A legal watchdog group has filed suit against Berkeley, California, accusing city officials of “playing favorites” and withholding police bodycam footage from a violent riot tied to a Turning Point USA event last fall at the University of California, Berkeley campus.
The lawsuit, filed by the Center for American Liberty (CAL), claims the city violated the California Public Records Act by withholding tactical deployment plans, bodycam footage and dispatch logs tied to the November 2025 event featuring comedian Rob Schneider.
Agitators gathered outside the event where Schneider and Christian author Dr. Frank Turek were speaking inside. Amid the crowds, physical altercations broke out, with attendees bloodied.
Last year’s event was part of TPUSA’s “This Is the Turning Point Tour” and came just two months after the group’s founder, Charlie Kirk, was shot and killed at Utah Valley University.
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Internal police emails unsealed as part of the lawsuit’s exhibits show officers reported having to “physically pull” brawlers apart while fending off a hostile crowd trying to “interfere with the arrests.” Multiple officers were injured and at least two people were taken into custody.
Center for American Liberty CEO Mark Trammell said in a statement to Fox News Digital that after already taking action against university officials, the group was now escalating its legal campaign directly to municipal leadership.
“The Center for American Liberty has already taken action against Berkeley officials, and now we are going after the City itself to uncover what the police and city leadership did, or failed to do, while conservative speakers and attendees were threatened, assaulted, and blocked from exercising their constitutional rights at the Turning Point USA event featuring Rob Schneider,” Trammell said.
He noted that witness accounts describe fights breaking out, bottles being thrown and attendees not being able to enter the venue. Trammell called it a “direct threat” to public safety and free speech.
“Berkeley cannot allow mobs to intimidate citizens because of their political beliefs and then hide the truth from the public afterward,” he added. “If city officials failed to protect these speakers and attendees, or deliberately tried to conceal what happened, the Center for American Liberty will expose it and hold every responsible official accountable.”
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In April, Schneider spoke to Fox News Digital about his experience during the event, noting he heard a “device that sound[ed] like gunshots.”
“To allow the incendiary rioters to raise the temperature up,” Schneider said. “It angers me, but it also saddens me.”
The comedian has been supportive of CAL’s legal actions, publicly backing their previous lawsuit against UC Berkeley over the alleged stonewalling of records about the event.
“It’s not just Cal Berkeley,” Schneider said at the time. “They think they’re justified in silencing conservative voices. Unfortunately, it goes beyond silencing to advocating violence and to, I would say, tangentially okaying violence.”
The comedian added that the local law enforcement response missed the mark, adding the Berkeley Police Department was “not as helpful as they could have been.” He argued that people with opposing views are now being dehumanized and advocated for people to “confront evil.”
“As Charlie Kirk said many, many times, when the conversations stop, the violence begins,” Schneider said. “What can we do to stop it? We have to confront evil. And we have to hold people accountable.”
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According to the latest filing, CAL accuses the city of stalling its request for records before trying to close the matter with a nine-page PDF of emails. CAL argues that is not enough and says the officer footage and operational logs it requested remain withheld.
After the event, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon announced the Department of Justice would be investigating, writing on X: “@CivilRights will investigate what happened here, and I see several issues of serious concern regarding campus and local security and Antifa’s ability to operate with impunity in [California].”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the City of Berkeley and the Berkeley Police Department for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
