Black Lives Matter Protesters Assaulted Homeless Man During Rally, Police Say

Police arrested 12 people at a Black Lives Matter protest in Stockton, California, Tuesday night, including three people who police said assaulted a homeless man.

Protesters affiliated with Black Lives Matter Stockton demonstrated at a Stockton City Council meeting Tuesday to demand the police department provide answers in the August shooting death of Colby Friday. Speakers at the meeting asked the council to look into the shooting, which is still being investigated by the San Joaquin County District Attorney. A protest followed the relatively peaceful City Council meeting — protesters have interrupted recent meetings — but the demonstration eventually turned violent.

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During the protest, five suspects attacked a homeless man who was uninvolved with the proceedings, police said in a post on the department's Facebook page. Officers saw the suspects kicking and punching the man while he was on the ground, and moved to assist the victim, who was later taken to a local hospital for treatment. Police said they arrested three of the suspects, but two managed to escape as "protesters charged the scene and interfered with officers." Police charged Gabriel Mendez, 18, and Christian Lorena, 22, with battery and resisting arrest, and charged Joseph Pino, 18, with battery.

After the alleged assault, protesters blocked traffic, police said, resulting in nine additional arrests for resisting arrest and blocking a public right of way.

Activists in Stockton, a city of 300,000 roughly 80 miles east of San Francisco, have been demanding answers in the shooting of Friday for months. The Stockton Police Department acknowledged Officer David Wells failed to turn on his body camera before fatally shooting Friday, 30, in August, the Stockton Record reported. Police said Friday, who was black, dropped his gun after running from Wells, who is white. Wells told Friday not to try to pick it up the gun, police said, but when Friday reached for the weapon, Wells shot and fatally wounded Friday.

A woman who said she saw the incident said the police account was inaccurate, however. Felicia Faulks told a KXTV, Sacramento, she saw the shooting from her window, and Friday was separated from his gun by a gate.

"There was no gun in his hand, I promise you," Faulks said. "[The officer] didn't say nothing else to him, nothing. He just said, 'I'm gonna shoot you in the back,' and then gunfire."

Black Lives Matter Stockton is not listed on the official Black Lives Matter website as a sanctioned chapter of the national Black Lives Matter network.