Public Speaker Ousted From RivCo Board Of Supervisors Meeting Tuesday

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — A speaker seeking to address the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday was forcibly ejected from the chamber by Riverside County sheriff's deputies on the orders of a supervisor, who found his behavior objectionable.

The resident, who submitted only his first name, "Eddie," on a board meeting speaker card, had signed up to address three separate policy agenda items, all related to the sheriff's operations, at the same time, giving him nine minutes at the podium.

One item concerned a federal grant award for the eradication of illicit cannabis grows; another was a single-source, no-bid agreement with a company to provide deputies with a smartphone app; and the third was a memorandum of understanding on interdepartmental communications regarding subpoenas.

When his name was called, the man was not in the chambers.

"Is Eddie in the room?" Board Chair Karen Spiegel. She called for him several times before "Eddie" casually walked into the chamber from the lobby.

Spiegel firmly recommended that in the future he stay "in the room" when he's aware that items on which he'd sought to speak are imminent.

"What? I didn't hear anything you said," Eddie replied. He then confirmed that they had given him the full nine minutes to speak, as he had requested to comment on three separate items.

Spiegel merely repeated herself.

Eddie wore a dark two-piece suit and removed his glasses, again indicating that he hadn't heard everything.

At that time, Spiegel warned him, saying, "I'm not playing games. Your time has started."

"I don't give a (expletive)," he replied, briefly walking in a circle behind the podium. "I suggest you stop talking," he said, argumentatively, pointing at a spectator in the gallery. Then, turning back to the board, he said, "Is there an investigation into the Riverside County Sheriff's Department for industrializing rape? Is there? Yes or no? I'm asking you a question, you seem to be blabbing."

The speaker, a man in his mid- to late 30s, has appeared before the board at various times over the last four years, identifying himself during public comments as a business owner named "Eddie."

On Tuesday, his diatribe focused on a sheriff's representative seated in the back of the room.

He repeatedly asked him whether "industrial rape" was a formal policy that had been implemented by the department, implying that it had been used by deputies for "intimidation, coercion, punishment" and other offenses.

The Board Chair instructed the sheriff's administrator to not answer the questions from the speaker.

"Don't tell him what to do," Eddie shot back. "You can't tell him what to do. That's illegal. It's in the Constitution."

Supervisor Manuel Perez then directed the four deputies standing watch in the chamber to "remove him from the room."

When asked why, Perez explained that the removal was for "disrupting the dias."

The nearby deputies approached and Perez further explained that the speaker was "disturbing the meeting."

Eddie initially resisted being escorted by the arm from the chamber and pushed away a deputy's hand when it was placed on his shoulder. Ultimately, the man walked out and into the lobby on his own, with the four deputies in trail.

The board then resumed hearings on other matters.

The speaker was not arrested or detained.

In 2022, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law allowing local legislative bodies to remove a person who is disrupting a meeting. Under the law, officials must warn the individual that their behavior is disruptive and could result in their removal. If the individual remains disruptive, officials can have them removed from the meeting after a proper warning. Sen. Dave Cortese introduced the bill in response to instances of harassment and threats of violence during public meetings.

Even so, ejections from board meetings are very rare and generally the prerogative of the chair.

The last memorable removal occurred when the late Roy Wilson was chair, and a homeless woman in a wheelchair was forcibly rolled out of the chamber by a deputy when she continued to speak, vociferously, at the podium well after her three minutes had elapsed.

During several meetings amid the state-imposed COVID lockdowns, when speakers appeared before the board in large numbers to heatedly protest the pandemic restrictions, there were occasions when Perez, who was then chair, appeared ready to order the entire chamber cleared, but didn't. He did, however, jump up and leave the dais twice when streams of critical remarks were directed at the board.