ENCINA MELEE SPARKS FUROR COPS' ACTIONS QUESTIONED
Sacramento Bee, Sunday, January 29, 1995
By Dorsey Griffith Bee Staff Writer
   The lunchtime clash between Sacramento County sheriff's deputies and
Encina High School students seemed far from over Saturday, a day after
officers used pepper spray and batons against students they say initiated
the melee.
   Students involved in the incident insisted that it was the overreaction
of law enforcement to an argument between two youths
that led to six students being arrested and nine others being sent to the
hospital to be treated for bruises and adverse reactions
to inhaling pepper spray and that all were released Friday.
   The Sheriff's Department, however, maintains that officers handled the
incident appropriately. Sheriff's spokesman John McGinness confirmed
Saturday that one of the deputies that arrived after the melee began used
his baton against some students and said the blows appear to be justified.
The department plans to schedule a meeting this week to allow those involved
and others to talk about what occurred.
   School officials said all nine students taken to the UC Davis Medical
Center were treated and released Friday. McGinness said
of the students arrested, one was held for battery on a peace officer and
the others were detained for disturbing the peace and
interfering with a peace officer.
   San Juan Unified School District officials Saturday were withholding
opinions on the officers' actions. They have told parents
they will be available at 8 a.m. Monday to discuss the incident at the
school, 1401 Bell St.
   "I think it's too early to say, "Yes, they overreacted,' " said
Superintendent Ray Tolleson. "I would be better prepared to respond after at
least having a chance to hear from the students."
   The incident erupted shortly after 11 a.m. Friday when a boy and girl
started arguing in the cafeteria, where about 200 of the
school's 850 students were dining. The boy, Shamond Bennett, a junior, said
the fight started after a girl bumped into him and he demanded an apology.
He said the girl, whom school officials refused to identify, then asked him
"to take it outside."
   A school monitor told Bennett to calm down and the boy said he did. "Then
two cops came out of nowhere and grabbed me," said Bennett, who was not
arrested. "I said, "What are you doing?' Then two more came out and started
spraying in my face."
   Although the campus is typically patrolled by one off-duty deputy, four
were on campus that day because of concerns that two groups of students were
planning to fight.
   Vice Principal Dick Gonsalves said after the pepper spray was used, small
skirmishes broke out among an estimated 30 students. Quickly, he said, the
students began "moving in," yelling and swearing at the deputies.
   Within minutes, McGinness said, deputies called for reinforcements. More
than 50 officers responded, including officers from the Sacramento and
Folsom city police and the California Highway Patrol.
   Under department guidelines, McGinness said, officers use pepper spray
only after verbal commands and control holds fail to subdue a subject. If
the pepper spray doesn't work, he said, "you can go to the baton."
   Two of the students arrested vehemently denied that the police force used
against them was warranted. Both are members of the varsity football and
academic decathlon teams.
   One of the students who was  arrested said Saturday that he was removed
from the cafeteria by Gonsalves and told to stay out of the cafeteria. But
he returned, he said, to retrieve his books because he needed to leave the
campus to get to his job. The student, a minor, was arrested on charges of
interfering with a peace officer, rioting and distrubing the peace. The Bee
does not identify minors charged with crimes.
   The student said that when he approached the officers near the cafeteria
he was sprayed, hit on his upper leg and then arrested.
He said he wrestled with an officer.
   Another student, Malonn Barnes, 18, said he entered the fray when he saw
his cousin getting hit. "Someone hit me, and I started
swinging," said Barnes, who was arrested on a charge of battery. "Next thing
you know, I was on the ground." Barnes was arrested on charges of battery
and rioting.
   Velma Hall, the mother of one student involved in the melee, claimed
officers Friday used excessive force primarily against
African American students. As a member of the African American Advisory
Coalition on Law Enforcement, Hall said she has been trying to sensitize the
Sheriff's Department to what she called harassment of young African
Americans.
   "If anybody should be charged, the police should be charged for starting
a riot," Hall said. "When I saw the (television) tapes,
officers beating them in the head and my son in a fetal position, you cannot
tell me that was not excessive force."
   McGinness, who acknowledged the department has worked with Hall, called
her assertions of singling out African Americans for the use of force and
arrest "absurd." He added, "I'm not going to dignify that with a comment."
   Gonsalves, who witnessed the clash, said that while some of those
arrested are excellent students, they were out of control on Friday. "Malonn
didn't let up. Eventually it got out of hand. Malonn kept yelling
obscenities. Finally, they got pepper-sprayed. It wasn't because they were
standing by and helping people."
   McGinness said written reports by the deputies involved have not yet been
reviewed and added that neither adults nor students who witnessed the
incident have called the department to complain about the tactics used to
quell the melee.
   However, he said, the department will investigate complaints and if it
finds that officers used excessive force, it will take disciplinary
action.
   Gonsalves said the campus, while plagued with isolated violence in
previous years, had enjoyed a remarkably peaceful fall semester.