Jose A. Del Real and Matt Stevens

<h1>Attorney General Xavier Becerra of California announced Tuesday that his office would not bring criminal charges against two police officers who shot and killed an unarmed black man in Sacramento last year.</h1>

The decision, which came days after the Sacramento County district attorney said she would not bring charges against the officers, seemed likely to ignite more outrage after waves of protests over the killing of the man, Stephon Clark, 22, in his grandmother’s backyard.

Becerra said the video evidence reviewed by his team showed that the officers “reasonably believed” they were in danger, which is the applicable legal standard in the case.

Later on Tuesday, federal authorities released a statement saying that they would investigate whether the shooting had violated Clark’s civil rights.

The California Department of Justice began its investigation into the shooting in March 2018, independent of the district attorney’s investigation, at the request of Chief Daniel Hahn of the Sacramento police. Becerra emphasized Tuesday that the Department of Justice did not perform a review of the Sacramento district attorney’s investigation, and that the two agencies had reached their conclusions independently.

Near the beginning of his remarks, Becerra called Clark’s death a “devastating loss” and a tragedy. He expressed condolences to Sequette Clark, Clark’s mother, whom he met with Tuesday before his announcement.

“Our investigation can’t change what has happened,” he said.

Clark was killed in March 2018 after the officers, Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet, responded to a vandalism complaint.

The officers fired 20 times in his direction within seconds of turning a blind corner. Clark was unarmed; his cellphone was found under his body. At least seven bullets hit him, according to an autopsy by the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office that was released last May.

In their statement on Tuesday, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California, McGregor W. Scott, and Sean Ragan, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Sacramento Field Office said: “Now that both state and local authorities have completed their investigations into the shooting of Stephon Clark, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI, in conjunction with the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, will examine whether the shooting involved violations of Clark’s federal civil rights. That examination will involve a review of the substance and results of the state and local investigations, and any additional investigative steps, if warranted.”

Since the shooting, community members and activists have demanded police accountability for his death, calling attention to discriminatory policing in black neighborhoods and excessive use of force by police officers. Protests in Sacramento have shut down busy streets, disrupted sporting events and overtaken City Council meetings.

On the night before Becerra’s announcement, a veteran Sacramento Bee reporter was among more than 80 people arrested during a protest over the decision by the district attorney, Anne Marie Schubert. On Saturday, she had said that the officers had probable cause to stop and detain Clark and that police officers are legally justified in using deadly force if they honestly and reasonably believe they are in danger of death or injury.

That announcement led to a number of protests, and on Monday night, more than 100 demonstrators gathered and blocked traffic on Folsom Boulevard in East Sacramento, the city’s Police Department said in a statement Tuesday. The police said they used loudspeakers to order the demonstrators to disperse more than 10 times and eventually arrested and cited 84 people.

The Sacramento Bee reporter covering the protest, Dale Kasler, 60, was detained and released, police said.

He had been livestreaming the demonstration on Facebook when he was handcuffed, The Bee reported. Other reporters shouted that Kasler was a journalist on assignment, but he was still led away, The Bee said.

Kasler, who is in his 23rd year as a Bee reporter, was released just after 11 p.m. after being held in custody for about an hour, The Bee said. A photographer for the newspaper, Hector Amezcua, was pushed to the ground by an officer’s baton and his equipment was damaged, the newspaper said.

“I wasn’t thrilled about the situation, obviously,” Kasler said. “I wasn’t refusing an order to disperse; I was covering a story. I think I just got caught up on the wrong side of a police line.”

In an interview Tuesday, Kasler said the march had been largely peaceful until about 100 riot police officers arrived and advanced on protesters around 9 p.m. Soon, he said, people were surrounded on all sides and it was difficult to disperse.

“I turned to a CHP officer and held up my press pass and he just sort of shrugged in a friendly ‘what are you going to do’ sort of way,” Kasler said, referring to the California Highway Patrol. “I was still doing the Facebook Live thing and at some point it just became my turn.”

After being restrained, Kasler sat beside others on a sidewalk. He said he repeatedly told officers that he was a reporter, and he was eventually asked to give a statement and was released.

He would not comment on whether he thought the behavior by police was appropriate, but he described his discussions with law enforcement as nonconfrontational.

In a statement Tuesday, Jeanne Segal, a spokeswoman for McClatchy, which owns The Bee, said, “The right of our reporters to cover our community is protected under the Constitution and is a hallmark of our democracy.”

She added, “We intend to continue to cover the community’s reaction to the Stephon Clark decision and will provide in-depth reporting that will inform our community.”

Scott Rodd, a reporter for The Sacramento Business Journal, said on Twitter that he and a student journalist were also arrested Monday while covering the protest. In a tweet early Tuesday, Rodd said he had been issued a citation and a court date.

On Tuesday, Mayor Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento and the City Council requested an independent investigation into what had happened the previous night.

Steinberg said late Monday that he was “very disappointed that the protest ended the way it did.”

“No matter the reason an order to disperse was given, no member of the press should be detained for doing their job,” he said on Twitter.

The Sacramento Police Department did not immediately respond to additional questions about the arrests. Attempts to reach organizers of the protest were not immediately successful.

In January, Clark’s family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the city of Sacramento and the two officers.

This article originally appeared in <a id="999f8e53-5874-4bf3-9f2e-d7340fdb6f99" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/05/us/sacramento-stephon-clark-protests.html">The New York Times</a>.

California Attorney General won't charge officers in Stephon Clark shooting

Becerra said the video evidence reviewed by his team showed that the officers “reasonably believed” they were in danger, which is the applicable legal standard in the case.

After being restrained, Kasler sat beside others on a sidewalk. He said he repeatedly told officers that he was a reporter, and he was eventually asked to give a statement and released.

Scott Rodd, a reporter for The Sacramento Business Journal, said on Twitter that he and a student journalist were also arrested Monday while covering the protest. In a tweet early Tuesday, Rodd said he had been issued a citation and court date.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/05/us/sacramento-stephon-clark-protests.html" id="b401b99a-5b4a-3b5a-ac57-978cd7bafdad">The New York Times</a>.

Attorney General Xavier Becerra of California announced Tuesday that his office would not bring criminal charges against two police officers who shot and killed an unarmed black man in Sacramento last year.

Xavier Becerra, California Attorney General, Won't Charge Officers in Stephon Clark Shooting

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Jose A. Del Real and Matt Stevens

Articles written by the author

California Attorney General won't charge officers in Stephon Clark shooting

Xavier Becerra, California Attorney General, Won't Charge Officers in Stephon Clark Shooting