Phoenix Police called the protesters “targets” while monitoring them before they were arrested

PHOENIX – New documents reveal Phoenix police spent hours monitoring protest leaders during a peaceful demonstration in October.

Officers called the activists “targets” while using drones, surveillance cameras and vehicles to monitor them.

The charges have since been dropped in the context of the continuing ramifications of the ABC15 Politically Charged investigation which revealed police and prosecutors worked together to charge Valley protesters as “street criminal gangs” for exaggerating and lying.

The most recent incident of possible wrongdoing occurred in downtown Phoenix on October 3.

Valley activists protested again that evening in connection with the death of Dion Johnson, a Valley father who was shot and killed by a Department of Public Security soldier after he passed out in his vehicle on the highway.

“Allister Adel had decided not to hold George Cervantes, the murderer of Deon Johnson, accountable, so this was our march in response to the Maricopa prosecutor’s office,” said Zarra Teacola, a Metro Phoenix executive from Black Lives Matter (BLM ).

Zarra and two other activists were only arrested after the peaceful protest, where they spent much of their time conducting chants, some in the street, and giving speeches.

They got into a car when confronted by officers.

“We believe that [officers] did this so they could try to charge us for resisting arrest, “said Zarra.” Because we asked them, “Why are you here? Do you want to arrest us? ‘And they refused to answer.”

Throughout the evening, the officers answered their radios and communicated through their monitoring of the leaders.

“Keep an eye on Lee Christian Percy all night,” an official said, according to Computer Aided Dispatch [CAD] Documents.

The officers appear to be waiting for Percy to screw it up, according to documents from ABC15.

“Is he … ever on the street?” asks an officer.
“No, always on the sidewalk.”
“He’s been careful with it lately.”

Percy led the protest all summer after George Floyd, Dion Johnson and Breonna Taylor died.

The shipping notice made it clear that officers intended to arrest Percy that night in connection with a previous crime they allegedly committed.

The crime stemmed from a protest two months earlier, in August, during which he allegedly shut the guns of a protester who was arrested to prevent officers from taking her into custody.

“Christian Percy moved, does anyone have eyes on him?” asked an officer.

The CAD log is forwarded to the document:

“Sgt Hammons – your group assigned to the Lee Percy Christian indictments as of August 9th.”
“Do this in our time. Arrest outside of groups.”
“Reminder: He defied arrest last time.” “I remember. Have a pretty good fight.”
“Do you have your information sheet with pictures of it?”
“Be booked … if Percy goes to identify him.”
“I’m throwing out Percy’s picture now”
“MCSO: We have Percy on the drone.”
“Keep the drone aimed at him.”

In addition to MCSO’s drone, Phoenix Police were filming their surveillance pickup, cameras at their headquarters, and officers’ body cameras.

At some point the officers approach the arrest of another black man and think he is Percy.

“Everyone has their eyes on Lee Christian [Percy] still?
“Going away … I think that’s him … all alone … what do you think?”
“Yes, if he’s alone … get him out of sight from the group.”
“I’m not sure if it is him. I need to check.”
“I don’t think that’s him … he’s definitely before 620.”

“620” refers to Phoenix Police Headquarters, which is clearly where Percy was most of the night. The officers realize he is still there and continue to monitor him.

“Hey Ben, do you see him? Try to find him.”
“Keep an eye out for later.”
“It’s getting thinner …[we] will wait and when it’s good and thinned out, [we] will take action. “

Officials also discussed their belief that some protesters intended to be arrested for being chained to a block.

The officers then begin to engage in a confrontation that never takes place.

“Get information that you want to be arrested. If that happens, the crowd will throw things at the police and attack us,” said one, according to the dispatch protocol.

“They are trying to lure us into something. Wait and see,” someone says 12 minutes later.

“It was intended that they arrested us to stop the protests,” said Zarra. “It shows that we are under a high level of surveillance.”

Officers called Zarra “a secondary target”.

Before identifying Zarra, they searched the license plate database for their information, along with at least three other demonstrators.

At some point an officer asks “Zaharra (sic) in the group?”

“You can’t miss it,” replied one. “She runs the whole show.”

At one point an officer asks about an arrest of another woman with a megaphone.

“No, we want one in the PLE shirt. She has a black megaphone,” someone replies, referring to Zarra. “None of our goals have been achieved so far.”

“They arrested a total of seven people that night, including myself and Zarra,” said Keisha Acton, a single mother and local BLM executive.

“I was up to eight to ten years ago,” Acton said. “”[Prosecutors] later I added a gang enhancement to my sentence. “

Like dozens of other protests, these “gang” charges have since been dropped. However, the Maricopa County Prosecutor’s Office could still file new charges.

“The reality is that they did this to stop us,” said Zarra. “I felt like an animal was being chased.”

“They are targeting movement leaders to silence their ability to continue to be movement leaders,” said Jamarr Williams, defense attorney and local activist. “It is absolute because they fear how vocal and how well informed these people are about how corrupt the system is.”

Williams himself was wrongly arrested during a protest. He is now suing the city of Phoenix in federal court.

The October arrests had a terrifying impact on some of the personal protests.

“It made us move differently,” said Acton.

“They can never take our voice away … but they forced our hand to use a variety of tactics,” Zarra said. “It was a terrible experience and that you will have to be held accountable for it.”

The question of accountability remains to be seen, but the MCAO has already put senior prosecutor April Sponsel on leave for working with officials to bring charges against gangs against protesters.

According to the shipping protocol, Sponsel was closely involved in the October 3 arrests as an official says before the activists are ever taken to jail:

“Doug is calling April courtesy. Let her know she has electronics.”

Zarra called the move “ridiculous” and said the officials really wanted to get her cell phone.

“So that request was actually from April to snap our phones. And if you look at the charges, they were trying to charge us for our electronic devices.”