80 arrested during march in Sacramento over decision in Stephon Clark shooting case

They believed Clark had a gun, but it turned out to be a cell phone.

"I was on that bridge for three hours. I'm in pain right now," said Reverend Kevin Kitrell Ross, was also arrested at the march, along with other clergy members and at least one journalist.

Like many, Ross thinks there needs to be some sort of consequence for the officers who shot an unarmed Clark seven times.

"We have to do better than this. And do it in such a way that removes the officers, who still remain on duty in our communities. We don't want to be policed by those officers."

Another investigation has been opened, this one by the US Attorney and FBI, who are looking into whether Clark's civil rights were violated.

In response to complaints about police tactics after the march Monday night, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg called for an investigation into the police response, saying he wants to guarantee the right to peacefully protest.

Check out more stories about the Stephon Clark case.