As part of Operation "A Bridge Too Far," nine defendants were charged and arrested in connection with obstructing, impeding, and interfering with law enforcement during a civil disorder, stemming from violence against California Highway Patrol officers in downtown Los Angeles’ Civic Center on June 8th following area protests. 

While many demonstrators peacefully exercised their First Amendment rights to protest, some individuals violently obstructed, impeded, or interfered with law enforcement officers. 

Specifically, thousands of demonstrators assembled in downtown Los Angeles’s Civic Center to protest the ongoing enforcement of federal immigration laws. Some protesters engaged in violence against officers – resulting in some injuries to the officers – and against public and private property. Federal buildings were vandalized with graffiti and law enforcement vehicles were damaged by protestors wielding blunt objects. Los Angeles police ultimately declared an unlawful assembly.

Protesters then walked onto U.S. Highway 101 in downtown Los Angeles and blocked all traffic lanes. California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers responded to that location in patrol vehicles, pushed the protesters off the freeway, and remained there to prevent the protesters from re-entering. By remaining on the freeway, the CHP officers and their vehicles were positioned under and between the overpasses for Main and Los Angeles streets on the 101 Freeway.

As the CHP officers stood on the freeway, crowds gathered on the overpasses. At some point thereafter, individual protesters began throwing rocks, electric scooters, street signs, and various other objects at the CHP officers below. At one point, a protester poured a clear yellow liquid onto a CHP car that was ablaze, after which the flames immediately grew in size.  

The defendants charged in the complaint were filmed and photographed throwing rocks and other objects at officers and the patrol cars.

FBI Los Angeles

EXCLUSIVE: Levon Williams, better known online as Big Syke, a former D.C. violence interrupter, has been arrested and charged with illegally carrying a firearm and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.

According to police, Williams was found on September 17th sitting inside a BMW SUV with two other men in the parking lot of an apartment complex in Southeast D.C. — an area long plagued by gun violence and drug activity.

Officers say he was carrying a fully loaded 10mm Glock pistol, hidden in what the police report described as his “tight-fitting undergarments.”

A search of the vehicle’s trunk uncovered more than two pounds of synthetic marijuana laced with amphetamine.

Williams has been terminated from his violence interrupter position at Hillcrest Children and Family Services, a contractor that provides violence interrupters to the city’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement.

Williams is a visible figure in community outreach and also has a significant online following through his Instagram and YouTube platforms, where he goes by the name Big Syke.

He is currently out of jail awaiting his next day in court which is December 16th for a felony status hearing.

Read the criminal complaint above.

Scott Taylor