Anti-vaccine protester who shoved California state senator hit with restraining order
A Sacramento judge has granted state Sen. Richard Pan’s restraining order against the anti-vaccine activist who shoved the lawmaker in August and filmed the attack.
Kenneth Austin Bennett must not come within 100 yards of Pan, his home, vehicle and his senate and committee offices, according to the order granted Dec. 6 in Sacramento Superior Court.
Pan, the Sacramento pediatrician and vaccine advocate, has long been the target of anti-vaccine activists’ ire for championing legislation mandating vaccinations for school-age children.
The Democrat’s 2015 law barred parents from using personal beliefs as justification for not vaccinating their children enrolling in school. Legislation signed in September tightened oversight of doctors who issue vaccine medical exemptions.
The atmosphere at the Capitol had been charged for months before the August incident with heated debate and hearing rooms and hallways packed with opponents protesting clamp-downs on exemptions for mandatory vaccines. Lawmakers, including Pan, said they received death threats and people on both sides of the debate lobbed salvos on social media.
On Aug. 21, the fight over vaccination took on a bizarre, new dimension when Bennett approached Pan and Bay Area Assemblyman Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, on L Street as they walked to an Asian Pacific Islander Caucus event at Frank Fat’s restaurant in downtown Sacramento.
Bennett had history with Pan, filing a petition in May to recall the senator. He was a self-described challenger to Pan in 2018, but did not qualify for the November ballot that year.
On the day of the attack, Bennett pointed a cellphone at Pan, challenged his stance on vaccine safety and streamed their exchange on Facebook before shoving the senator in the back.
Pan was not hurt, but described the contact in an interview with Sacramento police after the incident as detailed in a police report contained in the declaration.
“He was rambling about vaccines. He started to walk next to me and (Assemblyman Kalra). ... Out of nowhere (Bennett) hit me on the back, near my upper left shoulder and I stumbled forward,” Pan told the officer, according to the police report. “I do not know if he punched me or shoved me, but it was very forceful.”
Kalra told police in a separate report that Bennett briefly walked away before turning and walking again toward the lawmakers. Pan and Kalra were able to enter the restaurant without further incident.
“Mr. Bennett’s unlawful violence has caused me to suffer substantial emotional distress as I am extremely fearful for my safety,” Pan stated in his declaration.
Bennett was arrested by Sacramento police on suspicion of battery. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Senate Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, condemned the attack.
Bennett later told an interviewing officer that he shoved Pan to make a point before spinning off a string of conspiracy theories involving mercury in vaccines, the Clintons, chemtrails, former Ohio Congressman and presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, and the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, according to another declaration filed by law enforcement.
Bennett repeated his charge that Pan committed “treason” and spoke “tangentially about vaccines and fluoride,” according to the declaration. Both were “madness,” Pan was a “madman,” Bennett told the officer.
The deadly Camp Fire that leveled Paradise in November 2018 was started, Bennett said, by a “directed energy weapon.”
“After expounding on these theories. Mr. Bennett stated that he has never sold out and that he hopes that he will bring light to this struggle,” the law enforcement declaration read.
Three weeks later, in September, another anti-vaccine activist, Rebecca Lee Dalelio, was arrested after hurling a menstrual cup with blood at state senators and shouting, “That’s for the dead babies,” dousing several of the lawmakers.
Dalelio is free on bail and faces a January court date in Sacramento Superior Court on charges connected to the incident.
Following the L Street shove and September’s attack from the Senate gallery, Pan condemned what he called an escalation of violence surrounding the vaccine debate.
“This is an attack on the democratic process and an assault on all Californians,” Pan said in a statement.
This story was originally published December 11, 2019 at 3:43 PM with the headline "Anti-vaccine protester who shoved California state senator hit with restraining order."
.JPG)