WOODLAND — A criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday in Yolo Superior Court charges four men and one woman in connection with a Picnic Day assault on Russell Boulevard that left two police officers injured and unleashed a dispute as to whether police or a group of civilians triggered the fight.
Alexander Craver, 22, of West Sacramento; Antwoine Perry, 21, of Elk Grove; Iszir Price, 22, of North Highlands; Angelica Reyes, 20, of Rio Linda; and Elijah Williams, 19, of West Sacramento; are named in the five-page document that includes charges of assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury on a peace officer, and resisting an executive officer by means of force or violence.
The assault charges allege that the defendants “knew and reasonably should have known that the victim was a peace officer engaged in the performance of the victim’s duties” during the April 22 melee, although they and other witnesses have claimed the officers, dressed in street clothes and riding in an unmarked van, failed to identify themselves as police.
Police also contend that it was the crowd members who assaulted them first after they pulled over to move along people who were blocking the road, while the defendants insist the officers were the aggressors.
Read the complaint here:
Of the five being charged, Williams is accused of assaulting two of the three officers who were there that day, offenses that prosecuting attorney Ryan Couzens said expose him to two “strikes” on his criminal record and call for an increase in bail.
Currently out of jail custody, the five defendants were in the process of entering routine not-guilty pleas at an arraignment hearing Tuesday when two of them, Perry and Price, indicated they had either hired or were in the process of hiring private attorneys.
In response, Commissioner Kent O’Mara postponed the proceedings to June 13 so that all five would be properly represented. Williams also has a private attorney, while Craver and Reyes requested court-appointed lawyers.
Missing from court, and from the complaint, was 21-year-old Romeo Lopez of Sacramento, a sixth suspect whose arrest in connection with the brawl with Davis police was announced late last week. Chief Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Raven declined to comment on the status of his case.
The five defendants are free on $100,000 bail bonds, the amounts of which went undisputed by Couzens except in Williams’ case. The prosecutor asked Tuesday to raise Williams’ bail to $200,000 “based on what we know.”
“He is the only defendant of the group that committed two separate assaults on police officers,” Couzens told O’Mara. He added that video evidence shows Williams “punched a police sergeant in the face while that sergeant was being choked from behind by Mr. Craver,” then later held down another officer and punched him repeatedly in the head.
In terms of specific acts, the complaint also accuses Reyes of kicking the sergeant “repeatedly … in the head,” and Perry and Price of punching him in the face and back of his head.
Mark Reichel, Williams’ attorney, disputed Couzens’ version of events, saying the video he’s seen shows nothing of the sort. He noted that Williams has no prior criminal record, holds down a job and has local family ties.
“I think $100,000 is more than enough to assure his appearances and the safety of the community as well,” Reichel said, suggesting that O’Mara schedule another court hearing to view the video footage in question.
O’Mara initially seemed inclined to double Williams’ bail, but eventually held off and agreed to see the video before making his ruling.
“I’m troubled by the fact that he (Reichel) has seen video and it didn’t show this,” O’Mara said.
Couzens did not specify in court whether the video that shows Williams’ alleged conduct is the same footage captured by a private citizen’s dashboard camera as he drove by the fight scene, or if it’s contained in other video evidence that authorities have obtained.
“They may have something different,” said Reichel, who told reporters he sent the District Attorney’s Office a five-page letter “that went frame by frame about my client’s conduct (in the dash-cam video), and it’s nowhere near the statement that the deputy DA gave in court today. If the Police Department has their own video, they need to release it.”
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene
