Tensions have been building to a fever pitch in Sacramento, where enraged citizens continued to take to the streets in protest of Stephon Clark’s killing, over the weekend. In fact, to some, the rising dissent appeared to translate into violence between demonstrators and cops on Saturday night (March 31), with an elderly woman getting hit by a patrol car in an incident she called a “hit and run.”
Wanda Cleveland was one of the dozens of people who found themselves surrounding a pair of police SUVs outside of city limits at around 9:30 p.m. The vehicles had come to monitor and encourage the action to disperse but had trouble moving past a group of demonstrators blocking their right of way.
Moments after a stand-still took shape near the corner of Florin Road and 65th Street an officer in the first van began demanding that protesters move. After disregarding his voice through the megaphone for some time, they finally granted him passage. The second vehicle would follow suit in moving forth beyond the quagmire, but it wound up running into Cleveland in the process.
Cleveland would be taken to a local hospital with bruises on her arm and head, but she was released without serious injury after midnight. The 61-year-old city council meeting regular was furious about what had unfolded, telling a local news outlet that she interpreted the way the officer went about the incident to be indicative of a “disregard for human life.”
“He never even stopped. It was a hit and run. If I did that I’d be charged,” Cleveland said.
Dee Beasley is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of FreshAsFrankie.com. After starting out as a musician-producer he went on to study the music business and work in Urban Promotions, followed by artist management. Mr. Beasley entrepreneurial spirit has led him to launch numerous businesses in music and fashion marketing. He’s a huge fan of the ’80s and ’90s Hip Hop and R&B, and he’s a firm believer that Hip Hop Music will never die.