Santa Ana Mayor Valerie Amezcua took her council colleague Johnathan Hernandez to task this week over his incendiary denunciations of Santa Ana police officers at the city-sponsored Chicano Heritage Festival.
“During our Chicano Heritage Festival I was saddened to hear remarks from a council member against Santa Ana PD to aggravate mistrust between our community and our police department,” Amezcua said during the August 20 Santa Ana City Council meeting.
Amezcua was responding to inflammatory anti-police rhetoric Hernandez employed during the festival opening ceremony. Standing on stage before a throng of festival goers, Hernandez took the microphone and took the opportunity to launch a tirade against Santa Ana police officers, claiming they sought to “criminalize” Latinos and are “funneling” them into jails on a daily basis. Hernandez fulminated that there were “too many” police officers at the city-sponsored event – apparently forgetting there had been a stabbing at last year’s Chicano Heritage Festival.
Hernandez’ remarks are in keeping with the active hostility toward law enforcement he has exhibited throughout his term on the council.
Amezcua was not going to let her colleague’s antics go unremarked upon.
“Passive aggressive comments about our police department – and our officers, who have always given their all to our community – are both shameful and embarrassing,” she said.
“I acknowledge everyone has the right to free speech. However, our city leaders also have an obligation to act with professionalism and respect,” said Amezcua. “Not to make disparaging remarks against our police department at a city-funded event.”
Amezcua said Hernandez’s inflammatory public attack against city employees – there were Santa Ana police officers a few feet away during his tirade – at a city-sponsored event could lead to “very serious liability for the city.”
“I was very sad and embarrassed and ashamed that…it could have been a riot. There could have been many issues that occurred there,” the mayor continued.
Amezcua also apologized to city’s first responders and citizens at large for Hernandez’ bizarre denunciation of the city’s police.
“So for the police officers and fire department that were present at the Chicano Heritage Festival event: my apologies as your mayor. To all the constituents that were present that came to me afterwards and said ‘Mayor that was really embarrassing, I said, ‘You’re right, it was and I’m sorry’,” she said.
“The Chicano Heritage event was not just for Chicanos, Latinos, Mexicans. There were people from all walks of life there. And it was a beautiful event. And I’m looking forward to next year,” Amezcua said.
