From COVID to menstrual blood, a history of recent California Capitol shutdowns and evacuations
Thursday’s evacuation and closure of the California Capitol was rare but not unprecedented. A series of recent security and public health emergencies have brought the people’s business to a temporary halt.
Late Thursday afternoon police arrested 30-year-old Jackson Pinney, the man believed to have made made threats against the State Capitol Wednesday evening. The threats resulted in lawmakers and legislative staff being removed from the building around 9 a.m. while the California Highway Patrol (CHP) tightened security in the area.
▪ In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Senate and Assembly to take several extended recesses. Shortly after Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in March of that year, the Capitol was temporarily closed to the public.
▪ In 2019, as state senators debated a bill cracking down on medical exemptions from vaccines, an anti-vaccine activist hurled a cup full of menstrual blood at the lawmakers, hitting some of them with it. The Senate chambers were temporarily evacuated.
▪ In 2016, parts of the Capitol complex were closed off while the CHP destroyed a “suspicious device” near the building’s north entrance at the intersection of 11th and L. Vehicular and pedestrian traffic were closed off from the area while law enforcement dealt with the device, which turned out to be non-threatening.
▪ In 2001, a 37-year-old Riverside County man crashed a big-rig truck into the south steps of the Capitol after state officials rejected his $500 million claim that he had been mistreated while in the custody of state mental hospitals and prisons. The truck smashed through the ornate wooden doors and then burst into flames, according to The Bee. The driver died when the truck’s fuel tanks exploded. Repairs to the Capitol cost $13.5 million.
