los angeles — A 23-year-old man was sentenced to four years in federal prison after he admitted to throwing a Molotov cocktail at Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies. During the protests against Immigration raids area last spring.
Emiliano Garduno Galvez, a Mexican citizen who authorities say is in the United States illegally. He pleaded guilty in October for possession of an unregistered destructive device and civil disorder related to his actions on June 7 in Paramount, a city near Los Angeles. He was sentenced Friday.
Sheriff’s deputies responded to A Big protest On that day protesters were throwing rocks and other objects outside a Home Depot store where U.S. Border Patrol agents had gathered.
According to his plea agreement Los Angeles TimesGalvez admitted that he went behind the wall, lit the Molotov cocktail, and then threw it toward the place where he saw the deputies.
The incendiary device landed in a grassy area near a protester’s feet and about 15 feet (4.5 meters) away from deputies, according to the plea agreement. Galvez said he then fled.
Galvez threw the device “with the intent to obstruct and impede LAPD deputies who were lawfully engaged in the performance of their official duties,” according to the agreement.
“This defendant’s reckless conduct threatened the lives and safety of law enforcement officers and the lives of lawful protesters,” Bill Essay, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, said in a statement.
Galvez’s federal public defenders asked for a reduced sentence of three years, saying in a sentencing memorandum that he now “readily acknowledges and acknowledges the seriousness of his actions and the harm that could have resulted,” according to the Times.
Many demonstrations against the immigration crackdown in June were peaceful, with demonstrators chanting slogans and carrying signs, though others led to clashes with police, hundreds of arrests, and the use of chemical irritants to disperse crowds.