A local Hispanic organization will sponsor a forum Sunday to
discuss issues that include an alleged case of police misconduct
toward a family March 3.
A local Hispanic organization will sponsor a forum Sunday to discuss issues that include an alleged case of police misconduct toward a family March 3.
Among those at the rally organized by the Mexican American Political Association will be a representative from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, along with Maria Martinez, the state/national director of MAPA, according to Henry Sumaya of MAPA.
The rally is scheduled for noon Sunday on the lawn at Fourth and San Benito streets.
“The community is going to get together and stop this sort of thing,” Sumaya said about the alleged harrasment by a Hollister police officer toward a Hispanic family.
Martinez and the NAACP representative will attend the rally also because, according to Sumaya, the alleged incident in Hollister is not uncommon.
“Evidently it’s not just Hollister,” Sumaya said. “There’s another case in Los Banos with police department activity.”
Members of the Lujan family have said that the officer shouted profanities and pointed his gun at family members upon entering their Park Street home at about 1:30 a.m. March 3. The Hollister Police Department is conducting an internal affairs investigation of the incident and, by state privacy laws regarding personnel matters, cannot release information about the officer. The San Benito County Sheriff’s Department, under the authority of the county District Attorney’s Office, has assigned an investigator to determine whether the officer committed a crime.
Sumaya and his brother Louie, the president of the local MAPA chapter, said the rally will not just be in regards to the Lujan case. There will be an open microphone for residents to discuss any community issues of concern.
Though a flyer handed out this week by the Sumayas states, “World Peace welcome,” Henry Sumaya said he does not want the rally to turn into a protest for or against war. He does, however, encourage people to attend who support local soldiers involved with the possible Middle East conflict.
“We just want people to come out and communicate with the rest of the community,” Sumaya said.
