Bike-riding protestor charged
with felony assault
By Charles Douglas
HUMBOLDT SENTINEL
|  EUREKA
- An arraignment hearing for Katherine ‘Kat’
Zimmerman quickly turned into an impromptu meeting between
the protestor, her supporters, members of the media
and District Attorney Paul Gallegos, who was at his
office two floors about the courtroom and parried claims
that he was insensitive to concerns about police conduct.
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Before she could get there, however, Zimmerman faced Judge
Christopher Wilson, who granted a request by the District
Attorney’s office to upgrade her charges from misdemeanor
to felony assault of California Highway Patrol Sargent Randy
Price by means of hitting him with her bicycle during the
Critical Mass ride from Arcata to Eureka on Nov. 2.
“I think the People at this stage of the process are
entitled to amend,” Wilson said in reference to the
request of the D.A.’s office.
In addition to being accused of having “feloniously
battered” Price, Zimmerman is charged with resisting
arrest, obstructing law enforcement, obstructing free movement
and impeding traffic, two felonies and four misdemeanors in
all. Zimmerman plead not guilty to the charges, and she is
scheduled to appear again before Wilson in January.
 Nearly
100 of her supporters crowded the courtroom and spilled into
the hallway, and were united in their opposition to the DAs
actions.
“I think the police in general have overreacted,”
Arcata resident Dennis Shaughnessy said.
Spurred on by boosters, Zimmerman proceeded to climb the
two flights of stairs up to the fourth floor offices of Gallegos
and his staff, many of whom were clearly unnerved by the sudden
presence of the crowd. The District Attorney himself was steadfast
in supporting the actions of his deputy.
“Every decision I make in this office is my decision,”
Gallegos said at the outset, later adding, “I know there’s
a lot of emotion in this room, with every case we file there’s
a lot of emotion.”
Forest activist Kim Starr shot back that the current D.A.,
like his predecessor Terry Farmer, had never prosecuted crimes
committed against protestors by police or private parties.
“It’s just another cover-up,” Starr said.
Zimmerman first wanted Gallegos to address the overwhelming
presence of law enforcement on a day that saw both a CHP chopper
over Humboldt State University and federal troopers en mass
inside the federal courthouse in Eureka.
“That doesn’t concern you that there was such
harassment as helicopters circling before we get onto a public
street?” Zimmerman asked Gallegos. “Because if
it doesn’t, you’re never going to get my vote
again.”
 Gallegos
replied that he was troubled with many of the behaviors of
the federal government such as torture and roving wire taps
while he strenuously denied any contact with Department of
Homeland Security personnel regarding local protests.
“The federal government and this office do not work
hand-in-hand,” he said.
The feds weren’t the only target of some pointed complaints,
with even Student Affairs Vice President Stephen Butler of
HSU accused of “contributing to the criminalization
of these protests,” by Fortuna resident Michael Smith,
an HSU student.
As to why Zimmerman’s charges were made more severe,
Gallegos said it was because it was verified that the officer
had sustained injuries, although Zimmerman’s mother
retorted that it was because her daughter had sustained injuries
of her own. Gallegos declined to comment as to why Price’s
actions weren’t being investigated.
The D.A. fell similarly silent when asked about his office’s
lack of a written policy in dealing with police complaints.
Gallegos also told the Humboldt Sentinel he had never
received any information from the Human Rights Commission
on the levels of police complaints for various local agencies,
although these statistics are provided to organizations such
as the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Gallegos warmed to the idea of a police review commission,
although he warned supporters that they would face a hard
road.
“You’re going to get a lot of resistance from
law enforcement,” he said.
Repeated requests by persons who allegedly witnessed incidences
of police harassment were met with repeated invitations to
submit their information to the Public Defender’s office.
“We make decisions based on the information we have,
and we’re not always right, but it’s not a conspiracy,”
he said. “If I get information that leads me to believe
that this officer violated the law, there may be a completely
different outlook on this case. You don’t want the D.A.’s
office always out there investigating people…that’s
not our role.”
Gallegos did concede that much of the information on federal
activities was difficult to come by and did seem peculiar
in relation to the small size of the protest.
“It certainly seemed to be an orderly, peaceful procession,
as far as I saw,” he said.
Zimmerman’s next hearing will be on Jan. 18, 2:00 p.m.
at the county courthouse.
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