Cops tackled peaceful anti-ICE protester who was unfairly charged, CA lawyers say
A man tackled by San Francisco police officers while protesting against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids has had charges against him dismissed, according to public defenders, who said he was “unfairly charged” with resisting arrest.
Luis Leal, 29, had been peacefully protesting ICE raids from outside the San Francisco immigration courthouse on June 8 when officers shoved him with a baton and told him to get out of their way, the city’s public defender’s office said in an Oct. 29 news release.
Leal put his hands up in defense, according to public defenders representing him. He was accused of trying to remove an officer’s baton and resisting arrest.
Leal was charged with a felony and a misdemeanor after he was accused of not complying with officers’ commands, public defenders said.
According to the public defender’s office, police body- camera footage showed officers got physical with Leal “before he even had a chance to respond to a verbal command.”
On Oct. 15, the footage was shown to the judge, who dismissed the charges against Leal on Oct. 29, the office said.
“This all happened so quickly that Mr. Leal put his hands up to protect himself from getting hit with the baton,” Deputy Public Defender Nuha Abusamra, who showed the footage in court, said in a statement.
“He was not blocking the police when they told him to move, and he was the only person who was injured in this interaction with police,” Abusamra added.
Leal was ultimately jailed for three nights, then released, according to Abusamra.
Before the judge reviewed body-camera footage, the public defender’s office said the court reduced Leal’s felony charge to a misdemeanor.
The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office said in a statement to McClatchy News that the judge dismissed Leal’s case because he was offered court diversion and completed a set of terms, “namely not getting arrested and having charges filed for a period of two months.”
His case was not dismissed “for lack of evidence,” the district attorney’s office said.
If Leal had not accepted the court’s offer of diversion, prosecutors were “ready to proceed to trial,” according to the office.
The San Francisco Police Department did not immediately return McClatchy News’ request for comment Oct. 10.
About 155 people, mostly adults as well as six children, were arrested in downtown San Francisco during the June 8 ICE protests, KQED reported.
“Mr. Leal is a proud Mexican-American who was peacefully protesting in solidarity with the people of Los Angeles and around the Bay Area after the first surge of violent and unlawful ICE raids in our communities,” Abusamra said.
“Sadly, the SFPD and District Attorney’s Office treated the exercise of his First Amendment rights like a crime instead of a lawful act of courage,” Abusamra added. “The judges who reviewed this case were fair and reached a just outcome.”
Protests against immigration enforcement in the Bay Area happened as recently as late October, as President Donald Trump vowed to send federal troops and immigration enforcement to San Francisco, SFGATE reported.
On Oct. 23, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie announced that Trump ultimately decided against the deployment of federal forces to the city.
This story was originally published October 30, 2025 at 1:40 PM with the headline "Cops tackled peaceful anti-ICE protester who was unfairly charged, CA lawyers say."
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