Residents from East Bay Spoke at Protesters' Rally About Police Shootings

A protest against officer-involved fatal shootings and Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch's decision not to charge a sheriff's deputy with the murder of 13-year-old Andy Lopez in October ended late Saturday afternoon in downtown Santa Rosa.

The rally that started at 1 p.m. in Old Courthouse Square and a march through the downtown that started around 3:30 p.m. was peaceful until more than a dozen of the 100 protesters marched up the Third Street off-ramp of northbound U.S. Highway 101 and onto the highway where they blocked traffic around 4:30 p.m.

The California Highway Patrol staged three patrol cars and a motorcycle about 50 yards south of the protesters in the northbound lanes.

When CHP officers walked toward the protesters on the highway, the group
moved back down the off-ramp.

They were met at the base of the ramp by at least two-dozen Santa Rosa police officers with several dozen more staged nearby.

During a standoff at the base of the off-ramp the protesters chanted "The Whole World is Watching," and one protester briefly lay down on the off-ramp before the protesters marched to the nearby Santa Rosa Plaza around 4:50 p.m.

The protesters marched through the Macy's store to get to B Street and continued the march back to Old Courthouse Square where after more speeches the rally ended around 5:45 p.m.

Many of those who attended the rally and the march against officer-involved shootings and what they called "militarized" police agencies were from the East Bay. Some were members of StopMassIncarceration.net and The Revolutionary Club of the Bay Area.

Maria de Los Angeles, one of the Santa Rosa organizers, said a more "radical" group of protesters split off from the main body of marchers and went onto the freeway.

Local organizers Jonathan Melrod and Nicole Guerra, as well as de Los Angeles, said they were concerned some of the children who were marching in front might also have gone onto the highway.

Melrod and Guerra went onto the highway to check, and the protesters blocking northbound traffic then moved down the off-ramp.

"It was spontaneous," Melrod said about the march onto the freeway. "I wouldn't say we lost control of the crowd."

Back at Old Courthouse Square after the march ended, Rafael Kadaris, a member of The Revolution Club of the Bay Area, said some members of that club marched onto the highway.

"Different people do different things but we're all united to fight for justice," Kadaris said.
D'Andre Teeter of StopMassIncarceration.net said six members of that group also went onto the freeway.

During the march through downtown the protesters sat or lay down in some intersections and drew chalk outlines of their bodies to symbolize those who died in officer-involved shootings.

Speakers from Stockton, Manteca, Dublin and San Mateo County recounted how their family members died in police shootings.

On Oct. 22, Deputy Gelhaus shot Lopez seven times as the teen
walked down Moorland Avenue southwest of Santa Rosa with an air soft BB
rifle. Lopez died at the scene.

Santa Rosa and Petaluma police investigated the shooting, and Ravitch reviewed the investigation.

On Monday, she issued a 52-page report that concluded Gelhaus did not violate the law because he believed Lopez's toy rifle, that was designed to look like an AK-47, was real.

Ravitch said Gelhaus told Lopez to drop the rifle at least once and maybe twice, and he believed there was an imminent threat of death to himself and others.

Protesters Saturday called for the firing of Gelhaus, as well as an independent investigation of the shooting by the Department of Justice and State Attorney General's Office.

Protesters also called for a change in policy that states an imminent threat to a law enforcement officer's life must be "obvious and apparent."

Melrod and others said 64 people have been killed in officer-involved shootings in Sonoma County since 2000.

Previous:

Andy Lopez Family Comments on Decision Not To Charge Deputy.

Expert Says Andy Lopez Impaired By Marijuana When Shot By Deputy.

Protesters Rally After DA Says No Charges Against Deputy In Shooting of Andy Lopez.

Sonoma County DA To Announce No Charges in Andy Lopez Shooting.

--Bay City News