Donisha Prendergast, the 33-year-old filmmaker, activist, actress and granddaughter of reggae legend Bob Marley, plans to file a suit against the Rialto Police Department. Prendergast and two friends were staying at an Airbnb in California, on Apr. 30, when they were approached by officers as they were leaving the location. A neighbor reportedly called authorities when they spotted the group leaving the Airbnb with their luggage.
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Prendergast and Melody Makers member, singer and dancer Sharon Marley posted a video of the argument. “There are four police officers here,” says Prendergast in the video while on the phone with the property’s owner. “We watched your neighbor call the police.”
Daughter of Ziggy Marley, Prendergast quoted her grandfather’s “Redemption Song” lyrics, “My hand was made strong, by the hands of the Almighty. None of them can stop the time. We won’t stand aside and look. We are greater than they wanted us to believe.” She was in California for the “We Will Rise Together” event.
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In another Instagram post, Pendergast writes, “Got surrounded by the police for being black in a white neighbourhood.” She goes on to say, “I’m sad and irritated to see that fear is still the first place police officers go in their pursuit to serve and protect, to the point that protocol supersedes their ability to have discernment. Many have suffered and died in moments like these. That’s a crazy reality check. Give Thanks for life, and the ability to stand our ground. We are stronger together. Use your voice collectively.”
Airbnb host Marie Rodriguez said her neighbor called the police because she didn’t know the home had been rented. Rodriguez told CBS2, “They’re latching on to this whole racism thing because they’re black, but this is a diverse neighborhood.”
Filmmaker and one of the women with Pendergast, Kells Fyffe-Marshall took to Facebook to give her view on the situation. “About 20 minutes into this misunderstanding it escalated almost instantly. Their Sergeant arrived… he explained they didn’t know what Airbnb was. He insisted that we were lying about it and said we had to prove it.” She continues, “We showed them the booking confirmations and phoned the landlord… because they didn’t know what she looked like on the other end to confirm it was her.. they detained us — because they were investigating a felony charge – for 45 minutes while they figured it out.”
Rialto Police and public information officer Lt. Dean Harden told Billboard, “They were detained long enough to figure out if that was true [that they were renting an Airbnb],” he said. “They were allowed to move about [during the detention] and the filmed the whole thing… The officers figured out pretty quickly that this was probably an incident where they were renting a room, but they had to make sure.”
Harden added that this was the first time the Airbnb was being rented and that the neighbor who complained is known in the area and a member of the neighborhood watch. Rialto police said their officers were wearing body cameras at the time of the encounter but because of the possible lawsuit, they say that video will not be released yet.
