A professor at Cal State Channel Island has been charged with assaulting U.S. Border Patrol brokers with a lethal or harmful weapon — a canister of their very own tear fuel.
On Wednesday, a federal grand jury indicted Jonathan Caravello, 37, of Ventura on one felony depend of assault after he was arrested at a protest towards an immigration raid at a Ventura County marijuana farm.
Prosecutors say that brokers deployed the tear fuel as a crowd management measure in the course of the July 10 protest and that Caravello picked up a canister and lobbed it again at officers. If convicted as charged, he faces as much as 20 years in federal jail.
The incident unfolded throughout a heated conflict between protesters and brokers at Glass Home Farms’ weed rising web site in Camarillo. Caravello posted $15,000 bail and was launched on July 14.
The huge immigration operation led to the arrests of greater than 300 staff with out documentation throughout simultaneous raids at Glass Home Farms’ Camarillo and Carpinteria develop websites, in keeping with the Division of Homeland Safety. One employee died after falling 30 toes from a greenhouse roof in an try and flee federal brokers in Camarillo.
Through the operation, a crowd of a number of hundred protesters gathered on the Laguna Highway entrance to the Camarillo web site. Prosecutors allege that protesters used their our bodies and vehicles to impede federal legislation enforcement from exiting the farm and threw rocks at brokers’ automobiles, which broke home windows and side-view mirrors.
“For brokers’ security, legislation enforcement deployed tear fuel among the many protesters to help with crowd management, guarantee officer security, and to permit legislation enforcement to depart the placement,” prosecutors stated.
Caravello is accused of chasing after a tear fuel canister that rolled previous him and throwing it overhand again at Border Patrol brokers.
He then allegedly left the protest and returned two hours later carrying a special T-shirt and sneakers, in keeping with courtroom paperwork. Border Patrol recognized him because the suspect who had beforehand thrown the tear fuel canister and tried to detain him. Caravello allegedly resisted arrest by constantly kicking his legs and refusing to present brokers his arms, in keeping with courtroom paperwork.
Activist Angelmarie Taylor beforehand instructed The Instances that she is one among his college students and witnessed Caravello being “piled on by a number of brokers unexpectedly” whereas making an attempt to help a person in a wheelchair as brokers pushed the gang again.
Prosecutors initially charged Caravello with felony assault in a legal criticism filed on July 12 however later downgraded that to a misdemeanor cost. On Aug. 25, the professor pleaded not responsible to the misdemeanor and instructed the Ventura County Star, “Something and every thing I do at protests is to guard folks. I might by no means deliberately hurt anybody.”
This week, nonetheless, a grand jury reviewed the case and finally indicted Caravello on a felony depend of assaulting a federal agent. He will probably be arraigned once more within the coming weeks, prosecutors stated.
Caravello was amongst 4 U.S. residents arrested on the immigration raid on suspicion of assaulting or resisting officers, in keeping with Homeland Safety.
Instances workers writers Jeanette Marantos and Melissa Gomez contributed to this report.
