Trump rally attendees sue San Jose, Mayor Liccardo and police chiefSAN JOSE >> Fourteen people who attended a Donald Trump rally in San Jose last month filed a class-action lawsuit Thursday against the city, mayor and police chief claiming city leaders failed to protect them from assaults by protesters as they left the event and violated their rights to free speech and peaceful assembly.
“Law-abiding citizens leaving the Trump rally were victimized by being forced by armed police to walk into a riot in full swing where many were assaulted while police looked on,” said the plaintiffs’ attorney, Harmeet K. Dhillon, who is also the vice chair of the California Republican Party.
Dhillon says her clients range from a 14-year-old who was assaulted by two different individuals and denied assistance by the San Jose Fire Department to a 71-year-old woman whose glasses were ripped off and destroyed by three rioters.
She said it was made clear that the “inaction” of 250 San Jose police officers “was colored by political viewpoint considerations.”
Following the violence at the June 2 rally, Mayor Sam Liccardo said in a statement: “While it’s a sad statement about our political discourse that Mr. Trump has focused on stirring antagonism instead of offering real solutions to our nation’s challenges, there is absolutely no place for violence against people who are simply exercising their rights to participate in the political process.” That and remarks to a reporter that Trump “needs to take responsibility for the irresponsible behavior of his campaign” drew criticism that the mayor was excusing the attacks.
Liccardo, a backer of Hillary Clinton, also was accused of ordering officers to stand down as Trump supporters were being attacked, a claim Police Chief Eddie Garcia has called “absurd.” Liccardo, he added, called him the night of the rally, but didn’t tell him how to handle the event.
“I have a lot of control over my officers, but my officers do not know the meaning of the term stand down,” Garcia said at the time. “They would not follow that order nor would I ever expect them to.”
San Jose police have since arrested 20 people for alleged assaults and vandalism outside the rally. They’re looking for two more identified suspects. They were 24 reported victims.
Liccardo was not immediately available Wednesday for comment on the lawsuit.
Dhillon said her clients shouldn’t have felt their lives were at risk during a political event, or that their rights are “somehow less important just because they happen to be different than those of the mayor and/or the chief of police.”
The plaintiffs are seeking compensation and injunctive relief for injuries they suffered during the rally and for alleged violations of their constitutional rights.
City Attorney Rick Doyle said Thursday the city hasn’t yet been served with the lawsuit.
“I really can’t comment until we have a chance to review it,” Doyle said. “But from what I know, the police did everything they could.”
The lawsuit also named a handful of individual rioters and 38 unknown rioters, who are being called “Doe” defendants.
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