Protesters arrested during Vacaville traffic stop rally identified
Four protesters who were arrested during an impromptu rally near a traffic stop in Vacaville on Sunday have been identified.
Among those arrested include Dalauna Knox, a 21-year-old Vacaville resident who is also the lead organizer of the “Voices of VV” group that holds a weekly anti-police protest at Andrew’s Park every Sunday.
Anticipating rain storms, Voices of VV canceled their planned protest on Sunday and decided to hold a meal distribution and community cleanup event at Andrew’s Park instead.
During the event, undercover Vacaville police officers were conducting surveillance nearby, taking down license plate numbers of vehicles used by those participating.
As participants left the scene, officers began conducting traffic enforcement stops based on “probable cause,” including various minor infractions like objects hanging from rear-view mirrors and illegally-tinted windows.
One traffic stop along Cernon Street drew the ire of event organizers who quickly formed a group nearby in protest.
An unlawful assembly was declared just before 4:30 p.m., and officers from Vacaville’s mobile field force team began carrying out arrests a short time later.
The four arrested protesters were charged with a single misdemeanor count of remaining at the scene of an unlawful assembly. They were booked into custody late Sunday evening and were expected to be cited and released early Monday morning, with court dates scheduled for later in the week.
The arrests marked a rare instance in which Vacaville officers detained and charged people who were participating in an anti-police rally. The latest such instance occurred in late September when Knox and two others were arrested over the alleged theft of a flag and other items during a protest near Vacaville’s City Hall.
On Wednesday, officers briefly detained a protester who was participating in a mid-evening demonstration near the Vacaville Police Department’s headquarters, according to dispatches reviewed by Solano NewsNet. A police official later told several media outlets that no arrests had been made that day.
Officers with the police department have remained vigilant since the agency’s headquarters and nearby City Hall were damaged by a group of vandals during an anti-police protest that formed on January 17. The damage cost between $20,000 and $30,000 to repair, according to an estimate by Vacaville’s police chief.
In a statement posted to Twitter, a spokesperson for Voices of VV said their members “did not plan [or] participate in any illegal activities” during that rally. They also declined to denounce the destruction caused by vandals to both buildings.
Their statement later contained numerous, unsubstantiated claims against the Vacaville Police Department while also referencing a recent eyewitness video that showed an officer punching a police dog in training. (Officials with the police department later confirmed the authenticity of the video while adding that the officer remains on the job pending the outcome of an internal investigation.)
“Facebook is not a reliable source of news or facts, and rumors spread very quickly. Please wait until you have all the facts before spreading stories that endanger people,” the statement concluded.
(Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct a paragraph concerning an arrest made in September 2020. Additionally, the story was updated in February 2021 to satisfy elements of a new editorial policy.)
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