Activist stands trial for chalking Fresno police memorial

Prosecutors contend Army veteran Brian David Sumner committed a crime when he used a piece of chalk last summer to scribble anti-police slogans on the Fresno Police Department’s memorial that’s dedicated to officers killed in the line of duty.

Sumner, 26, isn’t admitting to anything. But if he did it, he says, he was just exercising his right to free speech and protesting what he says is a high number of police killings.

The two points of view collide Monday when Sumner stands trial in Fresno County Superior Court on a charge of misdemeanor vandalism, a crime that could put him in jail for up to a year if convicted.

Sumner’s criminal case is making the rounds in the little-publicized world of radical community activism, where he is considered a rising star who’s not afraid to stick a video camera in a police officer’s face, hold up traffic to demonstrate in the streets, or speak his mind when confronted by authorities.

Sumner, who calls himself a police accountability journalist, says he scratches out a meager living writing anti-police news articles and posting his videos on the Internet media site fresnopeoplesmedia.com; on Facebook for Fresno Liberty Movement and Cop Block Fresno; and on his blog briandavidsumner.com.

“To make change, you have to take risks,” he says. “Change never comes without a fight.”

Police Chief Jerry Dyer says Sumner’s tactics go too far.

“Freedom of speech does not give a person the right to commit a crime and vandalize a sacred memorial — a memorial that pays tribute to Fresno police officers who gave their lives to keep citizens safe, including Brian Sumner,” Dyer says.

Longtime Fresno activist Mike Rhodes says authorities are taking it too far with Sumner’s case: “Washable chalk on the sidewalk? Jeez!” Rhodes says in a Facebook message.

To Rhodes and other activists, Sumner represents a segment of the community “who is willing to take risks in the fight against police brutality,” says Juan Rafael Avitia, president of the Mexican American Political Association and leader of the local chapter of the Brown Berets.

Avitia, 46, says that in recent years, a younger and more radical group have come out to protest police brutality. “Though other leaders disagree with his actions, I personally don’t disagree with Brian’s actions as I know they are necessary to keep the focus on police,” Avitia says.

Sumner says he’s doing a public service videotaping police and protesting police shootings. (There have been 30 officer-involved shootings since January 2012, resulting in 17 deaths.)

Dyer says Sumner videotapes officers not to hold them accountable, but “to antagonize officers in hopes of provoking a confrontation. I see no public service value to them.”

Ironically, a videotape taken by police will play a role in Sumner’s trial.

In the late afternoon of June 16, 2014, about 70 people showed up at police headquarters to demonstrate against police shootings. The demonstrators used pink, white, green and yellow chalk to write “No justice, no peace” and other anti-police slogans on the memorial and sidewalk, Lt. Joe Gomez says.

Gomez says a video camera captured Sumner, Andrew Whittenmore and an unknown third person defacing the memorial with chalk. Specifically, Gomez accuses Sumner of scribbling “FPD=Guilty.” Whittenmore is accused of writing: “People can’t kill people.” Sumner and Whittenmore were arrested on charges of vandalism. (Whittenmore’s trial is pending, court records show.)

Though the memorial was not permanently defaced, Gomez says it cost the city about $50 for a janitor to clean up the mess.

Told of Gomez’s comments, Sumner smiles, scratches his head and asks what all the fuss is about.

“It’s not like I pissed on someone’s grave. And I’m not trying to be disrespectful. If I was, I would have used paint or a hammer and chisel.”

Sumner says he just wanted to make a point: “Police shouldn’t kill people. There are other means to make an arrest, like with bean-bag shotguns and Tasers.”

Law enforcement family

Sumner says he comes from a law enforcement family: his father is a retired Monterey County sheriff’s deputy. He was born in Salinas, but grew up in Fresno, attending Clovis Christian School, Riverdale Christian School and Buchanan High School.

He says he got his GED and spent a year in China with his older brother, studying there. He joined the Army in October 2008 and became a medic. He says he did a tour in Iraq in 2010.

Sumner says he became disenchanted with the war effort after seeing fellow soldiers wounded and killed. He says he was discharged under honorable conditions in March 2012 suffering from anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Nowadays, Sumner says, he’s a marijuana-smoking Republican who carries a VA medical card in his wallet. He doesn’t like to talk about his time in the military. But he says the experience changed him forever.

“I did my duty because that was how I was raised, to serve my country. But I soon realized I was living a lie.”

Out of the service, Sumner says he did odd jobs, got help from friends and read a lot of books. “I read about Thomas Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers. I became interested in freedom and individual liberty.”

He says books also made him realize America is filled with hypocrisy. “I realized the whole basis of our existence is to keep the rich rich and to criminalize the less fortunate.”

He says he also realized America’s history is filled with people like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. who believed in civil disobedience to force change.

He decided to focus on police because officers “selectively enforce laws and use unnecessary force whenever they want.”

Sumner says he has videotaped hundreds of arrests. He also has been arrested or detained several times for interfering with officers, but has never been convicted of a misdemeanor or a felony, court records show.

Sumner says a vast majority of his videos show police doing their job. “You would think they would use my videos to show what a good job they are doing. Instead they harass me about it.”

The Fresno County District Attorney’s Office won’t discuss Sumner’s trial; it has a policy against talking about pending cases.

But former Fresno County prosecutor Linden Lindahl, who works as a defense lawyer, says Sumner’s alleged action is not the type of case that should be prosecuted.

“I don’t necessarily agree with what’s he’s doing,” says Lindahl, an Army veteran himself. “But if anyone has a right to voice his opinion, it should be a military veteran.”

Rhodes wonders if Sumner’s trial will have a chilling affect. He says, “We need more young people like Brian who are willing to stand up for the principles they believe in, even if that results in being arrested.”

This story was originally published July 11, 2015 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Activist stands trial for chalking Fresno police memorial."