ShareThisSAN FRANCISCO - One obstacle Occupy Oakland faced after building an encampment at City Hall came not from authorities but from within -- a mentally ill homeless man with a long prison record who witnesses said beat fellow campers in fits of rage. Some were so frightened they moved out.
No one called the police on the man, who called himself "Khali." Instead, he was banished in an act of freelance justice, with a protester knocking him unconscious with a 2-by-4 Oct. 18. Police cleared the tent city a week later, and Mayor Jean Quan has cited the incident as a motivating factor.
Times have changed. On Monday, dozens of Occupy Oakland protesters went to a courthouse in Pleasanton, Calif., to rail against prosecutors for filing assault charges against Marcel "Khali" Johnson, 38. Some said they have come to see him as a good man with problems who needs support, not more prison time.
"That's the beauty of Occupy," said Laleh Behbehanian, a University of California -Berkeley graduate student trying to help Johnson. She spoke after telling activists how they can visit him, in groups of four, at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, Calif.
Johnson returned to Frank Ogawa Plaza outside City Hall a couple of weeks after being knocked unconscious, witnesses said, and did better this time, helping out before police swept through the camp a second time Nov. 14.
Behbehanian said Occupy protesters would check on Johnson frequently and, if he seemed out of sorts, remind him to take his medication.
Johnson was one of several demonstrators arrested on minor charges there Dec. 16, as Occupy Oakland sought to maintain a 24-hour-a-day vigil. The next day, at Santa Rita Jail, Johnson was accused of assaulting an Alameda County sheriff's deputy.
According to an affidavit by the arresting officer, Deputy Clifford Malihan, Johnson struggled as a second deputy, referred to as W. Chase, tried to handcuff him and move him between housing units.
Malihan wrote that Johnson first tried to strike Chase in the head, then got behind him and wrapped his arms around him. Malihan said he performed a leg sweep, causing Chase and Johnson to fall, and punched Johnson repeatedly.
Malihan said Chase suffered cuts, bruises and neck pain, while a third deputy suffered a minor concussion from an inadvertent baton strike.
Johnson pleaded not guilty Monday and is scheduled to return to court Feb. 6.
Johnson's supporters said they believed the alleged assault would not have happened if he had been given proper psychiatric care. Sgt. J.D. Nelson, a sheriff's office spokesman, said the jail had treated Johnson appropriately but would not elaborate, citing Johnson's privacy rights.
"Are they going to blame someone else for everything he's done in his criminal history?" Nelson said. "Throughout the course of Occupy we've been accused by them of many things regarding the custody and control of inmates."
Jaime Omar Yassin, 42, said Johnson had a political awakening through Occupy.
"He's exactly the kind of person you would hope would get a second chance," Yassin said, "and contribute his experiences and knowledge to the movement."
E-mail Demian Bulwa at dbulwa(at)sfchronicle.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com
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