A federal lawsuit against the City of Oakland for discrimination and police brutality, filed  by community elder Wilson Riles Jr., is winding its way through court hearings and is scheduled for trial late next year.

Civil rights attorney Walter Riley, who represents Riles, told the Oakland Post that the case has been going through the legal process since the suit was filed last year. Most recently, the court held a case management conference to schedule future hearings.

The case is scheduled for trial on Oct. 31, 2022.

“The heart of the issue is the mistreatment of Wilson Riles Jr. and his wife, Patricia St. Onge, who is a Native American elder who engages in Native American religious practices,” including establishing a sweat lodge at their home in Oakland, said Riley.

Though the Planning Commission and the City of Council ultimately supported Riles’ application, some staff in the zoning department for years have been blocking the couple’s right to have the sweat lodge on their property, using zoning and planning procedures to deny the lodge and continuously throw  new obstacles in their way, he said.

“They have a constitutional right to engage in their religious practices,” said Riley.

The other part of the lawsuit is directed against the violent treatment and arrest that Riles experienced when he went to the zoning department to complain about the latest obstacles the city was using to block the sweat lodge..

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According to the lawsuit, the Planning Commission finally ruled  in favor of the couple’s right to use the sweat lodge and hold religious ceremonies. However, the city’s zoning department came up with new obstacles.

Riles, 73, who served on the Oakland City Council from 1979 to 1992, had gone to the city zoning office a little after 8:00 a.m. on Oct. 17, 2019.  He was ending a conversation with a supervisor and was preparing to leave. Police approached him,  his legs were swept out from under him, he was knocked to the ground and injured, and he was handcuffed. He was arrested and taken to Santa Rita County Jail for battery on a police officer at about 9:00 a.m.

He was released at about 11:30 p.m. after posting a $20,000 bond, according to KPIX Channel 5.

Riles told the Post that he had received a call a few days after the arrest from then-OPD Chief Anne Kirkpatrick, who told him that she had talked to the District Attorney and that all charges against him were being dropped. The chief has ordered an internal affairs investigation into the incident, according to the City.

In a statement released by the City at the time of Riles’ arrest, spokesperson Karen Boyd said the City has to balance protecting Black residents and the need to protect employees against workplace violence.

“We recognize the arrest of former Councilmember Wilson Riles … raises deep community concerns.” Calling it an “unfortunate incident,” she said the city had to deal with “two disturbing national realities … the use of force by police against Black men as well as a heightened fear of workplace violence.”

Isabelle Price

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