Sacramento community discusses safety after video shows man harassing children's taekwondo class
SACRAMENTO – Some people from the Greenhaven community gathered on Sunday for a town hall meeting to discuss safety in the area after an incident at a taekwondo dojo Tuesday.
Video surveillance shows a drunk homeless man stumbling up to the door of the i-Ya Taekwondo on Greenhaven Dr. as children were inside taking a class.
"We kept telling him to get out, but he didn't want to get out," said the owner of i-Ya Taekwando Xai Lor. "At one point, he got on his knees and just started hitting the floor."
Lor said she acted quickly, moving all the children to the back as parents helped move the man away from the dojo door into the parking lot.
The man continued to curse out the parents as they waited for police to arrive and take him away. Sacramento police said they arrested him for public intoxication.
"It took them 25 minutes to get here," Lor said. "By that time he is taking off his clothes, throwing his hands up, he wants to fight some of the guys."
Parents and students spoke out about the incident at the town hall meeting.
"To be fair, I was kind of scared because I was like right there and he was right next to me," said one of the boys who witnessed the scare on Tuesday.
Lor said that incident was the final straw after dealing with homeless igniting fires and camping in the dumpsters out back.
"It's not illegal to be homeless, what is illegal is your behavior," said Dennis Rodgers, a representative from Councilmember Rick Jennings' office.
He showed up to the meeting and said they will be having conversations with the Sacramento Police Department's Crime Prevention through Environmental Design Team and the city's Integrated Management team this week to talk about doing a walk-through of the property to identify preventative measures like adding more lighting or strategic shrubbery.
He also said there are plans for some of the nearby vacant lots like building a Dutch Bros and storage facility.
Rodgers said the biggest way to get a faster response from police is to keep reporting every incident to 311 since resource allocation is all data-driven and call the non-emergency line.
The Sacramento Police Department gave CBS13 this statement:
Addressing calls related to safety involving homelessness or not remain a top priority for our department. We are committed to responding to all calls with the appropriate care and attention. Our goal is to serve and protect the community, ensuring the safety of everyone. We urge both residents and businesses to reach out to the police department during emergencies or whenever they feel their safety is at risk.
