Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones is being ordered by a judge to end his Facebook page blocks of two black community activists after they posted critical comments. The two, Tanya Faison and Sonia Lewis, filed suit last year in response to the comments being deleted and the block that prevents them from making any further comments, according to the Sacramento Bee. Faison is the current leader of the group Black Lives Matter, while Lewis heads up the Liberation for Black Sacramento organization.
Those comments centered on the controversial May, 2017, shooting death of black man, Mikel McIntyre, at the hands of sheriff's deputies. Deputies chased McIntyre, who reportedly assaulted them with river rocks while experiencing a mental health crisis. He was shot several times in the back as he ran away. The county agreed to a nearly two-million dollar wrongful death suit settlement.
U.S. District Judge Troy Nunley ordered that Jones "unban the plaintiffs" from his Facebook page and take no further action restricting their participation on the page.
Jones had argued that this is his personal page and is a part of his political campaign efforts. He insisted that his use of the page is as a "public figure" and not a "government official." Nunley disagreed with that argument.
"Defendant cannot escape his role as a government official simply by calling himself a public," wrote Nunley in his court order.