Two women who were part of a peaceful prayer vigil say they were harassed, intimidated and lied to, and a California Highway Patrol officer trampled their First Amendment rights, because they inadvertently stood on state property to pray the rosary in the shade.
The officer, Capt. Spencer Boyce, denied their claims and said the pair and a third woman ignored requests to move off state property when asked because they did not have the required permit to demonstrate.
Boyce is the commander of the agency’s Hollister-Gilroy office in Gilroy.
The women were neither cited nor arrested and did move, they said.
Two of the women later sent letters of complaint to Boyce and his boss, CHP Coastal Division Assistant Chief Sean McRae, and one has set in motion a possible formal complaint.
Ironically, they did not know Boyce was the officer involved when they sent their letters, thinking it was one of the officers he commands or a trainee.
That’s because, as Boyce acknowledged Monday, he did not identify himself as a CHP officer, was not in uniform and was driving an unmarked car when he confronted the praying women outside the agency’s Renz Avenue office on Sept. 28.
The women who have complained, Mary Woodill of San Juan Bautista and Georgiana Froom of Hollister, have strong, positive connections to the law enforcement community and said they were stunned to find out Boyce was the officer involved.
“I was appalled,” said Froom, who was married to a captain in the Santa Clara County Sheriffís department.
Brian Cunningham of Gilroy, the leader of the local vigil, said the women were “very visibly upset” when they rejoined the larger group of people participating next door in a nationwide movement called 40 Days For Life, which gathers twice yearly for 40 consecutive days of silent prayer on public property outside offices of Planned Parenthood, which provides abortion and other legal women’s health services.
He said Boyce drove over to him after confronting the women, identified himself and explained the law. Cunningham, who is a former judge and retired attorney, said he agreed to comply with whatever Boyce asked of them.
Boyce said his interaction with Cunningham was positive and that upholding constitutional rights is part of his job.
“I am your guy, I am sworn to do my duty and to protect their First Amendment rights, however there are some rules…state law is pretty clear,” on the need for a permit on state property, he said.
He said it does not matter what the issue is and that he is not allowed to let his own views enter into it; if they had applied for a permit he would have issued one, he said.
Boyce said the 40 Days For Life group has been coming for years to the Planned Parenthood right next door to the CHP facility and this is the first incident he is aware of. He faulted the women for not complying with him.
“I must have said excuse me a dozen times before they even acknowledged my presence and refused to talk to me,” he said Monday.
“I took the high road, I did not threaten them with arrest after they pretty much blew me off…they never moved,” he said. He later conceded that one of them might have moved off the CHP property, which is covered in tan bark.
And noting slight differences in their written accounts of the incident, he added, “They need to get their stories straight.”
The women recall what happened very differently.
“That man is lying,” Woodill said Monday. “What I said in my letter is the gospel truth.
“I did hear Georgianna say to him very graciously that it was our first time doing this and can you please talk to the man in the blue cap [Cunningham],” she recalled.
“And why did he continue to harass us when we were on city property and within our constitutional rights,” she asked.
Indeed, the women contacted the city of Gilroy the following day and were told the street is city property and no permit was needed, they said.
The women said they moved from the main group to the CHP property to seek shade on a very hot day and were unaware of the permit requirement.
They were just standing quietly and deep in prayer when a man coming down the CHP driveway stopped and confronted them.
Woodhill said she and the third woman moved off the tan bark right away but that Froom could not because she was talking to the man in the car. She ultimately did move to the street, Woodill said.
“She is a very gracious woman,” Woodill said of Froom, praising the way she responded to Boyce, whose attitude both women said was aggressive and negative and completely unnecessary.
“Sometimes it’s not what you say it’s how you say it,” Froom said of his attitude.
When informed Monday of Boyce’s comments, both women were incredulous.
“He is lying, that is not true: shame upon him,” Froom said. I am so saddened and right now I am angry. That man is lying and if he was standing right in front of me I would say it to his face.”
She said that after she had moved from the tan bark to the street, he resumed the confrontation.
“He said, ‘Did you hear what I said, you are on state property.’ That is when I said to him, ‘Did you hear what I said, you need to talk to the man in the blue cap [Cunningham].’”
Woodill said she overheard that and Froom said what she did in a gracious way.
Beverly Miller of Hollister was with Froom and Woodill when Boyce confronted them.
“I could tell he was displeased at our location,” she said, but she was was the furthest from him and was busy with her rosary and sign, she said.
“I don’t remember hearing his exact words. And then Mary, she and I were praying together, she kind of got my arm and said we have to move so we moved.”
Froom also moved to the street, she said.
“I was surprised that he had a problem with where we were,” she said. The incident left her companions “quite perturbed,” she added.
Miller opted not to write a letter to the CHP, preferring to give the office the benefit of the doubt, she said.
Both women said it was their first time participating in such an event.
CHP Capt. McRae, Boyce’s immediate supervisor, said Tuesday he is investigating the incident and is not at liberty to discuss the matter.
Typically, the CHP tries to complete initial inquiries in 30 days, but timing depends on how many witnesses have to be interviewed, he said.
In an Oct. 25 letter to Froom, he wrote, “I take responsibility for the actions of all CHP members and I expect all members to display a positive and service-oriented attitude towards the public and each other.
“At this time I will take proactive steps to prevent any further incidents by identifying the CHP member and detailing my expectations, which are in line with the CHP’s philosophies. I will have a personal discussion with the CHP member to clearly convey this message.”
Cunningham said, “My view is we should consider the matter resolved for now and hope there are no future incidents because there is no need to have this.”
