An Occupy Sacramento activist, who describes himself as a homeless advocate, explained why he threw a coconut cream pie in the Sacramento mayor's face, an act that landed him in jail.
In a jailhouse interview with NBC afficliate KCRA on Thursday, Sean Johnson, 32, said he lobbed the fluffy dessert at Mayor Kevin Johnson at a charity event Wednesday night because he feels like the mayor only pays lip service to helping the city's homeless population.
"I felt the pressure to do something that would at least symbolize and embarrass him,” Thompson told KCRA from behind glass, where he is being held on a felony assault of a public official and misdemeanor battery. "He comes out when the cameras are out, and he speaks with a silver tongue. He never actually does anything."
Thompson, who is being held on $100,000 bail, is scheduled to be formally charged in court Friday afternoon. Witnesses say that Thompson also punched the mayor and the mayor punched back.
Johnson was not injured during the pie throwing saga at Sacramento Charter High School during a Seeds of HOPE dinner. But Johnson, a former NBA star and University of California at Berkeley alum, started swinging after he was struck with the pie, and tackled Thompson, who suffered some bruises and cuts and needed nine stitches, according to witness accounts.
One witness said the pie throwing was more violent than people might think.
"There was no throwing of the pie," said Erika Bjork, who was attending the dinner and saw the encounter up close. "This was a direct assault. It just happened that he had a pie in his hand."
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Bjork, who works for a professional soccer team in Sacramento, said the mayor was standing near her when he was hit. She said he looked shocked and swung at the man multiple times, but she didn't see him land any punches.
Johnson then wrestled Thompson to the ground and mayoral staff and a police officer pinned him down, Bjork said.
But others are taking Thompson's side and are wondering if the mayor didn't overreact.
Chris Vellucci, who organizes legal support for activists at the National Lawyers Guild in Sacramento, said people in the social justice community are concerned about Thompson's safety and Johnson's physical response.
Vellucci wrote in an email to the Associated Press that he met Thompson five years ago and described him as a nonviolent person who participated in some of the first Black Lives Matter protests in Sacramento in 2014 and in Occupy Sacramento rallies before that.
Thompson said he is actually proud of what he did, and the attention he's gotten for throwing what he says is his favorite pie - something he would have eaten if he hadn't thrown.
"In all that time, I feel like I never accomplished anything," he told KCRA, adding that he's been arrested nine times in for years. "So I decided to escalate it this time. And if you think a cream pie to the face is an act of violence then that's your interpretation, I think it was a very soft version of what he deserved."
Devon Armijo is a reporter at KCRA. Martha Mendoza from the Associated Press contributed to this report.
