WOODLAND — The Yolo County District Attorney’s Office has requested more time to decide whether criminal charges should be filed against the three men arrested following a brawl with Davis police officers on Picnic Day.
Alexander Craver, 22; Antwoine Perry, 21; and Elijah Williams, 19; appeared Tuesday for their scheduled arraignments in Yolo Superior Court, where Supervising Deputy District Attorney Ryan Couzens asked that the hearing be postponed for another two weeks.
Commissioner Kent O’Mara set a new date of June 6. All three men, accompanied in court by a dozen or so supporters, remain free on bail in the meantime.
“We just want to make sure that we’re complete and thorough,” Couzens said outside the courtroom of the filing delay.
His office continues to review police reports and video related to the April 22 incident on Russell Boulevard that erupted when plainclothes officers riding in an unmarked van attempted to move a group of partiers out of the roadway.
Authorities continue to seek additional witnesses to the melee, as does Williams’ defense attorney, Mark Reichel, who said Tuesday that “we’d love to see more video and audio evidence come out.”
Two of the three involved officers suffered head injuries in the fight, after which Craver, Perry and Williams were arrested on assault and battery charges. They and others in the crowd have said the officers did not identify themselves as police and were the aggressors in the confrontation.
Further controversy flared when Davis Police Chief Darren Pytel announced the hiring of former Sacramento County Sheriff John McGinness to conduct an independent internal-affairs investigation into the officers’ actions, prompting some to question whether McGinness would be impartial — particularly following recent comments on his radio show in which he said African-Americans fared better before the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
The three men arrested on Picnic Day are African-American and have alleged that racial bias played a role in the incident.
Last week, McGinness withdrew from the probe, after which City Manager Dirk Brazil said the city would seek input from the Police Department’s Community Advisory Board in selecting his replacement.
In the meantime, the department has revised its policies regarding when and how plainclothes officers and unmarked vehicles are deployed, as well as restricting the circumstances in which they take direct action or use force.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene