UC Merced advocates say ‘drop the charges’ in hookah melee involving ‘good kids’

UC Merced students and others again addressed July’s hookah lounge melee in front of the City Council on Monday.

Advocates for the five men that were arrested or cited first addressed the council on July 17, the governing body’s last meeting, when they called for the city to ramp up training for officers.

Speaking Monday, advocates challenged the council not to ignore the incident but to make an effort to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Police have said they were looking for 23-year-old Bryant Brown inside Chandelier’s Hookah Lounge & Smoke Shop on Main Street on July 9 before police arrested five college students, including a UC Merced student. Police said they attempted to serve a warrant shortly after midnight to arrest Brown.

Police say an officer was injured, and club-goers say multiple college students were injured.

Dozens of students at the party were traumatized, according to Chidera Ofoha, who spoke on Monday. “I’m here to remind everybody of the tragic incident that did occur at the Merced hookah lounge,” she said.

She said she is a member of the Drop the Charges Campaign committee. “I’m here asking everyone not to just listen to what I’m saying, but to understand and not let it just go out one ear,” she said to the council.

Part of the melee was captured on a cellphone video that since has gone viral on the Internet. The video shows several police officers with stun weapons pointed at people, several club patrons being placed in handcuffs, and shouting between officers and the crowd. The clip also shows Officer Joseph Opinski turn and fire a round at one man from an anti-riot weapon, which police have described as a “sage weapon.”

The hookah lounge incident set off a protest that involved mostly UC Merced students, who chanted and marched on campus, along G Street and in front of the 22nd Street police station.

The advocates have met with city staff, organized protests, petitioned and put together other efforts to drum up support, according to Manar Harran, president of UC Merced’s Black Student Union.

“We’re here to let you know incidents like this concern us, and we will not tolerate police brutality,” she said to the council.

On the night of the melee, Merced police arrested Isa Bey, 22, a UC Merced student from Oakland, and his brothers Nedir, 20; Yakub, 24; and Majied, 21. Officers also arrested Ciasonne Olajuwon Ratto-Foster, 20, a cousin of the Beys.

Students have previously said Majied Bey was the student struck by the sage weapon, and advocates on Monday said Ratto-Foster was hit by a Taser.

Other advocates at the meeting this week read off the names of the college students and some of their accomplishments, such as volunteer work, jobs and their education.

A student that spoke Monday, Chigoziri Ibechem, pleaded with the council to not see the men as criminals.

“I really hope you all listen to us,” she said. “We know all these people personally. They’re very, very, very good kids. They all have a very good head on their shoulders.”

Accounts have differed related to the lounge incident, with police saying they reacted with force after meeting an aggressive crowd while several students have said they witnessed an officer throw the first punch, striking a student in the face.

None of the arrested college students have so far been charged with any crimes, according to the Rob Carroll, chief deputy district attorney for the Merced County District Attorney’s Office.

He called for anyone else with more videos of the melee to come forward.

This story was originally published August 7, 2017 at 8:29 PM with the headline "UC Merced advocates say ‘drop the charges’ in hookah melee involving ‘good kids’."