Activist faces 18 felony counts for allegedly threatening Bakersfield City Council
Jessica Garrison April 13, 2024
A Kern County activist is facing years in jail after authorities charged her with 18 felony counts for allegedly making terrorist threats against the Bakersfield City Council, the latest civic body to be roiled by unrest amid calls for a cease-fire in Gaza.
Riddhi Patel, 28, who grew up in Bakersfield and works as the economic development coordinator for a local nonprofit, was arrested after
following
public statements she made this week on the topic of a cease-fire and on metal detectors
at
City Hall.
Among her comments, Patel said the council members were such horrible human beings that Jesus probably would have killed you himself. Later, she expressed hope that oppressed people might bring the guillotine. She concluded her public statements by saying: Well see you at your house. Well murder you.
In response, Mayor Karen Goh at first calmly called for the next speaker to come to the lectern,
podium,
and then paused and said: Ms. Patel, that was a threat, what you said at the end. So the officers are going to escort you out and take care of that.
On Friday, Patel appeared in court and tearfully pleaded not guilty. Neither she nor her representatives could be reached for comment.
Video from the Bakersfield City Council chambers quickly went viral, zipping across X (formerly
) and TikTok and picked up by Fox News and newspapers in India.
The mayor declined to comment, telling a local television station that since the incident is under investigation, its not appropriate for me to offer comments.
Vice Mayor Andrae Gonzales, however, told KGET that the exchange was deeply concerning and completely inappropriate. The city cant function during a public council meeting if were being continuously disrupted, he said.
Patels comments came as activists have been lobbying the City Council about both a resolution calling for
an Israeli
cease-fire in Gaza and about increased security measures and rules around public speaking at council meetings.
Israel launched its offensive against Hamas in Gaza in retaliation for an Oct. 7 cross-border attack that officials say killed about 1,200 people. The war has dragged on for nearly six months and killed more than 32,000 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children.
Patel, wearing a colorful dress and speaking calmly, addressed both issues during the meetings public comment period.
In calling for a cease-fire, she said she expected that council members would not support it because they were horrible human beings and Jesus probably would have killed you himself.
She added that council members didnt care about oppression in Gaza because you dont care about oppression occurring here and then listed a number of problems in Kern County, including poor wages and waves of evictions.
She referenced an Indian holiday, Chaitra Navratri, and said that some in the global south believe in violent revolution against their oppressors. I hope one day somebody brings the guillotine and kills all you mother-.
Following
After those comments, Mayor Goh said: Thank you. Then she called for the next speaker.
The United Liberation Front, the local group calling for a cease-fire, publicly condemned Patels comments later that night. It does not represent those of us in the community who continue to show up and exercise our civic duty.
Fifteen minutes later, Patel again rose from her seat in the audience to address the council on a second issue involving metal detectors and increased security at City Hall, which she and others believe could stifle public participation. The issue has been a hot-button one in Bakersfield for years; in 2021 groups including the ACLU of Southern California protested the councils rules of public decorum that were instituted during Black Lives Matter protests to place some limits on public speakers. The groups called the rules overbroad and said they could violate the
1st
Amendment.
Patel, whose public bio says she has a degree in neuroscience and enjoys holding elected officials accountable as well as movies, sports and time outdoors with her family and friends, accused the council of trying to criminalize members of the public who protest their policies.
You guys wanna criminalize with metal detectors, she said. Well see you at your house. Well murder you.
No one on the council appeared to react, and Patel r
eturned toretook
her seat
beforeuntil
police removed her.
The Kern County district attorney could not be reached for comment but in a statement to Bakersfield.Com said that charges against Patel include 10 counts of threatening with the intent to terrorize a public official:
including
five City Council members, the mayor, the city clerk, the assistant city clerk, the city attorney and the city manager.
She also
faces
eight counts of threatening specific public officials. That includes all but two of those at the meeting. The D.A. told Bakersfield.Com that Councilmembers Bob Smith and Eric Arias are not considered victims because they did not feel threatened.
