Proud Boys denounce Modesto’s police reform efforts during heated City Council meeting
About a couple of dozen members of the far-right extremist group the Proud Boys turned out at Tuesday’s Modesto City Council meeting to show their support for the police and denounce the city’s efforts to look at potential reforms of its Police Department.
They also voiced their support for a former Modesto police officer who was fired from his job and charged with voluntary manslaughter after fatally shooting an unarmed man in December.
Also at the meeting were the family of the slain man as well as advocates for more oversight of the Police Department through the city’s hiring of an independent auditor and forming a civilian review board.
Both sides clashed several times during the meeting with yelling and name calling. Mayor Sue Zwahlen warned audience members she would clear the room if decorum and respect could not be maintained.
There were several police officers at the meeting, and on a couple of occasions interim Police Chief Brandon Gillespie and an officer approached audience members to calm them down.
Both sides spoke during what is called public comment, which is for matters not on the meeting agenda. Council members did not respond to the speakers. Zwahlen said this was because this part of the meeting was for the public to speak. The meeting was held in person and over Zoom, and about three dozen speakers spoke in person and online during public comment.
One speaker who identified himself as Adam K and Sean Adam K and his organization as Central Valley Militia on his speaker cards accused council members of using their position to “push a political agenda that divides the community, and the left (has) created this atmosphere to promote hatred for the police by pushing ... these false claims that all police are bad.”
‘Far left’ group includes sheriff, DA
He claimed that council members had created a committee to look into police reforms that is “one sided, comprised of only far left organizations” and lacked conservative representation. “We’ve tried to put in our application to go and join in to this roundtable (committee),” he said, “and we’ve been denied.”
Sean told council members they had two choices: “incorporate the part of the public that represents the Constitution and the Bill of Rights or dismantle this oversight, (left wing) antifa committee.”
The committee members include the Modesto Police Officers Association, District Attorney Birgit Fladager, Sheriff Jeff Dirkse, the Chamber of Commerce, the NAACP, the ACLU, the Latino Community Roundtable, MoPride, the West Modesto Community Collaborative and the Stanislaus County Interfaith Council.
The committee is part of the City Council’s Forward Together initiative, which aims to improve the trust and relationship between the police and the community. The council recently approved and appointed members to the committee, which is expected to have its first meeting July 20.
Mayor Zwahlen has said the Forward Together initiative has the support of Gillespie, the interim police chief.
Public comment took more than two hours to complete. But council members have listened to extended public comment at their meetings since then officer Joseph Lamantia fatally shot Trevor Seever on Dec. 29 on the grounds of the Church of the Brethren in west Modesto.
Seever’s family as well as their supporters and others calling for police reform — including the use of mental health clinicians to respond to calls involving people in crisis — have spoken repeatedly during public comment. Lamantia was fired from his job and charged in Seever’s death in March. He has pleaded not guilty.
Confrontation on downtown streets
The conflict at the council meeting among audience members spilled into downtown at 11th and J streets after public comment ended. Both sides argued and advanced toward each other while police officers blocked the intersection and tried to keep them apart.
A Facebook Live video posted on the page of a right wing man who goes by Oreo Express shows parts of the altercation. It appeared to start as an escalating argument between right-wing group members and people who were carrying an “antifacist action” flag.
Because tensions were high during the meeting, Modesto officers were already in the area, Lt. Chris Adams said. About two dozen officers responded to the altercation.
The Anti-Defamation League on its website describes the Proud Boys as an “unconventional strain of American right-wing extremism. While the group can be described as violent, nationalistic, Islamophobic, transphobic and misogynistic, its members represent a range of ethnic backgrounds, and its leaders vehemently protest any allegations of racism. “
This story was originally published June 23, 2021 at 5:01 AM.
