ABCNews.com(SACRAMENTO) — Sacramento Sheriff’s Department officials played dash cam footage showing one of their vehicles hitting a protester during a rally for police shooting victim Stephon Clark, but said the driver likely did not know that he hit someone.
The incident took place Saturday night in the wake of the death of Clark, an unarmed black man who was killed by police on March 18 in his grandmother’s backyard.
Protesters gathered outside the sheriff’s department because a department helicopter had been involved in the pursuit of Clark.
Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones blamed “paid protesters” for causing the chaos during the rally.
“Unfortunately in many protests that have developed to this scope, there are professional protesters and professional instigators that infiltrate the protest for their own purposes,” Jones said at the press conference where the video was played.
Separate video of the accident shows protesters surrounding two sheriff’s vehicles. According to Jones, protesters were pounding and kicking the vehicles as they drove by.
One of the cars clipped a protester with its front right fender. The vehicle continued driving while other protesters, and later emergency personnel, helped the victim. She suffered minor injuries.
While the dash camera video was played during a press conference, Jones said that it will not be released publicly. Jones also said that he had not spoken directly to the driver of the car that hit the protester.
Other than this incident, Jones complimented all those involved in organizing the legitimate protests.
“The result was a largely peaceful, meaningful assembly with little incident and no arrests,” Jones said.
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