By: Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher
San Diego Voice & Viewpoint NewspaperChairman of the Board of Directors, NNPA
Recently, at least two unlawful activities have taken place against civilians by the San Diego Police and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agencies. The first was a justifiable arrest of a man who had physically assaulted another person, and he understood that he was facing arrest when police arrived. He took off most of his clothing to show he was not armed. At least four police officers were holding his arms and legs when a fifth officer reached over the ones holding the man to punch him in the face at least five times, as caught on camera.
This was clearly excessive force reminiscent of the Rodney King arrest, where police officers were filmed beating King, the arrestee, who was already on the ground. Question? What has the San Diego Police Chief done about this matter, which is now several days old? Has the officer been placed on suspension while an investigation is being conducted? No response from the Police Chief or the Mayor, who is his boss.
Next, ICE made unlawful arrests at the 47th Street San Diego Trolley stop. Unlawful in the sense: no warrant to take persons in the commission of a crime; no identification by the arresting armed and face-covered ICE Agents who were just grabbing people without explanation, and arresting them, some with brutal force, such as knocking one woman to the ground. San Diego Police arrive. They said, to “monitor the situation,” but do not take action against ICE agents, only the people who are present and protesting the arrest.
What we as citizens need to know is that both law enforcement entities violated Federal Law. Title 18 United States Code, Section 245. In everyday terms, the actions of the San Diego Police hitting a man in custody and the actions of the ICE agents grabbing people at trolley stops and arresting them without cause or notice, amount to kidnapping, which is the unlawful detention of a person in their movements.
The San Diego Police should have been arresting the ICE agents and not standing around watching the unlawful acts of those agents. If our local Police Chief will not act on the wrongful actions of his own officers, what can we, the people, expect in regards to the ICE agent activities in front of them?
As people are doing in other cities, we must gather and rally whenever we see such activity by any law enforcement personnel. Let’s wake up San Diego. Later today or tomorrow, it could be any of us.
