Police in Sacramento, California, arrested 85 demonstrators — including a local reporter — Monday night at a march held in protest of the decision not to prosecute two police officers involved in the death of Stephon Clark.

What are the details?

According to the Washington Post, protests have "rocked" the city since Saturday, following Sacramento County District Attorney Marie Schubert's announcement that she would not file any charges against the officers who shot 22-year-old Clark last year.

Schubert explained, "We look at all these facts and circumstances, we look at everything. We have one question to answer. And that question is was there a crime committed?" ABC News reported.

"Was a crime committed?" she continued. "There's no question that a human being died, but when we follow the law and our ethical responsibility, we will not be charging these officers with criminal liability for the death of Stephon Clark."

She added, "No charges does not diminish the anger, the frustration we heard since the time of his death."

During Monday night's demonstration, protesters were suspected of vandalizing vehicles and ignoring orders from police. At least 85 people were arrested for not obeying commands for the crowd to disburse, including Sacramento Bee reporter Dale Kesler.

Kesler's colleague, Sam Stanton, took video footage of the arrest, and can be heard saying, "That's Dale Kesler. He's a pain sometimes, but I've never seen him do anything that would warrant being arrested while covering a story. I guess he ended up on the wrong side of the street."

The Bee reported that Kesler was detained and released after an hour.





What's the background?

Clark was killed last March by officers responding to a call about someone breaking into cars. According to Schubert, surveillance videos show Clark smashing the windows of three vehicles. When the police arrived, they saw Clark smash out a sliding glass door of an elderly man's home before fleeing.

The officers gave chase, yelling for Clark to stop and show his hands.

"Mr. Clark's arms were extended in a shooting stance, they believed he was pointing a gun," Schubert said. "One officer saw a flash — thought it was a flash from a muzzle. The other officer believed it was a flash of light from metallic, off the gun."

Clark was shot at 20 times by the officers and died from his injuries; the official coroner's report stated that he was hit with seven bullets. He was found to be holding a cellphone, not a gun as officers believed.

Clark's family is seeking $35 million from the city of Sacramento in a wrongful death lawsuit.

Correction: A previous version of this story stated that Clark was shot 20 times. That is not correct. He was fired at 20 times, and the official coroner's report stated that he was shot seven times.

