46 People Arrested at Rally Over Riverside Police Shooting

National civil rights activists joined about 1,000 people Monday in a mostly peaceful rally protesting the decision by county prosecutors not to file criminal charges against four police officers who shot and killed Tyisha Miller in December.

Riverside police said 46 people, including activists Dick Gregory, the Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III, were arrested in a carefully orchestrated demonstration that blocked the entrance to police headquarters.

“We want to let them know we are prepared to go to jail, to get the attention of the [state] attorney general and the U.S. attorney,” the Rev. Bernell Butler, a cousin of Tyisha Miller, said on the police station steps as he awaited his turn to be taken away.

Miller, 19, was shot and killed Dec. 28 by police who, responding to a 911 call, found her passed out in her locked car with a gun in her lap. Police said that when officers broke the window to grab the weapon, she moved for it, prompting the officers to open fire, striking her 12 times.

Because the Riverside County district attorney’s office decided not to prosecute the officers, activists said the only recourse is to apply pressure on state and federal authorities to pursue civil rights violations for her death and because of racial slurs allegedly made by other officers shortly after Miller was killed.

Protest organizers met with state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer for 2 1/2 hours Monday afternoon.

“He has seen where there’s a problem of racial bias in the Riverside Police Department,” said D. Anthony West, counsel to Lockyer. “Racism anywhere is bad, but it is especially bad if it comes with a badge and a gun. The attorney general sees himself as someone who can be the voice of moral outrage when appropriate.”

The 3 1/2-hour rally began at City Hall with speeches, moved a block to the district attorney’s office--where protesters blocked a door that was locked from the inside--then moved on without incident, finishing at the police station, where the rally kept mostly to its script.

The only unexpected arrest was of a man who allegedly threw a filled plastic bottle, hitting a police officer on the head. He was arrested on a felony charge of assault on a police officer.

“One guy just didn’t understand the program,” said Riverside Police Lt. Audrey Wilson of that final arrest of the day.

It occurred after most of the participants heeded the request of protest organizers and left the police station courtyard peacefully. But several hundred people lingered, and moved onto the street only after about 100 police officers in helmets and face shields--some on motorcycles with sirens blaring--cleared the courtyard in front of the police station.

Several dozen still lingered on the street and police took positions along the curb. Despite the one arrest and heated shouts by protesters, the last demonstrators left at the insistence of organizers and eight community relations experts with the U.S. Justice Department, who served as referees between police and protesters.

Justice Department mediator Vermont R. McKinney played middleman during the arrests, queuing up one protester after another and handing them to police officers, who led them away.

As each person descended from the steps, the name was announced to the crowd by one of the organizers, who then invited the crowd to applaud.

In some cases, police paused to allow the arrested protesters to be quickly interviewed by the news media.

At one point, a speaker invited the crowd to show its appreciation for the assembled police, by applauding them for their patience. The crowd responded warmly.

Wilson, a Police Department spokeswoman, returned the compliment. “The organized part of this went very well,” she said. “They’ve done a very good job of controlling their group.”

Except for the bottle thrower, the others were cited for obstructing access to a public building, a misdemeanor, and released within minutes.

The speeches at City Hall were loud and passionate, the crowd hoisting signs that read, among other things, “Crime: Sleeping. Punishment: Death,” and “Save a Life--Teach Your Children Multiculturalism.”

Gregory said, “Black women, hear me: Be careful. When the police stop you, don’t move too fast.”

He offered a metaphor that was greeted with loud applause: “Swamps don’t create mosquitoes and mosquitoes don’t create swamps, but if you clean up the swamps, the mosquitoes will leave. Today we’re swamp-cleaning, and telling all the mosquitoes, they gotta find another swamp.”

Later, after he was arrested and was being placed into a police van, Danny Bakewell, president of the Brotherhood Crusade, remarked: “This is a true reflection of the Riverside Police Department, arresting those peacefully demonstrating and letting go those who brutally killed Tyisha Miller. We cannot let this rest. This is only the beginning.”