What should Sacramento schools do when students use the N-word? Sac City’s adviser weighs in

BY MARCUS D. SMITH

AUGUST 29, 2022 5:25 AM

The Sacramento City Unified School District recruited outside help last year to investigate and resolve a string of race-related incidents on campuses that outraged parents and upset students. It turned to Mark Harris, a Sacramento attorney who was hired as the district’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion monitor to investigate and advise the district in such incidents. Two especially difficult incidents involved staff. In June 2021, a white teacher at Kit Carson used a racial slur in a class discussion. She later resigned. In November 2021, someone targeted a Black vice principal at West Campus High School with racist graffiti and online harassment. The district never found a culprit, and the vice principal sued the district alleging officials failed to protect her from racist harassment.

Looking ahead to the new school year, Harris spoke with The Sacramento Bee by phone to share his views on how the district should go about regulating the use of the N-word on campus during school hours and at events.

Q: What should be done about the use of the N-word in schools, especially when it carries so much weight still in 2022?

A: This is complicated. It’s difficult. You mentioned Kit Carson. Do I believe that the person who is the subject of the investigation is a racist? No. I would say there’s no evidence indicating that she’s racist. So many times we get caught up in the ‘why’ when we should be focused on the ‘what’. The ‘what’ is she used the N-word in a school context. That is an absolute ‘see ya later’ as far as I’m concerned. It should be the same, in my opinion, if it’s an African American educator who does it, or if it’s a Caucasian educator who does it, LatinX, AAPI, then we can go on and on, even Indigenous.

Q: What are your thoughts on people who justify the use of the term because others use it, or because it’s widely used in popular culture?

A: It ain’t hard to figure this one out. So what I’m seeing is a number of teachers, typically Caucasian teachers, and typically younger Caucasian teachers say, ‘I grew up in the hip-hop generation where the lyrics were full of the use of the N-word. Why can’t I use it? Because my music indicates it. I hear students up and down every hallway in SCUSD and other school districts use the N-word consistently. And I don’t know whether they use it with the ‘a’ at the end or the ‘er’ at the end, but they’re using it, and if they can use it, I should be able to use it.’ To that I say, poppycock.

Q: Do you expect to hold high school, middle school, or even elementary school students to the same standard of professionalism?

A: For the professionals, for the people who get the paycheck, let me make this real simple. If you’re getting a paycheck from the school district, you shouldn’t be using the N-word. I’m going to make it very narrow and very specific. I’m not even gonna be grandiose about it. Relative to students, it is definitely a more complicated matter. Our kids are confused by these mixed signals we’re sending relative to this issue. We need to speak with a firm voice and a clear voice that the use of the N-word is unacceptable.

Q: Regarding students’ use of the word, do you believe in regulating the N-word like profanity and other curse words on campus?

A: I’m not for expelling students for the use of the word. I’m not for suspending students for the use of the word. Treating the adults who draw paychecks one way is different from treating students in the same manner or similar manner. We should be teaching them. They should step up and behave like teachers and explain to these young people why it’s inappropriate.

Q: How do you feel about the conscious use of substitute words instead of the N-word, such as ‘King’, ‘Queen’, ‘Brotha’, ‘Sista’, ‘Dude’, ‘Bro’, etc.?

A: I think it’s interesting. I believe in positive words that uplift and empower our community, so I’m down with referring to young people as kings and queens. I’m down with referring to students as scholars.

Q: I want to play devil’s advocate because there are some Black folk who allow others to call them the N-word. Does history, teaching, and education still matter?

A: That’s a beautiful question. I am a lawyer and I respect the First Amendment. If a person wants to express themselves in a manner that I don’t agree with, I’m not going to try to stifle that. I’m not going to try to suppress that. So if a person says I want to be referred to as an ‘N’, then God bless you. You have the right to have yourself referred to in a manner that you deem appropriate except, back to how I started, if you’re an employee of one of the school districts that I currently work with, represent, and that I have any influence over. If you’re drawing a paycheck, or if you’re in a position of authority, even if it is a volunteer, you will be dismissed if you use the N-word. So you better go find work somewhere else if you want to refer to yourself as an ‘N’.

Two 14-year-olds arrested in connection with racist graffiti at Sacramento school

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

Two teens were arrested in connection with racist graffiti discovered along a wall at Abraham Lincoln Elementary School in mid-February, officials announced Monday.

The graffiti, which included swastikas and the letters "KKK," had been spray-painted on the campus during the 2022 Abraham Lincoln’s birthday observance.

The teens, both 14-years-old, had caused more than $400 in damage, which is the threshold for felony vandalism, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department said.

Investigators used video surveillance footage showing the teens on campus during the same time the vandalism is believed to have happened.

Both teens attend nearby George Washington Carver High School, officials said.

"While the identification of those involved provides some closure, the impact of racist acts leaves lasting hurt for our students, staff and community," said Sacramento City Unified School District Superintendent Jorge A. Aguilar in a prepared statement.

"Sac City Unified will continue to support our students, staff and families at Lincoln Elementary in the wake of this incident, and work with our entire community to interrupt and address racism. We are committed to building an equitable and positive culture and climate that supports success for all students at every school in our district,"

This racist graffiti incident is just one of several that have been recently reported within the Sacramento City Unified School District.

In an effort to address racism within its system, the district hired attorney Mark T. Harris at the beginning of this year as the first racism liaison.

In early February, district officials said that an investigation was underway after water fountains at McClatchy High School were labeled "Colored" and "White." A Black McClatchy student later confessed, saying she thought it was a "prank," Harris said.

Last June, a seventh-grade teacher at Kit Carson International Academy was caught on video using a racial slur in front of her classroom. The district said it was moving toward firing that teacher in late January.

In November, the same derogatory slur was found on West Campus High School, written multiple times near Vice-Principal Elysse Versher’s parking spot. The investigation into this incident remains active.

McClatchy student confesses to racist graffiti at Sacramento school, officials say

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

A Black student from C.K. McClatchy High School will face disciplinary action after confessing to having labeled water fountains at the school “White” and “Colored,” Sacramento City Unified School District's race and equity liaison said on Friday.

Last week, the racist markings were found at C.K. McClatchy High School, prompting an investigation. The school district worked with the Sacramento Police Department to identify the person as a SCUSD student, which was announced on Thursday.

The student has been identified as a sophomore who attends McClatchy, Attorney Mark Harris told KCRA 3.

"It appears as though a young African American student participated in what she thought was a prank. She has confessed to doing that," Harris said. "... A prank that went sideways. It’s an unfortunate prank. It does not seem to be an example of any kind of hate crime, it’s not an example in my opinion of any kind of racist behavior pattern. It was a prank."

Harris believes no other student was involved in the graffiti, but did mention that another person might have filmed it.

The case has been turned over to the District Attorney's office who will decide if the student will face charges. Harris said an arrest is possible, but that it was more likely the student would face expulsion or suspension as punishment.

"It was most distressing that the young woman who put the two words over the water fountains was not aware of the significance of that. Genuinely, was not aware," Harris said.

Betty Williams, president of the Greater Sacramento NAACP, released a statement about the incident, saying the school district "has not been fully transparent in its investigation process."

"The Greater Sacramento NAACP is extremely concerned with the persistent culture of racism, violence and microaggressions towards Black students. The investigation process is not fair, as evidenced by the swift investigation and closure of the C.K. McClatchy incident where the perpetrator(s) are allegedly Black. Meanwhile, the perpetrators of the hate crimes at West Campus are still at-large, and it seems the SCUSD is protecting them from prosecution," Williams said in the statement.

Williams says the district received millions in funding to address pandemic-related issues for Black and brown students, and calls for "culturally appropriate student supports" from Black community organizations to address these students' needs.

The Sacramento City Unified School District said it is investigating the water fountain incident along with other racist graffiti found at another school in the district.

"Sac City Unified takes any instance of racial intolerance extremely seriously because such acts harm our students and our entire community," SCUSD Superintendent Jorge Aguilar wrote in a release on Thursday. "While identification of the person involved in this incident has been addressed, we will remain focused on supporting the healing of students and staff who have been impacted by this troubling act of vandalism."

Days after the vandalism at the fountains, the school district said on Tuesday that it discovered more racist graffiti, this time along an outside wall at Abraham Lincoln Elementary School.

The school district said it is working with the Rancho Cordova Police Department with this investigation.

Community leaders met Thursday morning to speak out against the graffiti found at the elementary school.

“This kind of act is unacceptable…whoever this is in Sac City Unified that seems to be running around trying to scare people, we are going to find you," Rancho Cordova City Council Member Garrett Gatewood announced in front of a crowd.

In recent months, the school district has made steps to address racism within its system. In late January, SCUSD hired attorney Mark. T Harris as its first-ever racism liaison. The hiring was announced after two high-profile racism investigations from 2021.

Last June, a seventh-grade teacher at Kit Carson International Academy was caught on video using a racial slur in front of her classroom. In November, the same derogatory slur was found on West Campus High School, written multiple times near Vice-Principal Elysse Versher’s parking spot.

To view interview click here.

Attorney Harris on new police reform laws

Gov. Newsom signed a series of police reform bills into state law. Also, a CapRadio/Valley Vision food resilience survey looks at the challenges to accessing community gardens and food banks. Finally, the aftermath of the oil spill off the Southern California coast.

Today's Guests

  • Co-founders of the Law Enforcement Accountability Directive (LEAD) Richard Owen and Mark T. Harris discuss the new police reform laws recently signed by the governor and what work they think still needs to be done

  • California Peace Officers Association Deputy Director Shaun Rundle explains what positions the association took on the police reform laws and how they could affect training going forward

  • CapRadio Race and Equity Reporter Sarah Mizes-Tan shares her reporting on the Hmong community, following the new Valley Vision/CapRadio survey on food access that shows that Latino and AAPI residents want to access farm-grown and specialty cultural foods, but that it isn't always easy.

  • CapRadio Reporter Janelle Salanga shares their reporting on solutions, following the new Valley Vision/CapRadio survey that shows access to food aid and food banks isn't as easy as walking down that street. Some communities must travel long distances. And, during the pandemic, the food need has increased.

  • Ronald Tjeerdema, an environmental toxicology professor at UC Davis, joins us to discuss the work being done in Southern California to contain and clean up the oil spill off the coast. He will also help us understand the grave concern for the sensitive wildlife in the area and how they are being cared for and treated.

Grand Jury Recommends Allowing Sac PD Officers To Have Tattoos, Piercings, Ponytails

 
 

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Sacramento police recruitment is coming under new scrutiny as a Sacramento County grand jury report is calling vacancies in the department a “crisis.”

Critics say the report is a “cut and paste” job to give police what they want.

The report shows the police department currently has 747 sworn officers and a budget of nearly $150 million. The department is down 65 positions from its authorized level, the report said.

It recommends increasing recruiting with new tactics, like removing a college degree requirement, allowing tattoos, piercings and ponytails for officers, and pressing for more positive PR by city leaders and private PR firms.

This report comes days after two teens were killed at Arden Fair Mall, a reference made by Mayor Darrell Steinberg ahead of the council officially responding to the report Tuesday night.

“As I look at what happened at Arden Fair last Friday night, I, for one, want to see more gang enforcement,” Steinberg said.

The Sacramento Police Officer’s Association President Timothy Davis issued a statement reading: “Currently there are nearly 70 police officer vacancies in the Sacramento Police Department. Even if all the vacancies were filled, there would still not be enough police officers to meet the needs of this growing city of over half a million residents.”

Mark T. Harris is the founder of Law Enforcement Accountability Directive (L.E.A.D.), which seeks better community relations with police.

“This report from the grand jury is disappointing on several levels, but the level of tone-deafness is probably at the height of the list of things I’m most disappointed by,” Harris said.

Harris points out the report identifies crime as down overall in Sacramento in the past decade even with fewer sworn officers. He said the police department should not get more officers.

“Here we have a grand jury that basically ‘cut and pasted’ what the police department wanted,” Harris said. “This grand jury report, in my opinion, really missed the mark.”

The city council agreed with some of the report’s findings. Although it did not agree to remove a college degree requirement for recruits. Mayor Steinberg said the city will spend time in January redefining police officer roles.

The Murder of George Floyd Uncovers “The Myth of American Justice”

Message from the Editor: This Op-Ed is Special to the California Black Media courtesy of civil rights Attorney Mark T. Harris of Sacramento, California. 

America will not heal until it atones for its original sins.  At its very core, from the moment of its inception, America has been racist and sexist.

For all of America’s pride over being a “shining city on the hill,” America was illegitimately born into the world of nations as a country stolen from indigenous people.  Our nation from its inception, treated women and Blacks unequally.

 George Washington, the “Father of our Nation,” was an owner of more than two hundred slaves.  Former President Thomas Jefferson, eloquently authored the words that ring as true today as they did when he penned them that “[w]e hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” Notice that those eloquently articulated foundational words, evidencing the American democracy, did not apply to women or the over six hundred slaves owned by Jefferson throughout his lifetime.

I have been on a search for justice for African-Americans within this country for most of my life.  It started through the prism of a child’s perception of the government’s “occupation” of my South-Central Los Angeles neighborhood in response to the so-called Watts Riots in August of 1965.  Then, very much like now, the African-American community was sick and tired of being sick and tired with the way it was treated by the Los Angeles Police Department. At that time L.A.P.D. was under the tyrannical control of former Police Chief William H. Parker. 

The 1965 Watts Riots were a reaction to police mistreatment of Marquette Frye, a young African-American motorist who was stopped and detained by an officer of the California Highway Patrol.  A crowd formed during Mr. Frye’s arrest and protested the treatment of Frye by law enforcement.  A simmering fuse ignited a literal firestorm of protest and violent reaction to decades of police mistreatment of African-Americans in supposedly progressive Los Angeles.  

Eventually over 14,000 California National Guard troops were deployed to “occupy” the streets and neighborhoods of South-Central Los Angeles and enforce a “dusk to dawn” curfew.

Imagine how all this appeared to me, an eight-year old child who had been taught to respect and obey authority and whose favorite television shows during the 1960’s were “Dragnet” and the “Mod Squad” both of which romanticized law enforcement.  During the Watts Riots, what I saw with my own eyes in my own neighborhood, was in direct conflict with the sugar- coated image of law enforcement that was being fed to me, and millions of others, on television. 

During the 1970’s, the late Richard Pryor had an iconic joke on his Grammy award winning comedy album entitled “Is it Something I Said?”  Pryor commenting on the astronomically high number of African-American men in prison says that if you are in search of justice in prisons, that’s what you find: just us!” Unfortunately, the hard truth of this supposed “joke” is not lost on anyone in the Black community.

The over-incarceration of Black men and women contributes to the perceived deadly threat posed by ALL African-Americans. Some believe that just being Black has rendered Black people as, “weaponized.”  

In response to the murder of George Floyd, the current mayor of Minneapolis stated that “being born Black should not be a death sentence.”  Mayor Jacob Frey has used rhetoric hopeful of calming his city in the face of the understandable groundswell of protest over Mr. Floyd’s death.  Mayor Frey recognized that it is not just the one horrific incident that Blacks in Minneapolis are protesting, “it is over four hundred years of oppression.”  

I agree.

What then is required as a starting point for the healing that must occur in the wake of the murder of George Floyd?  First, the officers involved in his original detention must be immediately terminated from the Minneapolis police force. At the time of the writing of this article, four of the officers involved have been terminated from their employment with the Minneapolis Police Department. 

Second, the chief of police in Minneapolis should be fired immediately for dereliction of his duty to effectively train and discipline his subordinates.  This should happen despite the current chief of police being an “Afro-Latinx.” Having a “Black” police chief in Minneapolis did not save Mr. Floyd’s life.  The current chief must go!  

Third, the officers who were involved in the disgusting “choking out” of Mr. Floyd should be prosecuted for murder…period! Under the Minnesota Penal Code, the officers’ behavior seems to qualify for arrest and conviction under at minimum, “Second Degree Murder” and possibly “First Degree Murder.” Both the actual officer who applied his knee to the neck of Mr. Floyd for over nine minutes, and those who aided and abetted in that behavior, should be arrested, held without bail, and prosecuted.

“Atonement” is the process of “reparation for a wrong or injury.” America will not have a true racial healing until, it acknowledges its discriminatory history which is at its very foundation.  You cannot have a country espousing justice where enslavement is at its core.  Nor can you have peace in the streets of Minneapolis, and throughout America, with a system that protects rogue law enforcement officials who victimize the Black community with impunity.

I do not encourage or condone the violent reaction to the murder of George Floyd at the hands of those entrusted to “protect and to serve.” However, in the words of one of my brilliant former students, “the formula for true social change includes equal parts protest and violence.”  

Even the celebrated efforts of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference were interwoven with violence. Although Dr. King and the SCLC (and other civil rights organizations) espoused “non-violence,” they were constantly enmeshed in violent protests and racists’ conduct often masquerading as local law enforcement.  Need I remind you that Dr. King was stabbed; little girls were killed during a church bombing in Alabama; and Eugene “Bull” Connor was a sworn law enforcement official.  

In closing I offer one small observation.  If you are more outraged by the violent protest in Minneapolis than you are by the death of George Floyd, then in the words of Dr. King, you’re “more devoted to order than to justice.” 

Peaceful protest alone will not be sufficient to prevent the next horrific treatment of an African-American at the hands of law enforcement.  At minimum, one should arm themselves with a cell phone enabled with a recording feature.  The police misconduct uncovered in the case of George Floyd would never have come to light without video and audio evidence validating those protesting his mistreatment.

Mark T. Harris is originally from Los Angeles, California where he attended Los Angeles High School, the University of Southern California and Loyola Marymount University. Attorney Harris attended UC Berkeley School of Law, during which time he served as a member of the City of Berkeley Police Commission. Subsequently, Attorney Harris chaired the City of Oakland Police Commission and was appointed by California Governor Jerry Brown to the California Fair Employment and Housing Council. Currently, Attorney Harris lives in Sacramento, California with his wife and sons, where he practices civil rights law.

Family to file claim with Sacramento over use of spit mask while police held 12-year-old boy

BY THERESA CLIFT

OCTOBER 18, 2019 12:18 PM, UPDATED OCTOBER 18, 2019 01:18 PM

The city of Sacramento will likely be sued over an April incident in which police officers placed a “spit mask” over a African American boy’s head while they detained him, a video of which went viral internationally.

High-profile civil rights attorney Ben Crump, along with lawyers Mark Harris and Dale Galipo, filed a claim Friday against the city over the incident, Crump’s office announced in a news release. A claim is required in California before a lawsuit can be filed against a government entity, the release said.

The claim alleges the city and the police department were negligent in arresting the boy without probable cause and that the incident caused emotional distress on the now 13-year-old boy, identified only as Isaiah, and other members of the family including his sister. The claim, in which the family says the department failed to adequately train its officers, is seeking more than $100,000 in damages.

City spokesman Tim Swanson declined comment Friday morning because the city had not yet been served, he said.
“We hope this sends a clear message that police can no longer degrade and disrespect black and brown children through this barbaric practice,” Crump said in the prepared remarks. “These officers were sworn to serve and protect our children, but instead they ignored Isaiah’s pleas for his mother and his inability to breathe.

“We will continue to seek justice for Isaiah and his family, and for all black and brown people who are harmed, emotionally or physically, at the hands of police.”

The attorneys expect to file a lawsuit in the next 18 months against the city, as well as Paladin, a private security firm, and the owners of the property where the tense incident took place.

Crump’s firm also represented the family of Stephon Clark, the unarmed 22-year-old black man shot to death by Sacramento police in 2018. The Clark shooting led to numerous protests and the arrest of 84 demonstrators in March, as well as more than a year of negative publicity for the city.

The video of Isaiah’s detainment from April 28, which Black Lives Matter activists shared on social media, led to more anger from the African American community over perceived police mistreatment as it went viral nearly a month later.

Police said the boy had been asking for money at a neighborhood carnival and was asked to leave when he ran from a private security guard.

The video showed officers handcuffing the boy shortly after he ran across El Camino Avenue and into the parking lot of a Wienerschnitzel, where he had been chased and held by the guard.

Police released bodycam footage of the incident after its investigation, which deemed the officers acted appropriately.

In the process of detaining him, and as tempers rose from onlookers including the boy’s mother, a spit mask was placed over the boy’s face after he was put chest-down on the ground.

“Let me go, I didn’t do nothing to you,” the boy shouts before calling her a “racist a-- b----,” according to previous Bee reporting.

“Kid spit on me,” the officer says, and later says he spit on her three times, leading to the decision to place a mesh spit mask over his head.

That decision led to the boy shouting, “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe, take this bag off my head.”

A short time later his mother arrived, crying out, “That’s my baby, what’s going on, he’s only 12 years old.”

The boy was later released to his mother and cited for battery on a officer and resisting arrest, both misdemeanor offenses.

Law enforcement officials say spit masks, also called spit hoods, protect officers when individuals are spitting at them, as the boy is seen doing in the video “multiple times,” according to police. Critics say the devices are dehumanizing, especially when used on children, and should be banned.

“Our officers involved in this incident appropriately used a spit mask to protect themselves and defuse the situation,” Chief Daniel Hahn said in a statement at the time. “I am grateful that our officers were willing to proactively intervene when they observed suspicious activity, and that nobody was injured during this encounter.”

The practice of using spit masks is still use, the department said Friday, which also declined to comment on the claim.

Family of 12-Year-Old Boy Forcefully Arrested, Covered With Spit Mask Files Claim Against Sacramento Police

Attorneys representing the family of a 12-year-old boy who was forcefully arrested in April have filed a claim against the city of Sacramento, Sacramento Police Department and the involved officers.

Attorneys Mark T. Harris and Dale K. Galipo filed the claim Friday morning, alleging that the boy was arrested without probable cause and that the city and police department were negligent; caused the boy, his sister and his mother emotional distress; and failed to properly train its officials. The attorneys are seeking more than $100,000 in damages.

Representatives for the city of Sacramento did not respond to requests for comment.

The next step, Harris said, is to file a lawsuit against the city of Sacramento, the Sacramento Police Department, the Paladin security company and the restaurant Wienerschnitzel, which he expects to do in less than 18 months.

Family of 12-year-old boy forcefully arrested and covered with spit mask file claim against Sacramento

By ALEJANDRA REYES-VELARDE STAFF WRITER OCT. 18, 2019

Attorneys representing the family of a 12-year-old boy who was forcefully arrested in April have filed a claim against the city of Sacramento, Sacramento Police Department and the involved officers.

Attorneys Mark T. Harris and Dale K. Galipo filed the claim Friday morning, alleging that the boy was arrested without probable cause and that the city and police department were negligent; caused the boy, his sister and his mother emotional distress; and failed to properly train its officials. The attorneys are seeking more than $100,000 in damages.

Representatives for the city of Sacramento did not respond to requests for comment.

The next step, Harris said, is to file a lawsuit against the city of Sacramento, the Sacramento Police Department, the Paladin security company and the restaurant Wienerschnitzel, which he expects to do in less than 18 months.

Isaiah Brown was cited with two misdemeanors of suspicion of battery on a police officer and resisting arrest after the incident in question, which occurred on the evening of April 21, according to the claim. With a push from Tanya Faison, founder of a local chapter of Black Lives Matter, a video of the incident surfaced a month later, and the police department released body camera footage on May 22.

The video showed then-11-year-old Isaiah being forced to the ground by police. Officials said that the boy allegedly spat on the officers, and police placed a “spit mask” over his head before he was arrested.

Marcus Basquez, a spokesman for the Sacramento Police Department, told The Times in May that officers appropriately used the spit mask to protect themselves and defuse the situation.

According to Basquez, the boy had been asking for money at businesses in the area of Del Paso Boulevard and El Camino Avenue and was asked to leave several times. A security guard tried to stop the boy, but he ran away, he said.

Police officers stopped to help the security guard detain the boy.

In the viral video, the boy can be heard saying, “You ain’t got no right to be doing this…. Come on now, come on now. What is you doing? Yeah, I spit on you….What you going to do?”

One of the officers responds, “You’re going to go to juvie now, dude,” and asks a colleague for a spit mask after she said the boy spat on her three times.

Another officer says, “He is just a little terrorizer.”

Isaiah and his family are “not well” and have since moved out of Sacramento for fear of their safety, Harris said.

Harris said in May that the boy was actually attending an Easter Sunday carnival in the area, not panhandling. He said the boy was asked by an adult guardian to go to their car to get more money, and encountered the security guard in front of a Walgreen’s.

The guard chased him to a Wienerschnitzel parking lot, where an employee “tackled” the boy, Harris said. Then, the Sacramento officers arrived.

According to the claim, Isaiah had calmed down when the bag was placed over his head, and he repeatedly asked to be let go and told the officers he could not breathe. When his mother, Latoya Downs, arrived, she told officers the boy suffers from an upper respiratory disease and she worried he would have breathing difficulties.

“When I asked what was going through his mind, he said, ‘I thought I was going to die,’ ” Harris said. “He didn’t want to go inside to the police car because he thought ‘I would never come out.’”

The claim is Harris’ latest legal action against Sacramento law enforcement. Harris has also filed a lawsuit on behalf of the family of Stephon Clark, who was shot by police and whose death sparked protests in the Sacramento area.

“This is not without substance,” he said. “This is a big problem for our community.”

Sgt. Sabrina Briggs, a spokeswoman with the Sacramento Police Department, said that “we’re in the same position” as in April and that the police officers involved were acting within policy. She said it would be premature to comment on the matter, since the department has not yet received the claim.

Family Plans To File Complaint Against City After Officers Put ‘Spit Bag’ On 12-Year-Old Boy Under Arrest

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — The family of a 12-year-old boy who was put in a spit bag while being detained by Sacramento police is planning to file a complaint against the city.

Attorneys representing the 12-year-old and his family are asking for an excess of $100,000 for physical injuries, emotional distress, and other damages.

On April 21 of this year, the boy was detained after reportedly running away from a security guard who claimed he was panhandling and asking for people to buy him things. Two nearby Sacramento Police officers saw him and stepped in to help the guard.

The boy’s lawyer, Mark T. Harris, claims the officers assisted detaining and arresting the boy “without reasonable suspicion or probable cause” by placing handcuffs on him.

Cell phone video captured the 12-year-old boy detained by Sacramento police and calling for “mom.” Moments later, as he was walked toward a squad car, the video appears to show an officer wiping his face.

According to the complaint, a short struggle ensued, and the boy was placed on his stomach on the ground while one officer placed his knee on the boy’s back and the second officer placed his knee on the boy’s thigh. The officers then put the 12-year-old on his stomach, handcuffed, while another officer takes out a spit mask and places it over the boy’s head.

The boy’s 15-year-old sister arrived at the scene and ultimately called their mother, LaToya Downs, who was not contacted during the incident, the complaint alleges. When his mother arrived at the scene, she reportedly panicked because her son allegedly suffers from an upper respiratory disease which she feared would cause breathing difficulties with the spit bag.

Ultimately, the boy was cited for battery on a peace officer and resisting arrest and was released into this mother’s custody.

Speaking about the incident to CBS13 in May, Downs demanded an apology from the Sacramento Police Department for how they handled her son. She says the officer’s treatment of her son was degrading.

“It shouldn’t have happened, it shouldn’t have got this far, and I want justice, I want justice for African-American girls and boys,” Downs said.

Harris, who works for the Ben Crump Law firm handling the Clark case, is representing the family.

“I’ve never heard a situation where a 12-year-old child had a bag placed over his head,” Harris said. “I don’t care what you call it, a spit propulsion, repulsing device, they can call it whatever they want, a bag is a bag is a bag.”

Earlier this year, police said their officers were simply following policy.

To Protect and Serve or to Terrorize Children? Sacramento Police Department Under Fire Again

In the 14 months that have passed since Officers Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet gunned down 22-year-old Stephon Clark in the backyard of his grandparents’ home, the Sacramento Police Department has not managed to stay out of the headlines with negative news stories. Chief Daniel Hahn was purported to be ushering in a new day at the department, but what progress has really been made? How has the department made strides in rehabilitating its relationship with the community it serves?

If this latest news item is any indication, there has been no progress at all.

On April 29, a 12-year-old named Isaiah was out to have a little bit of fun at a neighborhood carnival with his sister and an adult chaperone. The chaperone instructed Isaiah to go back to the car and retrieve more change for them to use at the carnival and that is when things went horribly wrong.

Mark Harris, an attorney with Benjamin Crump Law who representing Isaiah and his mother, LaToya Downs, told The Root that as Isaiah was returning from the car and heading back to the carnival, he was accosted by a white private security guard employed with the firm Paladin Security. Harris describes Paladin as a “mercenary group” for the police, and said they work in tandem with the police in various markets. He said the guard in question is the man who chases the neighborhood kids away from the neighborhood shopping center. Harris says the security guard and Isaiah have history.

Isaiah and his mother, LaToya DownsPhoto: Attorney Mark Harris

Isaiah and his mother, LaToya Downs

Photo: Attorney Mark Harris

“Paladin Security is a private security company that specializes in ‘urban’ environments. They are headquartered in Canada, but they operate in 17 U.S. cities,” Harris said.

As Isaiah walked back from the car, the guard called him by name and stopped him to ask if he was stealing the car or stealing from the car. Isaiah showed the guard that he was in possession of the keys for the vehicle and attempted to continue on his way.

He was impeded by the guard, who, according to Harris, told Isaiah “You know you don’t have those keys legitimately” and tried to take them from him. It was at this point that Isaiah ran from him and tried to get back to his family at the carnival.

As Isaiah ran past Wienerschnitzel, a random white employee of the hot dog chain decided to involve himself and grabbed Isaiah for the guard.

Harris said that once police arrived, a crowd formed, and Isaiah’s sister noticed what was going on. She brought over the adult chaperone who tried to ask police why Isaiah was being detained. Throughout the video, Isaiah can be heard asking the same question. He also repeatedly asks for his mother to be called.

Officers can be heard in the video telling Isaiah to stop resisting, and at one point, an officer tells him “You’re just a little terrorizer.”

When they attempted to put him in the car, Isaiah resisted. When Harris later asked him why, Isaiah’s response was simple.

He said he was afraid that if he got in the police car, he would never get back out.

Harris told The Root that at one point the police had Isaiah on the ground with his face down in the asphalt and a knee in his back. Harris does not deny that Isaiah spit on one of the officers.

But was that reason enough to put a spit hood on him? Did it really take that many police officers to control a 12-year-old?

Isaiah has been charged with battery on a police officer and resisting arrest.

Harris said that what happened in the video is “a clear example of what police officers do quite often.”

The attorney said that the city, Wienerschnitzel and Paladin Security may all face civil liability in the incident.

The Root has reached out to the Sacramento Police Department for comment, and will update this story should they respond.