Police Body Cam Footage Released Of Sacramento Homeless Camp Clearing Incident
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Sacramento police have released body camera footage of the early January incident where a private contractor who was helping them clear a homeless camp allegedly pulled out a knife and threatened someone.
The incident happened back on Jan. 7 near Alhambra Boulevard and W Street. Officers were out in the area helping with a cleanup and homeless outreach effort.
In one area, a homeless camp had blocked a sidewalk, bicycle lane, and was starting to encroach in a traffic lane. With the help of a private company contracted to do these kinds of clean-ups, officers started to get the transients to move.
At some point in the effort, however, police say an employee of the private company allegedly brandished a knife and threatened someone.
No one came forward as the victim, police say, and no one present at the time provided a statement to officers. Further, police say some reported witnesses of the incident claimed they had caught the incident on video - but they refused to let the officers see it.
The video was later posted on social media, garnering a lot of attention to the incident.
On Tuesday, Sacramento police released two officer body camera videos of the incident in its entirety. Both videos stretch over an hour, but the faces of people involved have been blurred and some audio has been muted.
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Police say two of the people who were living at the homeless camp were given hotel vouchers. Two other residents were arrested for outstanding warrants, but police say they will be following up with them after they're released from custody to also give them hotel vouchers. Another person who was at the camp voluntarily left.
The body camera footage can be viewed here. (Warning: Some explicit language. Viewer discretion is advised).