BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — An arrest warrant has been issued for a man charged in a clash with a Black Lives Matter protester after he failed to show for a court hearing last month, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Kevin Connell, accused of spraying bear mace in the Nov. 1, 2020 altercation, was scheduled for a readiness hearing last month. His bail was forfeited when he didn’t show at that hearing and another days later.
Connell and three others — Timothy Ray Stevens, Kristi Lyn Stewart and Dustin Marion — were taken into custody after a Black Lives Matter activist told authorities Trump supporters blocked her in a parking lot before telling her to get out of her vehicle on Panama Lane near Highway 99.
In a video posted to Twitter, racist slurs can be heard, and a woman later identified as Stewart tries to grab the activist’s phone.
Connell was accused of spraying mace, Stevens of using a racial slur and Stewart of assault, according to court documents. All four admitted being at the scene.
Last year, Stevens and Stewart each pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor civil rights violation, and Stevens also entered a no-contest plea to challenging the protester to a fight. Marion also pleaded no contest to challenging the protester to a fight.
Connell faces charges including a civil rights violation, using a tear gas weapon, robbery and conspiracy.
