By Robert Salonga
Bay Area News Group
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Authorities say several more people have been arrested in connection with a sideshow last month made infamous by a viral video showing several people striking and stomping on the vehicle of a police officer trying to reach an injured spectator near Santana Row.
Paul Joseph, acting chief for the San Jose Police Department, confirmed the arrests of all six people seen in the video striking, jumping on, or trying to force their way into the patrol SUV during the June 15 fracas at Winchester Boulevard and Olin Avenue.
“If they could attack a uniformed officer like this, what could they do to everyone else? That’s why I believe that it was not just an attack on an officer,” Joseph said at a Monday news conference. “It was an attack on our community and a trust that the public has in our ability to protect them.”
He added: “If you attack a San Jose police officer attempting to help an injured person so you can become famous on TikTok … be assured, we will find you.”
Police said the people arrested include Matthew Nolan, a 20-year-old San Mateo resident, was the masked man seen prominently in the video jumping on the hood of the police SUV and kicking in the windshield. Jason Auby, a 21-year-old San Francisco resident is accused of also jumping on the vehicle. Sean Auby, an 18-year-old San Jose resident, and a 16-year-old boy from Brentwood, in Contra Costa County, were also arrested, but their alleged roles in the incident were not described by police.
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“My mission is to break that stigma (and) tell these officers [to] take a step back and realize, ‘Hey, there may be something else going on here,’” said advocate Alex Mann
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“It’s giving them a glimpse of why we do what we do, but then we let them do some hands-on stuff to understand how we do it,” MCSO spokesman Mike Swafford stated
The arrests that Joseph detailed Monday included three that had already been announced. Gabe Durbin, 22, and Tyler Durbin, 26, who had been living in Arizona prior to their arrests, are accused of participating in the patrol vehicle encounter, and 24-year-old Aidan Rheault, a Sunnyvale resident, is suspected of being the driver who hit and injured the spectator that authorities say the officer was trying to help.
Mayor Matt Mahan and Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen also appeared at the news conference, warning that people who participate in sideshows that injure people and impede police and emergency responders will be held accountable.
“This is not a game,” Rosen said. “This is real life, and anyone who comes here treating residents and our officers like characters in a 30-second virtual reality video game, will find themselves in real trouble.”
According to police and the eyewitness video disseminated on social media, just before 7 p.m. on June 15, a reserve police officer was the first to respond to a report of a spectator being hit and injured by a Nissan sedan driver performing doughnuts in a sideshow near the intersection.
As the officer drove within about 30 yards of the site, he was quickly surrounded by a crowd, some of whom were wearing ski masks over their faces. Several people started punching and kicking the officer’s patrol SUV as the officer drove in reverse away from the crowd. In the video, a masked person could be seen jumping onto the vehicle’s hood and stomping and kicking in the windshield.
Rheault was arrested June 17 in Mountain View, and Gabe and Tyler Durbin were arrested June 19 in San Juan Bautista. The Brentwood teen’s arrest was reported, Jun 25, Jason Auby, Sean Auby and Nolan were arrested June 27.
Police said when Sean Auby was arrested in San Jose, officers seized two “ghost guns” — privately made firearms without serial numbers — as well as a 3-D printer and materials they allege he was using to make illegal guns.
The Durbin brothers, who were charged with assaulting a peace officer and vandalism, were released from jail Friday after a judge rejected their requests to be allowed to return to Arizona but approved their transfer to a sober-living treatment facility in the area.
All of the leaders who spoke at the police news conference emphasized that just one of the people arrested in connection with the June 15 sideshow and aftermath is a San Jose resident, and how that reflects a need for a cross-jurisdictional response. SJPD Deputy Chief Brandon Sanchez said the police department is working to plant the seeds for a regional task force dedicated to the issue.
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