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| Police block off a street after a rally for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump in San Jose, Calif. on June 2, 2016. On Friday, a panel of federal judges said the San Jose Police Department put Trump supporters in danger by exposing them to 'violent protesters.' File Photo by Terry Schmitt/UPI |
By Ray Downs, UPI
A federal judge panel in California on Friday said a lawsuit against the City of San Jose that accuses its police of putting supporters of President Donald Trump in danger may go forward.
The lawsuit, filed by vocal Trump supporter Juan Hernandez, accuses the San Jose Police Department of of negligence during a 2016 Trump rally in the city. Hernandez said police led a group of Trump supporters through a crowd of anti-Trump supporters who allegedly attacked them while the police stood by and didn't intervene.
[post_ads]"It was really scary because the cops aren't doing anything, they were just watching everything happen," Hernandez told KGO-TV. "They started coming to us and they attacked us, we weren't inciting anything, we weren't saying anything to them."
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 3-0 to reject the City of San Jose's motion to dismiss the case and that officers did not qualify for immunity from the lawsuit and may be challenged in court.
The judges wrote that by "shepherding them into a crowd of violent protesters," the "officers acted with deliberate indifference to the danger."
Hernandez told KPIX-TV that the police officers' actions were politically motivated.
"San Jose Police were largely indifferent to us because we were Trump supporters. They had ample time to figure out the plans and contingencies," he said.
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