Santa Ana’s Sky High Collective, infamously raided in 2015 while its secret cameras filmed cops eating what TOTALLY looked like edibles—was raided again this morning, making it the fourth such disruption in two years.
By 9:45 this morning, before the collective was open for business, the corner of Jefferson Place and 17th Street was lined with caution tape as cops removed display cases from inside the dispensary (and that of another storefront next door) to a sidewalk in front of the store.
According to a statement by Matthew Pappas, one of the collective’s attorneys, the raid comes approximately 10 days after Sky High filed suit against the city seeking $650,000 in damages for the three prior raids. The reason the city has yet to return or pay the requested amount of money, according to the suit, is because Santa Ana PD has “lost, destroyed, or otherwise converted the property taken” from the raids. Among the property, according to Pappas, are display cases, cannabis, computers and patient records.
“This raid has taken place after information was released several weeks ago showing Mayor [Miguel] Pulido was very angry over the dismissal of the officers charged by the DA’s office for vandalism and theft,” he said in a statement. “Sky High has continued to fight against the clearly improper lottery process that led to issuance of permits to groups who submitted up to 140 applications for permits to ensure they’d win positions…The attempt by Santa Ana to interfere with Sky High Holistic’s recently filed lawsuit is clearly meant to prevent Sky High from seeking redress in court and is deplorable government conduct.”
The raid at Sky High today kept patients from getting their medicine. One patient wearing an oxygen mask was seen by a source trying to enter, only to find out it was shut down.
At the scene this morning was Jennifer McGrath, another Sky High attorney. She believes today’s raid was also in retaliation for the suit filed last week. “If the city thinks they’re going to get rid of us, they’re not,” she says. “We’re not going anywhere.”
