It’s a relief that someone has finally been arrested and, to be honest, this is the outcome I was expecting. Suspect Loay Alnaji has been arrested on charges of involuntary manslaughter.
A 50-year-old man has been arrested in the death of a Jewish man who authorities said died after a confrontation with pro-Palestinian demonstrators at a rally in Thousand Oaks.
Loay Abdelfattah Alnaji of Moorpark was arrested Thursday morning on a charge of involuntary manslaughter, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office announced.
He’ll be booked into the Ventura County Pre-Trial Detention Facility on $1 million bail.
Basically, this is saying that Kessler was killed as a result of Alnaji’s negligence, not as a result of his intent to kill. Kessler’s friend who was there with him that day was standing across the street when the incident happened but claimed he saw Alnaji’s hand swing forward because he could see the megaphone he was holding come up over the heads of people around him. The coroner said Kessler had non-life threatening injuries on his face consistent with being hit with something. All of that would have added up to either an assault or battery charge if Kessler hadn’t fallen backwards and hit his head on the concrete. The impact of the fall is eventually what led to his death.
Police have repeatedly said that they received conflicting reports about what happened in this incident and that may also be why they are going with the involuntary manslaughter charge rather than voluntary manslaughter. What’s been missing in the case is video showing the moment Kessler was hit. Even today, police are still asking for the public’s help.
Officials said that, though an arrest was made, anyone with information on the incident should still come forward and share video if possible.
Officials investigating Paul Kessler’s death previously said “conflicting statements” from witnesses made it difficult to piece together what happened…
Investigators were “waiting to see evidence of what occurred in that interaction, and whether or not there was a blow to the face that caused the fall, or if Mr. Kessler fell without that being the precipitating event,” Fryhoff said last week.
Probably everyone who was at the intersection that day had a phone with them, but the majority of the protesters were on the pro-Palestinian side. If you’ve seen the video of how the more aggressive members of that group were behaving, I don’t get the feeling they would step forward with evidence. Seriously, does anyone think the “Hitler should have smashed you” guy would help prosecute a Muslim for killing a Jew?
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So far police haven’t released much information about what they know. For instance, we know Kessler was conscious when taken to the hospital and that police followed him there. Did they speak to him about what happened before he died? Also, we know Kessler himself had a phone and there were some early reports that he may have recorded the incident himself. Is that true? Police aren’t saying. We also don’t know what Alnaji or his fellow protesters told police. Presumably, those account are getting a lot of weight in the absence of video.
Hopefully we’ll find out more about all of this when the case goes to trial. But it’s at least a step in the right direction that Alnaji has been arrested.
