Trying to organize my thoughts here: First and foremost thanks to all the journalists, friends, sources and others who made noise tonight to get me out. @ShotOn35mm for filming it & @steffdaz for calling my fiancee. I was mostly worried about her finding out via Twitter.
It is insane to me that I wrote this story 7 days ago. Lexis and I were standing next to one another tonight. I definitely made some joke about like "they wouldn't do this again, right?" Clearly my comedic timing is off.
Gonna try and do this objectively. Some facts: Yes, @LAPDHQ declared a dispersal order. They gave people well over 20 minutes to disperse. They had been getting hit with strobe lights and been taunted, but I didn't see anything thrown at them until after they charged the crowd.
Demonstrators now calling for dissipation of the protest as LAPD announced those in the park can stay another 24 hours. Meeting some resistance. #EchoParkRiseUp
Literally one minute after I tweeted this cops fired with a launcher at the skirmish line.
Resident of the encampment: “I live here and I consider tonight a victory.”and asking the group to move back from LAPD slowly.
They just gave the dispersal order again. Been almost a half hour since the first one. #EchoParkRiseUp
They’re now saying 10 minutes to disperse.
It’s been an hour since the first dispersal order, @kevrector corrects me. That’s an unusually long window, at least compared to most LAPD protest windows I’ve seen given.
Seeing this gain some traction. It's wrong, or at least misleading. There is no instruction or directive that says this, per the D.A.'s office and several prosecutors I ran this by (including plenty who are no fans of D.A. Gascon.)
I asked Jon for clarification, yet to hear back. I *think* he's referring to this, from one of Gascon's special directives on the re-sentencing unit. "Accordingly, this Office will reevaluate and consider for resentencing people who have already served 15 years in prison."
Some needed context: This policy doesn't apply to "any defendant." Gascon explicitly said day one the re-sentencing unit would prioritize defendants accused of non-violent crimes. He is correct, however, that the estimated range of cases this could impact tops at 30,000.