L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman introduced new fees towards individuals at immigration protests in L.A., together with a person and a lady accused of assaulting legislation enforcement horses and a teen accused of tried homicide.
Hochman mentioned his workplace had charged greater than 40 individuals in reference to protest-related violence and vandalism and supposed to file extra fees as attorneys continued to evaluation proof.
At the very least 14 persons are going through separate federal fees in relation to the L.A. protests, with alleged crimes together with assaulting officers with cinder blocks and Molotov cocktails, and conspiracy to impede arrests.
Among the many new fees introduced by the D.A.’s workplace Tuesday have been these towards a 17-year-old boy, who faces one felony rely every of tried homicide, assaulting a peace officer and vandalism, in addition to two misdemeanor counts of rioting.
Iran Castro, 29, of El Monte and Dana Whitson, 66, of Oro Valley, Ariz., have been charged in separate alleged assaults on L.A. County Sheriff’s Division horses throughout totally different days of protests in downtown L.A, prosecutors mentioned.
Castro is accused of pulling on the bridle of 1 horse and grabbing the reins of one other as mounted deputies moved towards a crowd of protesters to implement dispersal orders on June 14. Castro has been charged with two felony counts of assaulting a peace officer, two felony counts of animal cruelty and one felony rely of resisting arrest.
She faces as much as 10 years and 4 months in jail if convicted as charged and has pleaded not responsible, in accordance with court docket data.
On June 13, Whitson allegedly pushed one of many sheriff’s horses a number of occasions, hit the animal’s muzzle and pulled on its reins. He has been charged with one felony rely every of assaulting a peace officer, resisting arrest and animal cruelty and pleaded not responsible, in accordance with court docket data. If convicted as charged, Whitson faces as much as six years and 4 months in jail.
Along with the accidents suffered by Sheriff’s Division horses, at the least 5 Los Angeles Police Division horses have been injured at protests, officers mentioned.
Regulation enforcement use of horses for crowd management has been criticized as a result of bodily risks posed to protesters.
A video captured on June 8 by unbiased journalist Tina-Desiree Berg reveals a protester falling as a line of officers on horseback advance right into a crowd. The mounted items proceed marching ahead, trampling over the protester mendacity on the bottom.
Different protesters not too long ago charged by the D.A.’s workplace embrace Patrick Monoz, 37, of Whittier. He’s accused of injuring a police officer with a flagpole on June 11 after officers ordered protesters to disperse outdoors a Whittier resort the place federal immigration brokers have been rumored to be staying.
Monoz pleaded not responsible to at least one felony rely every of assaulting a peace officer and resisting arrest and one misdemeanor rely of rioting.
Robert McGrath, 21, is charged with one felony rely of vandalism for allegedly spray-painting an expletive on the aspect of the federal Veterans Affairs constructing in downtown Los Angeles. He has pleaded not responsible, in accordance with court docket data.
“The massive-scale protests could have ended for now, however our work has not,” Hochman mentioned in an announcement. “I need to thank the group of investigators and prosecutors for his or her tireless efforts to make sure that those that dedicated prison acts below the guise of protest are held accountable.”
A whole bunch of individuals have been arrested by varied legislation enforcement companies as protests roiled downtown Los Angeles for greater than every week, with probably the most intense interval of unrest from June 6 till June 10, the day a regional curfew was imposed. Los Angeles police alone made at the least 575 arrests.
The D.A.’s workplace introduced preliminary fees towards greater than a dozen protesters on June 11, for alleged crimes equivalent to throwing fireworks at law enforcement officials, driving a bike into officers and vandalizing the Corridor of Justice. One other spherical of fees was introduced on June 17, with allegations together with setting a California Freeway Patrol car on hearth and looting of an Apple retailer.
