Judge won’t drop charge against SLO County activist in BLM protest that blocked Hwy. 101
A judge denied a request to dismiss a false imprisonment charge against a Black Lives Matter activist Friday, after the man’s legal team claimed he was being singled out due to his race.
Amman Asfaw is charged with misdemeanor false imprisonment in relation to the July 21 protest where demonstrators blocked Highway 101 for about an hour.
He is one of seven people, including activist Tianna Arata, charged in relation to the protest.
Asfaw’s legal team filed an invitation to dismiss the charge Jan. 13, stating the activist was simply exercising his First Amendment right to free speech and freedom to assemble.
In a court filing Friday, the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office claimed they did not violate Asfaw’s First Amendment rights and asked the judge to deny the invitation to dismiss the charge.
DA engaging in ‘invidious discrimination,’ legal team says
In the 67-page brief, Asfaw’s legal team asked the presiding judge to dismiss the false imprisonment charge, alleging the district attorney is engaging in “invidious discrimination by singling out one Black man” who protested with about 300 other people and “selectively enforcing” the false imprisonment charge, noting it could hypothetically be applied to any person who was ever involved in a demonstration that temporarily blocked or slowed traffic.
“To utilize a statute designed to prevent people from holding a person hostage and apply it to a Black Lives Matter activist who participates in a rally is an egregious abuse of prosecutorial discretion aimed at chilling free speech,” the filing said.
Asfaw’s team said the activist did not impede traffic on Highway 101, but rather stood in the crosswalk at the corner of Monterey Street and California Boulevard as a “moving white sedan physically pushed him out of the crosswalk” until other protesters — who are not charged with crimes relating to the July 21 protest — stood in front of Asfaw to prevent the car from running him over and killing him.
Asfaw did not intend to intimidate the driver and later thanked the driver for listening to his message, the filing said.
They said the event equated to a minor inconvenience for the driver of the white sedan and lasted about “six minutes less than the time Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on the neck of George Floyd.”
Asfaw previously declined the prosecution’s offer to divert the charge with community service, an offer given to just five of those charged in relation to the demonstration.
He has never been arrested prior to this charge and hasn’t had trouble with the law since, the filing said.
He is a first-generation American working toward a professional engineering license after earning a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Cal Poly in 2021 and is invested in community service.
The filing included several letters attesting to Asfaw’s character and commitment to serving his community.
“There is no justification to delay dismissal or order Mr. Asfaw to complete court ordered community service,” the filing said.
The false imprisonment charge could jeopardize “everything Asfaw has worked for in his personal and professional life,” and the court should dismiss the charge “in the furtherance of justice,” the filing said.
Asfaw did ‘detain motorists,’ prosecution says
In their 19-page response, the District Attorney’s Office claims Asfaw’s team “grossly misstates facts” and that Asfaw does not have a right to “unlawfully detain motorists” using public roads and “force them to hear his speech.” They say he was not utilizing the crosswalk the entire time.
The prosecution also claims they did not single out Asfaw, but that he was simply one of the individuals the office could identify from the protest.
The District Attorney’s Office initially filed charges against eight people total in relation to the July 21 demonstration. An estimated 300 people — mostly white — participated in the event. Five of those charged are people of color and three are white.
Asfaw was identified as someone who “directly and actively chased down identifiable victims and refused to let them leave,” the District Attorney’s Office said, noting that other protesters who allegedly engaged in the same activities could not be identified.
The prosecution said the driver of the white sedan was trying to complete a turn onto Monterey Street and drive around the protesters, not run over Asfaw. They said Asfaw and other unidentified protesters blocked the car and “refused to listen [to the driver] and allow them to leave.”
The District Attorney’s Office also states it does not discriminate because it did charge a driver with reckless driving and reckless driving causing injury for hitting two BLM demonstrators who were using a crosswalk with their car in September.
They claim charging Asfaw does not violate his First Amendment rights to free speech and freedom to assemble, and that violating the law cannot be justified by the murder of George Floyd.
The office asked the judge to deny Asfaw’s invitation to dismiss the false imprisonment charge, which the judge ultimately did.
A trial setting conference is scheduled for May 6.
This story was originally published January 31, 2022 at 3:00 PM.
