Advocates Claim San Diego Police are Rounding Up Homeless People to Make Way for Comic-Con
"Officers came and woke me up at about six in the morning and told me I was under arrest for illegal lodging and encroachment"
The Free Thought Project
Matt Agorist
July 20, 2014
As Trekkies and storm troopers alike, plan to descend upon San Diego for the annual Comic-con gathering, police are doing some street sweeping, according to homeless advocates.
The SDPD claim that they are conducting outreach and getting beds and meals to those in the worse condition, however, the word and evidence on the street says otherwise.
James Loften, a homeless man in San Diego was forcefully removed and arrested for simply sleeping on 15th street. He was also told that he can no longer be on that street anymore.
"Officers came and woke me up at about six in the morning and told me I was under arrest for illegal lodging and encroachment," he told 10 News. "I'm like, 'But all I did was go to sleep.'"
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Loften showed 10News the ticket along with the stay-away order for the street he received from San Diego police, right before he says he was carted off to jail.
He was not the only homeless person complaining they have been to lockup recently.
David Ross, also known as Water-man, for handing out water and blankets to the homeless, says police are rounding up homeless people to make way for the cities largest event, Comic-con.
10News called San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer's office to see if this was true. A spokesman told 10News he spoke to San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman and called the claims untrue, saying "Comic Con is nearly a week away" and why would they "crack down this early?"
However, their tickets, arrests and stay-away orders tell another story.