A pastor was hit with a pepper round in the chin during protests against federal immigration officers in Oakland on Thursday.The Rev. Jorge Bautista was invited to the protests just off the bridge to Coast Guard Island on Thursday morning to hold a vigil. He’s a pastor at College Heights United Church in San Mateo and lives in Oakland. Bautista said his role at the protest was to pray and help maintain peace. He said the protest started peacefully, but when Customs and Border Patrol agents arrived, tensions escalated. Bautista said the agents drove in aggressively and were pulling and dragging protesters away from the road. That’s when he says he stepped in, hoping to show the federal agents that a clergy member was present to help keep things calm.”I stepped in not wanting to intentionally block the border patrol truck, but I ended up in front of it, hoping to calm things down,” Bautista said. “This agent I saw from a distance was eyeing me, coming at me, aiming at me. I was so convinced he was not going to pull the trigger.”But Bautista was hit by a pepper round in close range. He says he didn’t feel pain at first but knew he had been hit by something. However, he says he immediately felt like he couldn’t breathe.”I was, at that point, convinced, thinking, ‘That’s it. I’m going to stop breathing here soon.’ Because I was struggling to breathe. And rage hit me, because I was like this agent was really trying to cause harm,” Bautista said.On Friday, Bautista said he was feeling better, but that his chin was still sore and that he was having headaches. He had visible cuts on his chin as well. He said he went to the doctor after the incident and was told he was lucky to not have a broken chin or to have been hit in the eyes.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
OAKLAND, Calif. —
A pastor was hit with a pepper round in the chin during protests against federal immigration officers in Oakland on Thursday.
The Rev. Jorge Bautista was invited to the protests just off the bridge to Coast Guard Island on Thursday morning to hold a vigil. He’s a pastor at College Heights United Church in San Mateo and lives in Oakland.
Bautista said his role at the protest was to pray and help maintain peace.
He said the protest started peacefully, but when Customs and Border Patrol agents arrived, tensions escalated. Bautista said the agents drove in aggressively and were pulling and dragging protesters away from the road. That’s when he says he stepped in, hoping to show the federal agents that a clergy member was present to help keep things calm.
“I stepped in not wanting to intentionally block the border patrol truck, but I ended up in front of it, hoping to calm things down,” Bautista said. “This agent I saw from a distance was eyeing me, coming at me, aiming at me. I was so convinced he was not going to pull the trigger.”
Stephen Lam / S.F. Chronicle
Jorge Bautista after being hit with a pepper round outside of Coast Guard Island in Oakland.
But Bautista was hit by a pepper round in close range. He says he didn’t feel pain at first but knew he had been hit by something. However, he says he immediately felt like he couldn’t breathe.
“I was, at that point, convinced, thinking, ‘That’s it. I’m going to stop breathing here soon.’ Because I was struggling to breathe. And rage hit me, because I was like this agent was really trying to cause harm,” Bautista said.
On Friday, Bautista said he was feeling better, but that his chin was still sore and that he was having headaches. He had visible cuts on his chin as well. He said he went to the doctor after the incident and was told he was lucky to not have a broken chin or to have been hit in the eyes.
See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel