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“They were punching him and kicking him and hitting him,” he said. “I limped over to him and tried to get him away. He was yelling in agony. I knew he was hurt, so I just kinda grabbed him.” H.T. said he suffered lasting nerve damage to his leg in the assault.

During cross-examination of the student witness, Briggs suggested to the jury that the boys instigated violence by blocking the marching path of the black-clad group. “You were standing there five minutes, didn’t you think maybe you should go, or move to a safer place?” Briggs asked. H.T. responded that he thought he was safe with the police being so close.

San Diego Police detective Emily Clark was next to testify. She attended the riot undercover.

“I hadn’t seen a group that coordinated,” Clark said. She said she witnessed more than 15 people coordinating their actions together on the Antifa side “to commit a crime.”

Journalist Assault Victim Takes the Stand
By the second week of trial, a professional photographer who was beaten at the riot was called as a prosecution witness. John Cocozza waived his right to anonymity after having previously spoken to media about his injuries and sharing his footage. Cocozza’s footage was played at trial, showing the Antifa crowd shouting, “F—k around find out! Nazis out of PB [Pacific Beach]!” The video also showed Antifa threatening police who rode by them on bicycles.

“In my time living in Pacific Beach I have never seen people in body armor and shields, and protests like that,” Cocozza said. He said he was confronted after Antifa protesters took issue with him recording their gathering. His video showed him backing away from the menacing masked group before having his phone hit out of his hands repeatedly (defendant Faraz Martin Talab was recorded first hitting the phone away. Talab already pleaded guilty to his crimes at the riot and is not part of the current trial).
As the video continued playing, defendant White was seen confronting Cocozza and pointing him out to his comrades. Cocozza was then pursued by them. He said that after he had been pepper sprayed, he fled and tried to help a man who was knocked off his bicycle during the beach riot. Cocozza said the man “was getting beaten to death” by assailants using a stick, skateboard, taser, fists and their feet in the attack. Evidence video of the incident showed a man alleged to be Lightfoot using a wooden staff to strike Cocozza on his back during this time.

During cross-examination, defense attorney Briggs suggested Cocozza provoked people by swearing at them when he was confronted.