Father of man killed by Raleigh police officer speaks about his arrest during protest

Mehrdad Mojarrad said he sat, hands bound behind his back, in a metal box inside a police van, surrounded by metal on all sides except for plexiglass behind the driver’s seat.

“In the age of COVID, I’m sitting in this itsy, bitsy cage next to three other young people, and I’m supposed to be COVID protected,” said Mojarrad, who was wearing a mask. “And I’m an innocent man with all these other people — we have not been proven guilty yet.”

“To me, it’s not the way you treat humans,” he said.

Mojarrad was one of 20 people arrested Thursday evening while protesting SB 168, a bill that would restrict access to records involving death investigations in police custody, jails and prisons.

Mojarrad, 62, is the father of Soheil Mojarrad, who was fatally shot by a Raleigh police officer in April 2019.

The officer’s body camera was off when Soheil Mojarrad was shot. His family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the officer, the Police Department and the city. Police said he had a knife.

Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman decided not to bring charges against the officer because she felt the officer had reason to believe his life was in danger.

Protests in Raleigh have continued on almost a daily basis since May 30 after the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis.

This week protesters also demonstrated against the legislative bill. Gov. Roy Cooper has called the bill “problematic,” but has not yet vetoed it.

Mojarrad said he has experienced police covering up an incident, when his son was killed and the officer’s body camera was not on.

“To expand the power of the police to cover up more, that is just not right,” he said.

Son’s name chanted in protests

Soheil Mojarrad was kind and trusting, the kind of person who instinctively trusts people, his father said. Protesters have chanted his name throughout the protests.

Mehrdad Mojarrad joined a group of protesters Thursday in the 90-degree heat and was at the Governor’s Mansion when protesters surrounded an occupied police car.

“A nice young officer said, ‘We just want to get our men out,’” Mojarrad said. And the protesters complied, he said.

Later, protesters marched up to Capital Boulevard. Some were blocking both lanes. Mojarrad said he did not block the lanes.

“At one point, folks decided to block traffic as a method of civil disobedience,” he said. “In that process, I saw a huge police presence.”

Mojarrad said he believes police came at the protesters intending to arrest them but gave them three warnings.

“I was standing in the middle of the walkway (the grassy median between lanes on Capital Boulevard),” he said. “Next thing you know, they started arresting.”

As he defended a young woman being arrested, police arrested him, telling him he was “obstructing an investigation,” Mojarrad said.

He was charged with resisting a public officer and false imprisonment.

He said the way protesters were treated after they were arrested was unfair, especially because none of them had been found guilty in a court of law.

Mojarrad was taken to the Wake County jail on Hammond Road, where he was booked. He received an unsecured bond, which means he only has to pay it if he does not show up for his court date.

The process took six hours, he said. When he was released, protesters greeted him with a burrito and some water. He says his arrest could have been avoided if the police had approached the situation by asking the protesters to get off Capital Boulevard without threatening arrest.

“That power structure is a problem,” he said. “Community-based policing is what we need.”

This story was originally published July 4, 2020 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Father of man killed by Raleigh police officer speaks about his arrest during protest."