San Jose curfew ends Thursday

SAN JOSE, Calif. - The City of San Jose’s curfew is set to expire at 5 a.m. Thursday despite ongoing protests and a violent week in the city.

The curfew was enacted last Sunday to help curb the damage. The mayor said the looting has decreased. The police chief has said the curfew is a tool to help keep the peace and crack down on crime.

Outside San Jose City Hall Wednesday night, it was a sixth night of protests.  All week, police have been detaining people for violating the city’s curfew after 8:30 p.m. The curfew will be lifted Thursday.

“If we got intel about something serious that's going to be going down that night we may have to institute it again,” said San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo.

On Tuesday night, the city council voted 10-1 to end the curfew. The decision came as a silver car was performing doughnuts one hour after curfew on East Santa Clara Street.

The car sped off, hitting a pedestrian and knocking a motorcycle officer to the ground. Both are said to be okay. An officer fired at least one round at the car. The bullet hit the 23-year-old female driver. Her injuries are not life-threatening. She was later arrested.

After midnight, a man was killed, three others injured after a fight at a 7-Eleven near San Jose State.

“Both of those happened with a curfew in place,” said Councilman Raul Peralez. “Certainly the curfew is not deterring violence from happening.”

Both Peralez and the mayor voted to lift the curfew.

“We want to use tools that are minimally intrusive as possible on our community,” said Liccardo.

Many residents said it violated their civil rights including the right to assemble. Some have also said police have been more aggressive with their tactics.

At least one business owner has mixed feelings.

“We did lose a window even while being boarded up,” said Chacho’s Supervisor Albert Campoy.

Campoy said while a curfew can hurt late night business, he hopes downtown remains safe once the curfew is lifted.

“If this weekend we have an increase for protesting again, then we have the worries still of the damage to the businesses,” said Campoy.

City leaders plan to reassess their curfew decision on Friday and will monitor what happens Thursday night.