SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The woman who was hit by a Sacramento County Sheriff Deputy patrol SUV was found to be at fault for the crash that sent her to the hospital during a protest for Stephon Clark, the CHP found.
The woman, 62-year-old Wanda Cleveland, suffered head injuries from what happened to her and her lawyer Mark Reichel stands by her case.
"We are of the opinion, that when you look at the video, the video is the video. The video speaks for itself. The conclusions in the report, that it's my client's fault, that it's just improper," Reichel said.
The incident happened Saturday night, March 31, during a vigil for Stephon Clark. Clark was shot and killed by Sacramento Police earlier that month.
That night, a large crowd gathered and marched in South Sacramento. Two sheriff SUV's drove by and protesters immediately surrounded the cars, according to the CHP report. According to the report, the deputies inside the patrol cars say protestors were causing damage and they feared for their safety.
The CHP report says the deputy who hit Cleveland "never saw a person in front of his vehicle" and "he accelerated to get away from the crowd" because protestors were hitting and kicking his patrol car.
Cleveland was taken by ambulance to the hospital after this happened. The deputy went back to the station where he looked at his dash cam video and then told his supervisor what happened. In all, CHP says Cleveland was the "cause of the collision" because she should have yielded to the patrol car since she wasn't in a crosswalk at an intersection.
"There's no dispute that if you hit somebody that's in front of you, either you didn't look, which is a violation of the law and vehicle codes, or you did, and you intentionally hit them. One of the two. So, we hope that at a later time we can engage in good faith, in negotiations, and resolve it," Reichel said.
Reichel has sued the county for damages and the county has not responded. The CHP report is separate, but part of the investigation.
"This is not the case of the century, but it's also not the case you want to go to trial on for them. We are going to prevail," Reichel said.
Reichel is hoping for a settlement between Cleveland and the County.
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