Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Dark night for La Mesa

"I don't understand. Why?"

La Mesa police station on Saturday
La Mesa police station on Saturday

More than a thousand protesters marched outside the La Mesa Police Department Saturday, May 30. Stretching down University Avenue and Baltimore Drive they held signs that read “Black Lives Matter” and “I Can’t Breathe,” words uttered by George Floyd, a black man killed by a Minneapolis police officer May 25. La Mesa was targeted because a white police officer was video-taped Wednesday (May 27) at the Grossmont Transit Station pushing a young black man before arresting him.

Close-up of the crowd

In La Mesa there was anarchist and anti-police messaging. As he walked past me one protester exclaimed, “There’s not going to be a government anymore. They’re all going down.”

There were car window smashing incidents along the way and a stampede through a police barricade, where the crowd was able to enter I-8 and block traffic. Michael Carl posted to Black Lives Matter: San Diego Facebook page: “…They are blocking ambulances. To protest the murder of an innocent man, you may kill other innocent people.”

The march to Interstate 8

By 5 pm most of the protesters were back at the police station, surrounding it from the front entrance to the ends of the parking lots. La Mesa Mayor Mark Arapostathis told CBS News 8 the next day, "Yesterday started out as a peaceful protest. Civil discourse. Black Lives Matter. NAACP. They were following the model of peaceful protest. Somewhere in that timeline as nightfall came a different group of people was there.”

Sponsored
Sponsored
In front of police department

But the vandalism of the police station began in broad daylight, as the crowd of protesters gathered after the march. The odor of spray paint filled the air, the station walls covered with anti-police rhetoric. Nobody stopped it.

At 5:30 an elderly man walked through the crowd. I didn’t hear what he said but a protester told me he was counter-protesting. I saw heads turn toward him and heard a corporate gasp of displeasure. People started throwing things at him. A young woman at the head of the crowd turned around from the station porch and screamed at the crowd to stop throwing things.

After crowd is dispersed

As the man exited the crowd into open space a protester darted toward him. Then a chain reaction of protesters pursued and attacked the man, followed by another chain of protesters who ran to protect him. I heard another corporate gasp mixed with a cacophony of “No!”

Sunday morning

A young black woman who helped protect him explained, “We didn’t come here for that. The last thing we need is more violence and hurt. He would not have made it out without people helping him. They were coming after him hard.”

Then violence broke out on the other side of the police station. A small group of protesters made use of softball-sized decorative rocks that surround the police station. They threw them at an armored police vehicle, smashing dents in the windows.

Chase Bank still on fire Sunday

After that, police from the station dispersed the crowd with tear gas and other projectiles. A protester named Leslie was hit between the eyes with a projectile that stuck to her forehead. A horrific bloody video of the incident circulated social media. According to a Go Fund Me page she is in intensive care.

Locals praying with business owner

Before dark, police announced from a helicopter the assembly was unlawful and many left. Others spread through downtown La Mesa vandalizing, looting and torching buildings. Stores in the La Mesa Springs shopping center and on La Mesa Blvd. were smashed to pieces. Chase Bank, Union Bank and the Randall Lamb building burned to the ground.

Volunteers join repair work Sunday.

Earlier in the day a masked white man waving a wooden stick walked around the police station yelling threats against police. Someone accused him of being a fake protester. On May 31 President Trump blamed Antifa for the post-protest rioting across the country and announced on Twitter they will be designated a terrorist organization.

On Sunday morning downtown La Mesa was visited again by more than a thousand people. Locals flocked to help clean up and comfort business owners. Hugs were given to a Mexican woman whose store was destroyed as she stood on La Mesa Blvd. sobbing and crying, "I don't understand. Why?"

Local pastors gathered in front of the devastated Vons store to pray and preach. They spoke against anti-police hatred and declared blessings on the police officers of La Mesa.

El Cajon city councilman and East County Chamber of Commerce board member Phil Ortiz set up a Go Fund Me for the afflicted businesses. It reached its goal of $50,000 in 13 hours and doubled it in a day.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

India Hawthorne is common in coastal gardens, Citrus trees are in full bloom

The vernal equinox is on March 19
La Mesa police station on Saturday
La Mesa police station on Saturday

More than a thousand protesters marched outside the La Mesa Police Department Saturday, May 30. Stretching down University Avenue and Baltimore Drive they held signs that read “Black Lives Matter” and “I Can’t Breathe,” words uttered by George Floyd, a black man killed by a Minneapolis police officer May 25. La Mesa was targeted because a white police officer was video-taped Wednesday (May 27) at the Grossmont Transit Station pushing a young black man before arresting him.

Close-up of the crowd

In La Mesa there was anarchist and anti-police messaging. As he walked past me one protester exclaimed, “There’s not going to be a government anymore. They’re all going down.”

There were car window smashing incidents along the way and a stampede through a police barricade, where the crowd was able to enter I-8 and block traffic. Michael Carl posted to Black Lives Matter: San Diego Facebook page: “…They are blocking ambulances. To protest the murder of an innocent man, you may kill other innocent people.”

The march to Interstate 8

By 5 pm most of the protesters were back at the police station, surrounding it from the front entrance to the ends of the parking lots. La Mesa Mayor Mark Arapostathis told CBS News 8 the next day, "Yesterday started out as a peaceful protest. Civil discourse. Black Lives Matter. NAACP. They were following the model of peaceful protest. Somewhere in that timeline as nightfall came a different group of people was there.”

Sponsored
Sponsored
In front of police department

But the vandalism of the police station began in broad daylight, as the crowd of protesters gathered after the march. The odor of spray paint filled the air, the station walls covered with anti-police rhetoric. Nobody stopped it.

At 5:30 an elderly man walked through the crowd. I didn’t hear what he said but a protester told me he was counter-protesting. I saw heads turn toward him and heard a corporate gasp of displeasure. People started throwing things at him. A young woman at the head of the crowd turned around from the station porch and screamed at the crowd to stop throwing things.

After crowd is dispersed

As the man exited the crowd into open space a protester darted toward him. Then a chain reaction of protesters pursued and attacked the man, followed by another chain of protesters who ran to protect him. I heard another corporate gasp mixed with a cacophony of “No!”

Sunday morning

A young black woman who helped protect him explained, “We didn’t come here for that. The last thing we need is more violence and hurt. He would not have made it out without people helping him. They were coming after him hard.”

Then violence broke out on the other side of the police station. A small group of protesters made use of softball-sized decorative rocks that surround the police station. They threw them at an armored police vehicle, smashing dents in the windows.

Chase Bank still on fire Sunday

After that, police from the station dispersed the crowd with tear gas and other projectiles. A protester named Leslie was hit between the eyes with a projectile that stuck to her forehead. A horrific bloody video of the incident circulated social media. According to a Go Fund Me page she is in intensive care.

Locals praying with business owner

Before dark, police announced from a helicopter the assembly was unlawful and many left. Others spread through downtown La Mesa vandalizing, looting and torching buildings. Stores in the La Mesa Springs shopping center and on La Mesa Blvd. were smashed to pieces. Chase Bank, Union Bank and the Randall Lamb building burned to the ground.

Volunteers join repair work Sunday.

Earlier in the day a masked white man waving a wooden stick walked around the police station yelling threats against police. Someone accused him of being a fake protester. On May 31 President Trump blamed Antifa for the post-protest rioting across the country and announced on Twitter they will be designated a terrorist organization.

On Sunday morning downtown La Mesa was visited again by more than a thousand people. Locals flocked to help clean up and comfort business owners. Hugs were given to a Mexican woman whose store was destroyed as she stood on La Mesa Blvd. sobbing and crying, "I don't understand. Why?"

Local pastors gathered in front of the devastated Vons store to pray and preach. They spoke against anti-police hatred and declared blessings on the police officers of La Mesa.

El Cajon city councilman and East County Chamber of Commerce board member Phil Ortiz set up a Go Fund Me for the afflicted businesses. It reached its goal of $50,000 in 13 hours and doubled it in a day.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Tiny Home Central isn’t solving the San Diego housing crisis

But it does hope to help fill in the gaps
Next Article

The Digital Currency Wave Hits the Shores of San Diego

Comments
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
June 5, 2020
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.