For foreseeable future, Oakland police restricted in use of force during protests
Bob Egelko July 29, 2020 Updated: July 29, 2020 9:28 p.m.
For foreseeable future, Oakland police restricted in use...
1of2OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - JULY 25: Hundreds of protesters take to the streets on July 25, 2020 in Oakland, California. Demonstrators in Oakland gathered to protest in solidarity with Portland protests. (Photo by Natasha Moustache/Getty Images)Photo: Natasha Moustache / Getty Images
2of2OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - JULY 25: Hundreds of protester gather downtown on July 25, 2020 in Oakland, California. Demonstrators in Oakland gathered to protest in solidarity with Portland protests. (Photo by Natasha Moustache/Getty Images)Photo: Natasha Moustache / Getty Images
A federal magistrate extended his previous restrictions against use of force by Oakland police Wednesday, prohibiting officers from using tear gas or flash-bang grenades against demonstrators, except when necessary to prevent serious injury or substantial property damage, and barring all use of wooden or rubber bullets and pepper-ball projectiles.
Chief U.S. Magistrate Joseph Spero had issued a temporary restraining order June 18 imposing similar restrictions on police during the protests that erupted after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Protest groups sought the order after police fired tear gas and other projectiles at demonstrators during the May 29 weekend.
Unlike the restraining order, which had been extended several times before expiring Wednesday, Spero's injunction will remain in effect indefinitely. It also goes further than the restraining order by imposing the same restrictions on sheriff's deputies and any officers from other communities who are called in to aid Oakland police in the demonstrations. Another new provision requires officers to wear face masks and gloves at protests during the coronavirus pandemic.
Based on the injunction, demonstrators "should expect Oakland police will be more respectful of their rights," said Dan Siegel, a lawyer for groups that sought the order.
He said he would have preferred an outright ban on police use of tear gas. But Siegel said Spero's order may be the strongest so far among police restrictions also issued by judges in Seattle, Portland, Denver and Dallas.
According to published reports, Spero said at a hearing Tuesday that police may need tear gas or similar weapons when demonstrators start throwing rocks and bottles at them. A lawyer for the city was also quoted as saying other police agencies would refuse to aid Oakland officers if they were forbidden to use chemical weapons.
Officer Johnna Watson, a police spokeswoman, said Oakland police "will continue to abide by the court orders." The Police Department had previously opposed restrictions on use of force during demonstrations, but had accepted the terms of Spero's restraining order and agreed to some limits on officers' conduct.
Spero's injunction said police could use tear gas, flash-bang grenades or foam-tipped projectiles only if "there is an imminent threat of physical harm to a person or significant destruction of property," and if "other techniques, such as simultaneous arrests or police formations, have failed or are not reasonably likely to mitigate the threat."
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The use of such weapons must be authorized by a police commander, and they must be "targeted at the specific imminent threat," not fired indiscriminately into a crowd, Spero said.
Before using tear gas or similar weapons, the magistrate said, police in most circumstances must make at least two announcements, using loudspeakers audible to the crowd, asking demonstrators to leave and telling them they will be subject to arrest if they remain. The announcements will not be required, he said, only if "an immediate risk to public safety or significant property damage makes it impossible to do so."
Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko
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Bob Egelko has been a reporter since June 1970. He spent 30 years with the Associated Press, covering news, politics and occasionally sports in Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento, and legal affairs in San Francisco from 1984 onward. He worked for the San Francisco Examiner for five months in 2000, then joined The Chronicle in November 2000.
His beat includes state and federal courts in California, the Supreme Court and the State Bar. He has a law degree from McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento and is a member of the bar. Coverage has included the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, the appointment of Rose Bird to the state Supreme Court and her removal by the voters, the death penalty in California and the battles over gay rights and same-sex marriage.
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