Kachusha Munkanta, known among the local cycling community as "Chuey" and a generally peaceful guy, was allegedly jumped and beaten unconscious by SFPD officers after observing another arrest early last Friday morning.

Chuey ran his own line of handmade cycling caps and delivered coffee by bike for De La Paz coffee, so he was well-known around the local bike shops and clubs. A close-friend of Chuey's sent in an account of the incident to Uptown Almanac:

Thursday night/ Friday morning Chuey stopped on the side of the street in the Mission when he saw the cops having 4 Latinos lined up against a gate. He stopped to make sure the youth were being fairly treated.

The cops then asked him to cross the street, when Chuey said he couldn't observe from across the street. They (2-3 cops) jumped him as he was hugging his bike. They wrestled him to the ground then continued to push him into the ground, twisting his arm, slamming his head into the ground. He was in jail for almost 24 hours and released after his family paid bail. They charged him with 3 felonies for assaulting 3 cops with enough force to cause grave bodily harm and 2 misdemeanors for resisting arrest.

Chuey was released on $150,000 bail and issued a public defender yesterday afternoon, Uptown Almanac reports. Although there's no official "FREE CHUEY" fund, local bike shops like Roaring Mouse and Box Dog Bikes are encouraging people to buy Chuey's hats to help him defer the costs of court fees, the ER visit and the MRI his doctors advised him to get. Several local companies like MASH and All Hail the Black Market have offered to donate 100% of their profits to his defense.

[UA]