Every time Antioch lands in controversy, it’s like watching the same movie with different actors.
This week’s episode?
Officer gets bitten.
Officer throws a punch.
Facebook loses its collective mind.
And somehow the biggest issue isn’t the bite. It isn’t even the punch.
It’s Antioch once again proving it couldn’t manage a public relations crisis if you handed it the script beforehand.
Did they suddenly have amnesia after dealing with the Department of Justice (DOJ) the past few years? Forget the public demands transparency?
Let’s use common sense for about 10 seconds.
If another human being latches onto your arm with their teeth, your first thought isn’t:
“Excuse me, ma’am, I’d appreciate it if you’d kindly stop biting me.”
No.
Your brain sends exactly one message:
“GET THIS PERSON OFF ME!”
That’s called being human.
Apparently, according to Facebook University, the proper response is to calmly negotiate while someone is chewing on your arm.
I know it’s a wild concept, but people don’t enjoy getting bitten.
And before someone starts furiously typing…
It doesn’t matter if the person biting you is homeless, wealthy, wearing a business suit, driving a Tesla, riding a bicycle, or living under a bridge.
A bite is a bite. Human bites aren’t love taps. They’re assaults. They’re painful. They can cause serious infections.
Most people are going to react instinctively to make it stop.
Ninety-nine percent of America would.
The other one percent apparently lives in Facebook comment sections where everyone is simultaneously a black belt, constitutional lawyer, trauma expert and police trainer.
Screenshot of video posted on Facebook
The Part That Never Goes Viral
Here’s the detail that somehow never makes it into the viral Facebook captions.
Under California law, assaulting or battering a police officer—including biting—can, under certain circumstances, be prosecuted as a felony.
Funny how that part always gets left out.
Instead, we get:
“Officer punches homeless woman.”
Technically true, but also missing about 97% of the story.
Imagine that.
Where Antioch Actually Deserves the Criticism
The officer isn’t the biggest reason we’re still talking about this.
City Hall and the police chief is — meaning the baptism by fire city manager Ana Cortez and Chief Joe Vigil.
The Antioch Police Department waited seven days before publicly explaining what happened—and it’s fair to wonder whether that explanation would’ve come at all had video not surfaced online.
Seven days.
In internet time, that’s about three presidential administrations.
By the time Antioch finally spoke, social media had already investigated the case, held the trial, convicted everyone involved and probably picked a jury foreman.
If you don’t tell your story, somebody else will.
That’s Communications 101.
Yet Antioch keeps acting surprised every time someone else writes the narrative for them.
This isn’t a new problem.
Advocates have been shaping the conversation around City Hall for years.
Antioch should know this by now.
Changing the Rules Midgame
What I still don’t understand is how clearing encampments from the railroad somehow rolled over into Waldie Plaza.
If the objective was to clear the downtown area before the Fourth of July holiday, just say that. The city has done holiday cleanups before.
People can disagree with the decision, but don’t pretend it came out of nowhere.
Having an office overlooking Waldie Plaza, I see the situation almost every day.
Councilmember Tamisha Torres-Walker made one point recently that I believe is absolutely correct. Businesses have learned to coexist with the unhoused because they’ve largely concluded nobody else is solving the problem.
My own approach has become simple.
If they don’t bother me, I don’t bother them.
Is that how downtown should operate?
Of course not.
But after years of watching the same cycle repeat itself, many businesses have adapted because they feel they have little choice.
Some businesses leave food outside.
Others barter meals in exchange for small tasks.
Whether people agree with those approaches or not, they’re symptoms of a larger failure.
After years of inconsistent policies and shifting priorities, many business owners feel they’re largely on their own.
A City That Can’t Coordinate Itself
The Waldie Plaza incident didn’t happen in a vacuum.
It’s the latest chapter in years of inconsistent homelessness policy.
Previous city leaders rolled out the red carpet, promised expansive services, spent millions, generated national headlines, and left future councils holding the bill.
The current council inherited that mess. Little to no action taken to fix it and all while cutting nearly $50 million from the budget while still lacking no clear strategy on anything.
What’s remarkable is the city already has an entire alphabet soup of departments involved with encampments:
- Housing Division
- Contra Costa County CORE Team
- Encampment Task Force
- Antioch Police Community Engagement Team
- Code Enforcement
- Public Works
- Public Information Office
That’s enough people to field a basketball team—with substitutes.
Yet somehow this operation still looked like nobody knew what anybody else was doing.
It’s almost impressive.
This entire incident might have looked very different had the city, county and state spent the last five years working from the same playbook instead of operating like three separate franchises.
Protester on April 18 in front of Antioch Police Department.
The Advocates Keep Winning Because Antioch Keeps Letting Them
I’ve been asked why this story deserved coverage.
Because it wasn’t just about a punch.
It’s a story because Antioch failed to communicate.
It’s a story because competing narratives quickly filled the vacuum.
It’s a story because context matters.
Instead, here’s the cycle we’ve watched over and over:
City says nothing.
Advocates grab the microphone.
Social media runs with one version of events.
City finally responds a week later.
Repeat.
This isn’t because advocates are communication geniuses.
It’s because Antioch keeps spotting them a seven-day lead.
That’s like showing up to a baseball game in the seventh inning wondering why you’re losing 8-0.
Council Meetings Aren’t Reality
Here’s another uncomfortable truth.
A relatively small group of activists has figured out that if you’re loud enough for long enough, you can dominate the conversation.
Meanwhile, most residents are working. They’re raising kids. They’re coaching their kids sports teams. They’re eating dinner. They’re living life.
They aren’t sitting through hours of public comment to hear every city decision compared to the apocalypse.
So the loudest voices become the perceived majority.
Not because they’re necessarily right.
Because they’re the only ones still talking.
The Bottom Line
This was never just about one punch.
It was about a city that continues to struggle with coordination, communication and decision-making.
It was about leadership that reacts instead of leads.
It was about handing social media the narrative and then acting surprised when social media gets it wrong.
Can the officer’s actions be debated?
Absolutely.
Was the amount of force appropriate?
Did it comply with department policy?
Has enough information been released for the public to fairly judge the incident?
Those are legitimate questions.
That’s exactly why investigations exist.
But pretending that getting bitten isn’t an assault simply because the person doing the biting is homeless isn’t common sense.
It’s political theater.
Antioch’s biggest problem isn’t one officer.
It’s a city government that keeps committing unforced errors, punting decisions, and lack of accountability.
And until someone figures out that silence isn’t a communications strategy, the next controversy is probably already warming up in the bullpen.
Mike Burkholder
Publisher of ContraCosta. news
[email protected]
