KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
Several residents took to the sidewalks of Canyon Country Monday to protest after a video went viral over the weekend showing deputies from the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station drawing guns on a group of teenagers during an assault with a deadly weapon call.
On Monday, Bre Tomey stood at the intersection of Whites Canyon Road and Soledad Canyon Road in Canyon Country, holding up a makeshift sign she made earlier in the day with a paper placemat from In N’ Out and a marker.
After a few hours, she was joined by several other residents.
“You and your sign can make a difference,” she said. “We’ve got to get some acknowledgment and awareness of the diversity that is extremely different in Canyon Country than somewhere like West Ranch or Valencia.”
Tomey, who grew up in Santa Clarita and graduated Canyon High School in 2014, was motivated to go out and protest after seeing a video over the weekend that showed deputies with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station drawing guns on a group of teenagers outside of the Buffalo Wild Wings in Canyon Country.
“When a person calls for help and that person is a person of color, you don’t point a gun at them until you figure out what happened,” Tomey said.
Photo by Jade Aubuchon/KHTS News.
The original incident began at around 5 p.m. on Friday, when deputies received reports of an assault with a deadly weapon on Soledad Canyon Rd. near Whites Canyon Rd.
“We received a call regarding an assault with a deadly weapon, a skateboard,” said Lt. Ethan Marquez with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station, at the time.
Tammi Collins, the mother of one of the teens detained, said her son was sitting at a bus stop in Santa Clarita with friends when a man who appeared to be homeless approached the teen.
“He was attacked by a gentleman, homeless guy, who approached them and first asked them if they had any crack then tried to take their things,” Collins said in a social media post.
After making contact, Collins said that the man became aggressive and attempted to stab the teen.
“The guy became so aggressive that he took his shirt off, pulled out a knife and whip (and) tried to stab them,” she wrote.
See Related: Conduct Of Santa Clarita Deputies Under Investigation After Drawing Guns At Teens
The teen and his friends “only had their skateboards to cover them from the knife and whip so they held it out to keep a distance from this guy,” according to Collins.
Several bystanders contacted law enforcement claiming the teens were attacking the man, prompting the assault with a deadly weapon call from law enforcement.
When deputies arrived on scene, they proceeded to detain several teenagers at gunpoint, with one deputy pointing an assault rifle at the teens.
“That was the wrong move,” Tomey said. “For that mother to have to watch her son be put to the ground (…) I can’t imagine seeing that and knowing because of the color of my skin I can’t go stand in between the gun and my son. I can’t even imagine what that feeling is like.”
While at least two of the teenagers were detained, they were later released, and law enforcement officials later determined that no crime had taken place.
Photo by Jade Aubuchon/KHTS News.
Several bystanders took video of the incident and posted it on social media over the weekend, prompting a response from both the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the City of Santa Clarita.
“We have spoken to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and we are aware that a full investigation is underway regarding the level of response by the deputies,” Santa Clarita Mayor Cameron Smyth said in a statement Monday. “We have asked that the review be expedited and any necessary actions be taken. In addition, we have asked that the deputy be removed from the field pending the outcome of the investigation.”
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva also commented on the incident in a video, where he stated that he had “concerns regarding the tactics employed.”
On Tuesday, Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger released a statement, calling the incident “extremely troubling and disheartening – especially knowing that altercations such as this diminish trust and respect rather than reinforce it among those we are entrusted to serve.”
“I encourage Sheriff Alex Villanueva to support transparency and accountability for the community with a thorough investigation of the facts surrounding this case,” she said. “In addition, I have spoken with Los Angeles County Inspector General Max Huntsman and asked that he share his independent review of the results of the investigation with my office, city leaders and the community.”
Tomey said she knew about the investigation, but added that she felt a “system change” needed to take place in how law enforcement is trained.
“There needs to be new training,” she said. “I think that’s just not the right procedure, and if it is the procedure that’s happening and is being trained right now, it needs to be acknowledged that that is not what is helpful in our town.”
The Canyon High grad went on to say that a sit-in protest was being organized for Friday by the group “SCV for Change” at a location that is yet to be determined.
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Attention law enforcement officials spokesperson-
Armed attempted robbery is a crime.
How can you say “….no crime had taken place?!”
That’s what had me too. All the people telling them but in the end, “no crime committed,” not that there was a crime but once it was ‘sorted out’ the real perp had gotten away. (An early version of the story, pre-viral, characterized the crowd at the scene when the event took place as “uncooperative” and said the same conclusion was reached, “no crime had been committed.”) No acknowledgement of what a bunch of people, including a manager who called them, that someone else had actually attacked the teens, were telling them. This shows a state of complete cynicism about the public and what members thereof have to say.
Lol. Such I joke. I drove by this.. there were 5 people. And the BLM communist fist tells you all you need to know about these whack jobs.
The Fist is a Black Power symbol. Mexico City 1968
Dates back to 1924. Stay away from wikipedia
This event was so small isnt not even funny.. hometown station is clearly working with the communist agitators in our town. Starting to cross that line of honest reporting and becoming an activist publication and promoter. Citizens start taking note!!
Yea, but one of the girls there was very big!
Such an irresponsible story! During these racially sensitive times, and while law enforcement is unfairly under attack, to run this factually absent story is abhorrent!! Virtue successfully signaled…shame on you!!
Really KHTS?! We have so much in our community to write about and you choose this?
We appreciate and respect LEOs. One of the many reasons we love SCV!!!??
Thank you Bill and Yvonne! You are spot on!!
Let’s see, inaccurate ADW call, armed response, no one shot, no one harmed, suspect got away, 9 people protesting appropriate police response, 3 major news trucks covering the protest.
I guess there’s not much note worthy news today?
What happened with the homeless guy who started all of this? Was he detained? Pulling a knife on a group of children seems like a crime to me.
Were subconscious factors in play? Did adrenaline or caffeine or Red Bull “kick in” and make stuff more frantic?
Would white young men be treated the same way?
I would expect so. A call for ‘assault with a deadly weapon’ should call for law enforcement to come in to force disarming of anyone/everyone in the area and secure the area. It isn’t ‘pleasant’, but given the call, necessary.
Wasn’t there 2 young black teens and 1 young white man there?
Oh look all the racists are coming out to deny they are racists, or that systemic racism is prevalent in every aspect our society. Hold up the mirror…it ain’t pretty. You all know who you are.
What isnt racist to you people… that’s the real question
We can fund programs to better train the police to handle situations properly. That’s a positive step.
check the county website they might be taking applications. Sign up and make a difference.
For those who have a problem with the response should sit in a dispatch center for an entire shift and ride along with a deputy for a entire shift. Both are eye opening experiences.
Dispatch only relays what the citizen tells them as factual, the dispatchers don’t have crystal valid or cameras.
This sounds like two different callers who saw two different things happening. So imo thf deputies responded & acted accordingly.. thankfully the kids, deputies & bystanders are ok. Hopefully someone can identify the transient, I’m sure there is more video available snd if someone has it they need to turn it over so this can be put to rest.
Exactly Taya!
I back the badge and support police! Everyone needs to know that the ONLY call made was a complaint about TEENS harassing a homeless and didn’t know it was the other way around.
The restaurant manager called to report the knife-wielding man who was attacking the kids. That’s why she came ouside,trying to clarify that the teens were the victims.
SCV Sheriff’s Department: “We received a call regarding an assault with a deadly weapon, a skateboard…” Who had the skateboards? The SCV Sheriff’s Officers do not have ESP. The kids were let go. Stop playing the race card!
RIDICULOUS!!! Cops receive a call about an assault with a deadly weapon. They need to respond accordingly to protect themselves and the community. How do they know that they will not get shot once they arrive at the scene??? They acted appropriately. I’m so sick & tired about this anti-cop movement. We are lucky to have these cops protecting us. Give them a break already.
Yea!!! Black lives were saved from some crackhead. It was all sorted out with no resisting arrest. Do not resist arrest you will be a looser!!! Guess you cannot ask the dead what they would have done different. Go home symphatizers. Do not panic.
I’m sick and tired of the police being blamed for every little thing! They responded to calls that the teens were the perps. They got it sorted out and nobody was hurt so leave them alone and be thankful we have LEO’s to sort out bad situations like these.
And I’m about done with KHTS too. What a useless rag they’ve become! When you say you’re going to follow up on a developing story, follow up!
We all can be more engaged in the positive and negative actions of law enforcement in our community. The tactics employed while apparently legal,, appeared to be over the top and escalated a tense situation. Sheriffs please update protocol and procdures in your response to similar situations. This was a black eye for the department.