A district attorney refused to accept petitions demanding charges filed against the organizer of a Black Lives Matter protest be dropped.
Protesters rallied outside of the San Luis Obispo, California, district attorney’s office on Tuesday. The protesters intended to drop 500,000 petitions urging District Attorney Dan Dow to drop all charges against Tianna Arata, who was arrested in July after blocking a highway.
“Over the last month, our office has engaged many community members expressing varied viewpoints on the arrest of Ms. Arata and suggesting (often demanding) that we make a particular filing decision.” Dow’s office told KSBY in an email. “While mindful of the complexity and sensitivity of the broader social justice conversation, we would be in violation of our ethical duty if we were to make a filing decision based on public sentiment.”
Arata was arrested on July 21, and her bail was set at $75,000. Due to COVID-19 policies at the jail, she was released on her own recognizance two hours after her arrest.
The San Luis Obispo Police Department recommended that Arata be charged with five felonies and three misdemeanors, including four counts of false imprisonment and one count of felony conspiracy, inciting a riot, unlawful assembly, and resisting or obstructing a peace officer.
Video taken at the scene shows Arata and 300 participants blocking traffic on Highway 101. Protesters pursued vehicles attempting to make a U-turn on the freeway and yelled at drivers.
One man attempted to circumvent the demonstration by driving on the shoulder of the highway, but the participants blocked his path. A woman in a truck also told Arata that there was a woman in labor in the back seat. Arata and the quarterback of the California Polytechnic State University football team, Jalen Hamler, discussed whether the woman’s water had broken. Hamler told the driver that “if she was in labor, if the water broke, y’all could get off the freeway.”
“It’s not worth it. She’s ignorant,” Arata responded.
In a separate confrontation, a protester threw a skateboard at a car. The window shattered, and pieces of glass landed on a 4-year-old child in the car.
