Judge advances homelessness advocate’s suit challenging Fresno police conduct

(CN) — A federal judge declined to fully dismiss claims brought by a California homelessness advocate against the city of Fresno and its police officers over their treatment of her while working to support unhoused people.

Desiree Martinez and We Are Not Invisible, a local nonprofit Martinez founded that advocates for and provides services to unhoused people in Fresno, filed a lawsuit in January 2024, accusing the city and certain law enforcement officers of retaliatory arrest, detention, prosecution and harassment.

U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston, a Joe Biden appointee, granted the city’s motion to dismiss in part Monday, tossing excessive force, battery and retaliatory arrest claims against specific officers. She also dismissed, with leave to amend, several claims WANI attempted to bring against the city on behalf of unhoused people, ruling that there is no evidence that the John Doe they sought to represent has a relationship with the organization or is unable to bring legal action himself.

“WANI seems to allege that it ‘has a significant connection’ with John Doe merely because he is ‘among the class of persons’ that ‘it has long advocated for, provided services to, and sought funding to assist,’ Thurston said. “The court finds no case law to support this remarkable proposition and, therefore, declines to trivialize the ‘significant connection’ requirement.”

However, the judge kept several of Martinez’s claims alive, including retaliatory arrest, detention, prosecution and harassment. The claims arise from multiple incidents in which Martinez reports she was arrested for filming officers’ interactions or advocating for unhoused people, stopped without reasonable suspicion and verbally harassed to deter her from speaking out.

Thurston found there was enough evidence to support Martinez’s claim that Fresno police officer R. Guerra and Corporal Christopher Wilson had no legal authority or probable cause to arrest Martinez for filming police activity more than 100 yards away. The judge likewise found sufficient evidence to show no probable cause when Martinez was arrested while attempting to “intervene peacefully on the unhoused female’s behalf and explain her trauma story.”

Thurston also ruled there was enough evidence to support excessive force and state retaliatory arrest claims against Guerra and Wilson.

The plaintiffs have 21 days from the ruling to file an amended complaint.

In a statement to Courthouse News, Kevin Little, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said he hopes the court will eventually allow the plaintiffs to represent unhoused people in their class action claims, including John Doe.

“I hope the ultimate outcome of this dispute is not that the city can essentially kill and disappear someone who is unhoused and get away with it simply because his identity remains concealed and therefore no one has standing to represent his interests. That would be an extremely unjust outcome,” he said.

Representatives for the city of Fresno and the named police officers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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