A 20-year-old black activist was arrested at her home in Sacramento on Monday on felony “lynching” charges.

According to the Sacramento Bee, Maile Hampton was taken into custody on charges of freeing a protester from police custody at a rally on Jan. 18. “Lynching” is actually the legal term associated with attempting to free a prisoner from police custody. Hampton is also charged with resisting arrest.

ADVERTISEMENT

On Tuesday night, protesters disrupted a meeting of Sacramento’s city council. Mayor Kevin Johnson addressed the protesters on Wednesday via the social medium Twitter, telling them that while he is sympathetic to their cause, Hampton’s actions were against the law.

“It is never ok for someone to interfere with the police, or try to remove someone who is in police custody,” wrote Johnson.

“It is also the right of citizens to protest peacefully & make their voices heard like during public comments @ City Council Meetings,” Johnson continued. “During public comments last night I was shocked to learn, in CA removing someone from police custody is defined as ‘lynching.’ The word ‘lynching’ has a long and painful history in our nation. It’s time to remove its use in CA Law.”

Hampton was held overnight and released on Tuesday. She is due to be arraigned on Mar. 16.

NewsReview.com posted video of the January incident.

ADVERTISEMENT

NewsReview’s Nick Miller noted that “multiple individuals are scuffling with police in this video. Hampton is the only one facing charges so far.”

Watch video of the scuffle with police, embedded below: