On April 3, deputies received a call about an individual wearing a mask and wielding a knife in Luckie Park. The incident, which ended with a 13-year-old autistic boy in handcuffs, became public knowledge when several witnesses addressed the Twentynine Palm City Council at their public meeting on April 22.

During a weekly gathering of about 30 home-schooled kids (ages 2-14) and approximately a dozen of their parents on April 3, a call was made to deputies about a “younger subject with a knife wearing a mask” near children. (This was not a 911 call but a radio request put in directly to law enforcement by a welfare fraud investigator, Officer Moon, who made the observation while sitting in her car.)

The officers’ handling of the incident has since become a subject of contention. Parents on the scene say the officers’ response was “overkill”, while deputies insist they were simply preparing to confront an armed male and aimed to diffuse any immediate danger.

Lieutenant Al Huff, who was not present at the incident, explained the mindset of an officer responding to a potentially dangerous situation. “We have to work to secure the potential threat first and foremost,” said Huff. “We have to work from the inside outward, and the public wants us to work from the outside in, when it may be too late.”

Z107.7FM has reviewed audio of the initial call and bodycam footage from all four of the responding officers.

At approximately 12:30 p.m., deputies arrived and shouted instructions to the suspect to lie down. Deputy Cervantes initially had his gun drawn at a 45-degree angle (a “low ready” position) and pinpointed the suspect by describing his clothing: “You in the black pants and grey sweatshirt, lie down! Stop moving! Lie down on the ground!” Deputies advised others in the area to “back off!” but did not order other children to lie down, though they responded to the words. (This is disputed by some parents who say all the children were instructed to lie down.) Cervantes holstered his gun once he saw the suspect had taken direction and Deputy Alvarado engaged the suspect. One of the officers was wearing an AR-style rifle across his chest. (Reports that the officers had just come from a high-intensity “raid” were disputed by the sheriff’s department.)

It is unclear if the suspect was told to remove his mask by officers or if he did so himself but by the time officers reached him, he was on his knees, his hoodie was off of his head, the mask was removed, and his hands were in the air.

The suspect turned out to be a 13-year-old autistic boy named Rider Bjorkland who was part of the home school gathering. The group is mostly made up of military families. Rider the only one who is spectrum-diagnosed. Those who know Rider confirmed that he regularly wears the Day of the Dead skull mask as a form of self-comfort.

Rider had seen law enforcement arrive and assumed they were targeting a suspect. “They say, ‘Get down on the ground!’ I’m wondering, is, like, the person, like, very close to us? And then, no, they were saying to me, ‘Get down on the ground!’ I’m like, wait, what?”

Rider was placed in handcuffs for 82 seconds. In that time, officers asked him about the knife and he indicated it was in his pocket. Officers confiscated the knife, an illegal switchblade with a two-inch blade, before the handcuffs were removed. The child wondered aloud, “What is going on? What did I do?”

The deputy, who now realized he was speaking with a frightened child, asked Rider, who was short of breath, “Are you okay? Do you need medical attention?”

Rider explained to officers that “I always have my pocketknife on me, just in case.”

“It’s okay. You’re okay,” said the officer.

Once the handcuffs were removed, Rider was released to one of the mothers in the group who acted as a liaison between the officers and Rider’s mother, Kimber Hartley, who was too upset to speak with deputies calmly.

The liaison, a woman identified as Lashara who also spoke at the meeting, can be heard on all of the bodycam footage stating that she understood why the call was made and tried to interpret for the mother. “He’s a tall person with a knife, I get it. They don’t know he’s a kid.” That Rider is 5’5” and had his face covered likely added to the confusion on the part of the welfare officer and the deputies.

It’s illegal to knowingly possess a switchblade knife in California, especially in a public area. Conviction for violation is a misdemeanor crime that carries up to six months in jail and a fine. In this case, deputies confiscated the knife and no citations were given.

Deputies and parents remained on the scene as each side tried to untangle the why and how of it all. Parents not understanding why law enforcement came in with weapons to a playground full of children without speaking to anyone, and deputies not knowing that they are dealing with an innocent autistic child instead of a lurking predator with a dangerous weapon. No one was cited at the scene but all agree that tensions were high, which is what spilled over to the council meeting.

During the incident, one of the parents protested to the officers before realizing there was a weapon involved. “Oh, I did not know,” said Bryan Mejia.

“I guess we all don’t know anything,” said Deputy Cordova, cutting to the heart of the matter.

An excerpt from the Sheriff’s official statement:

“On April 3, 2025, deputies responded to Luckie Park after receiving a call about a person wearing a mask and carrying a knife near children. Deputies arrived quickly and safely detained the individual, who turned out to be a 13-year-old boy with a switchblade knife and a mask. Body-worn camera footage shows that deputies remained calm, professional, and never pointed guns at children. The parent informed deputies the juvenile had special needs, and he was immediately released to their care. Deputies confiscated the illegal switchblade knife.

Claims were made by the parent and individuals at the Twentynine Palms City Council meeting about the deputies’ actions; however, the body-worn camera footage supports our deputies responded appropriately based on the information available at the time.”

Kimber Hartley, Rider’s mother, described the scenario. “This act of aggression, I mean, and not really, like, surveying the situation was really our concern. It was just insane. It was like out of a really bad movie.”

Hartley stated that she hoped the person who made the call could have assessed the scene in context. “I can’t imagine they wouldn’t have seen him with the kids being in a friendly manner, like they could misinterpret that but I’m not that person to know their reaction and understanding. I just know that it created this chaos and that chaos came and – just like a typhoon! – just took out the whole playground in one fell swoop,” said Hartley. “And I understand the police and their need to answer a call but if this how they are going approach it every time, it’s dangerous.”

Josh Hubert was at the park that day with his wife and three children as part of the group. As an Army veteran who’d been deployed in Iraq, he well understands the reality of law enforcement using their weapons to direct individuals. However, he felt that the deputies could have taken a different tack.

“One of the biggest things, and I know a lot of the other parents feel this way, is that to do something like this, it took prior coordination,” said Hubert. “To basically have the officers approach the playground from different directions it took them going, ‘Okay, this is how we are going to approach the situation.’ And at no point did it come across any of their minds to go, ‘Hey, there’s a massive group of parents sitting there. Maybe we should ask them if, ‘Hey, do you know this child that we got a call about?’”

Hubert noted that there was a plainclothes officer there that could have approached the parents with questions. “She could have asked us, ‘Hey, we got a call about that child over there with a mask on. Have there been any issues? Are you concerned?’ Given the chance to figure out what the situation actually was before bursting on to a playground full of children with weapons drawn.”

Last year, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department partnered with local Chiefs of Police, the Inland Regional Center, and the Autism Society – Inland Empire, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department to launch the Blue Envelope Program designed to alert law enforcement to an individuals’ condition that may inhibit their communication. (Pioneered in Connecticut, January 2020, the Blue Envelope Program was originally created to assist autistic drivers during traffic stops. In July 2023, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office expanded the Blue Envelope Program to include a wide range of conditions and this has since become the model.) Just one week prior to the Luckie Park incident, on March 26, Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (R-Yucaipa) introduced Senate Bill 664 which would expand the Blue Envelope Program statewide.

Program participants would voluntarily brandish some form of the Blue Envelope symbol – (lanyards, key chains, bracelets, stickers, seatbelt covers, wallet cards, ribbons, buttons, and actual blue envelopes) that would alert a member of law enforcement to an individual’s condition or disability, such as autism spectrum disorder, dementia, anxiety, or other conditions that might require additional awareness and patience from the officer. The program does not have a registry component and is self-implemented.

“The program, I believe, would be a helpful tool for those families/individuals that would like that extra layer of recognition for persons who may be anxious during contacts with law enforcement officers,” stated Administrative Sergeant John Scalise, the Morongo Basin Station. Scalise also re-extended an invitation that had been made at the park for the kids to come down to the station for a tour and perhaps a conversation that might help all involved parties get to know one another.

With regards to the deputies, Hartley had a final thought: “And they are human, even though they’re not supposed to be. So again, that’s where I’m just trying to get more training. I just need them to come down a notch from that high blue horse they’re on and just come down to the world and realize you’re in a small town. I get that there’s violence out here, there’s crime out here but there’s also a need for understanding and to work on their own people skills, possibly, and better be able to assess the next situation so a child does not have to die in Twentynine Palms or anywhere in this basin.”

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