Berkeley police arrest Ricardo Ruiz on March 22 shortly after he activated his stun gun during an an anti-Trump protest in front of the Tesla dealership on Fourth Street. Credit: Frances Dinkelspiel for Berkeleyside
Ricardo Gonzalez Ruiz, whom a police officer shot in April after an armed standoff, has been exonerated in an earlier, separate case from when he whipped out a stun gun at a political protest outside the Berkeley Tesla dealership on Fourth Street last March.
A jury found Ruiz, 34, not guilty of a single misdemeanor count of assault Monday after a six-day trial, according to court records. A second misdemeanor count, of exhibiting a deadly weapon, was previously dismissed due to insufficient evidence.
The protest, against Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who was at the time the head of the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), had drawn hundreds of people; Ruiz, an avowed supporter of President Donald Trump, rode his bike to the event to counter-protest, playing music over speakers.
Susan Kegeles pulls the hair of Ricardo G. Ruiz, a Berkeley Trump supporter, after brought out a stun gun during a protest Saturday in front of the Tesla showroom on Fourth Street. Credit: A. Mark Liiv
Several protesters tried to shoo Ruiz away. When Berkeleyan Susan Kegeles approached him, he pulled out a stun gun, flashing it near her face. Kegeles told Berkeleyside she tried to pull Ruiz off his bike; he grabbed her arm, and she pulled his hair, she said.
The Berkeley Scanner, which followed the trial closely, reported that Ruiz’s attorney, Amber Vincent, said Ruiz had acted only in self-defense.
Ruiz remains in custody at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on $250,000 bail as his other, more serious case moves forward. He is facing 11 felony counts: five of exhibiting a firearm in the presence of a police officer, four of assault on an officer and two of unlawful firearm activity. His public defender in that case has sought a mental health diversion for Ruiz, which is still under consideration.
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