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A Sacramento Sheriff’s Vehicle Hit a Protester During a Stephon Clark Vigil

3 minute read

A protester attending a vigil for Stephon Clark in Sacramento Saturday night was hit and injured by a sheriff’s vehicle.

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department confirmed the incident Sunday morning, and said the protester hit by the police vehicle sustained minor injuries. The protester, identified by the Sacramento Bee as activist Wanda Cleveland, was released from the hospital late Saturday night with bruises on her arm and head, according to the newspaper.

A video of the incident captured by ABC 10 showed protesters surrounding several sheriff’s vehicles while holding signs and chanting. The driver of the front vehicle blared his siren and said, “Back away from my vehicle,” several times. When protesters moved away, the sheriff’s vehicle drove forward. The second vehicle then struck Cleveland when attempting to exit the area, and Cleveland fell to the nearby curb as onlookers gasped. In the video, the car did not appear to stop after it struck Cleveland.

The sheriff’s department said in a statement that protesters “began yelling while pounding and kicking the vehicles’ exterior” just before 9 p.m. Saturday evening, and noted damage to the vehicles by “vandals in the crowd.” The department said it is conducting an internal review of the incident and that the California Highway Patrol is also investigating.

The Sacramento Metro Fire Department transported Cleveland to the hospital. In an interview with the Sacramento Bee, Cleveland said the driver of the sheriff’s car “never even stopped.”

“It was a hit and run. If I did that, I’d be charged,” Cleveland told the Bee. “It’s disregard for human life.”

The sheriff’s department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TIME.

Protesters have been rallying in Sacramento in the days after police shot and killed Clark, a father of two, when he was unarmed in his grandmother’s backyard last month. Clark’s autopsy produced by an independent researcher showed he was shot eight times, predominately in his back. Body camera footage of the shooting showed officers yelling, “Gun, gun, gun” before opening fire. The only item found on Clark’s body was his cellphone.

The 22-year-old’s death is the latest high-profile police shooting of an unarmed black man. Like other grieving families who lost their loved ones as a result of police gunfire, Clark’s family has made emotional pleas to demand an end to police brutality.

“You know, sadly, I have no confidence in America and the fact that I will probably hear another story sometime this year of an innocent life lost over excessive police force,” Curtis Gordon, Clark’s uncle, told the Associated Press last week. “It’s so common, you’re numb to it.”

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