30 Jan Antioch Council Member Wants a Police Oversight Commissioner to Resign

Antioch City Council Ron Freitas, right, called on an Antioch Police Oversight Commission member to resign, citing “racist statements.” (Screenshot captured by Samantha Kennedy / The CC Pulse)

By Samantha Kennedy

Antioch City Council member Don Freitas is calling one of the city’s most outspoken Antioch Police Oversight Commission members to resign for “racist statements” directed at city leadership. 

That comes a week after Commissioner Leslie May was among several residents who protested the potential firing of then-City Attorney Thomas Lloyd Smith on Jan. 17, saying the move was white men “pitting Black people against each other.” 

“Some of the most racist statements were made,” Freitas said about the Jan. 17 meeting. “It concerns me that (May) is on the Police Oversight Committee (sic) who is supposed to be monitoring behavior in the department, one issue is racism.” 

Freitas said Tuesday that May’s comments, which included using racial slurs to refer to City Manager Bessie Scott and Smith, were “unacceptable in any form.” 

Following May’s comments at the special meeting, Freitas said that Scott “was in tears.” 

May, who is Black, is perhaps the most vocal of APOC members at council meetings regarding racism and police accountability. She’s also one of the most criticized. She referred to that criticism as “abuse” of a senior citizen and Black woman in one of the commission’s first meetings.

“You are a disgrace, you are a disgrace,” May told Mayor Ron Bernal, council member Louie Rocha and Freitas at the Jan. 17 meeting. “As of tonight, I’m putting you on notice.” 

Some of Bernal’s supporters called for the dismantling of the entire commission, created under then-Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe, questioning its usefulness and members’ bias against the Antioch Police Department.

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APOC is an advisory board tasked with reviewing public safety policies that, as part of an agreement between the U.S. Department of Justice and Antioch, will also work with a consultant to deliver non-discriminatory policing training and review non-discriminatory related policing policies. 

If May resigns or is otherwise removed, only four of the seven APOC seats would be filled and drop below the number of members the DOJ agreement asks the city to maintain. She would also be the third of the inaugural members, including former Chair Harry Thurston, to leave in less than a year. 

Freitas also called for a code of conduct for council members and board and commission members “because they are representing” Antioch.  

The next Antioch City Council meeting is on Feb. 11.