3 men charged with battery on police officers in 2017 hookah lounge melee in Merced
Criminal charges were filed Friday against three men accused of assaulting Merced police officers during a melee last year at a downtown hookah lounge that angered many and triggered protests and rallies across the city.
Charges were filed against Isa Bey, 23, of Oakland, Nedir Bey, 21, also of Oakland and Ciasonne Ratto-Foster, 21, of Richmond following a nearly yearlong investigation, the Merced County District Attorney's Office said in a statement released late Friday afternoon.
According to Merced County Superior Court records, Nedir Bey was charged with a felony count of battery on police, as well as a misdemeanor count of police battery and a misdemeanor count of obstructing police. He is scheduled for arraignment July 18.
Court records show Isa Bey and Ratto-Foster each were charged with misdemeanor counts of police battery.
Footage from the July 8, 2017, incident at Chandelier's Hookah Lounge on Main Street showed officers shouting at students, and one officer firing what police identified as a "sage" weapon, striking at least one person.
Police have said they were looking for a 23-year-old robbery suspect inside the lounge but said he was not found inside. Accounts have differed related to the lounge incident, with police saying they reacted with force after meeting an aggressive crowd and a police officer was assaulted. Several students said they witnessed an officer throw the first punch, striking a student in the face.
UC Merced students have previously said Majied Bey was the student struck by the sage weapon and said Ratto-Foster was hit by a Taser.
In the statement Friday, District Attorney Larry Morse II said the lengthy investigation into the politically-charged case was delayed as efforts were made to slow and enhance the footage by two outside video companies. Morse lost his bid for re-election last week after 12 years as district attorney.
Morse also noted the incident was captured on cell phone videos recorded by multiple people at the lounge during the incident. But no new footage was turned over to investigators, including the bodycam lost by one of the officers.
"Despite repeated public requests by the District Attorney’s office and the Merced Police Department, no one has come forward with any additional footage of the events of the evening," Morse said in the statement.
The incident angered many, splitting community members who supported the police and believed the incident was triggered by the young people at the lounge and others who believed officers overreacted and provoked the crowd, which they said was made up primarily of young people and college students such as Isa Bey, who was a UC Merced student at the time of the incident.
The arrests in July of last year sparked protests that blocked traffic and a rally outside the Merced Police Department on 22nd Street. A group of people in August attended a meeting of the Merced City Council and asked authorities not to charge the young people in criminal court.
The Drop the Charges Campaign committee, which is made up mostly of students, demanded that police apologize for their use of force and undergo new training to prevent future altercations.
It's unclear whether the department's use of force at the hookah lounge was part of the District Attorney's Office investigation.
The statement released late Friday afternoon by Morse did not include any comment on the use of force by police. Morse did not respond to requests for comment Friday afternoon.
Merced Police Chief Chris Goodwin, who was appointed to lead the Police Department just three days ago, said all of his conversations with the prosecutor's office have been about the criminal investigation into the three men charged with battery on police.
Goodwin, who has been with the department for more than 20 years, took over the chief's job on an interim basis late last year after the former chief abruptly stepped down.
Goodwin said the charges filed Friday were "a step in the right direction."
"It's moving forward with this case and letting it move through the system to determine how it will come out," Goodwin said. "Ultimately that's what we do in every case."
This story was originally published June 15, 2018 at 4:18 PM with the headline "3 men charged with battery on police officers in 2017 hookah lounge melee in Merced."