A 20-year-old man stormed Manteca Mayor Gary Singh’s meet and greet Sunday peppering his yelling about Flock camera, his Fourth Amendment rights, and telling Singh to go back where he came from with F-bombs.

The incident, witnessed by 40 people including Singh’s immediate family, has prompted a Manteca Police investigation.

A crime — if it was determined to have been committed — would be a misdemeanor of California Election Code 18340. That statute references it being illegal to intimidate or hinder candidates that are campaigning.

The incident unfolded during a campaign meet and greet at Bella Terra Park southwest of Airport Way and Atherton Drive.

Initially, witnesses said the man strode up aggressively toward Singh while denouncing the city’s use of Flock cameras in Manteca that read license plates he contends was violating his Fourth Amendment rights.

The heckler then demanded that Singh go back where he came from.

Singh is a legal citizen of the United States and has been naturalized as a citizen. He came to America from India as a 3 year-old.

He is the city’s first elected immigrant mayor and the second immigrant elected to the council during the past six years. The other was Jose Nuno who came to the United States as a 5 year-old and is also a naturalized citizen.

Witnesses said the man was yelling the entire time and liberally peppering his tirade with the “f” word.

The man left, got in a pickup, and drove to the south side of the park where he sat for a while.

Then he drove around the park, left his pickup running in the street and rapidly approached Singh but was cut off when several people — including Singh’s campaign manager Steve Reid — stepped into his path.

The man repeated his previous yelling rant about cameras and such sans curse words. The second encounter was caught on video.

The encounter left a number of attendees shaken.

Singh said while everyone has a right to disagree and voice their opinion they should do so in an intimidating manner.

Manteca Police indicated it doesn’t appear that a hate crime or a threat was made. Their investigation is centered on unlawful intimidation or hindrance of a political candidate’s speech.

Lask week, three of Singh’s large campaign signs were lit on fire with one causing a brush fire.

The arson acts on Singh’s signs are also being investigated by police.

Singh has a number of signs destroyed last week as well as over the weekend.

"This kind of behavior has no place in our community, period, said Jacob Naven who is challenging Singh in the Nov. 3 election.

“My campaign has had volunteers intimidated on the trail and we’ve lost over a dozen signs to vandalism as well; and it’s unacceptable no matter who it’s directed at. We should be focused on the issues facing Manteca families. At the end of the day, bullies never win, and our campaign remains focused on bringing transparent, accountable leadership to the people of Manteca.”

In Facebook post on the Manteca Police page, a statement regarding Sunday’s incident and arson was labeled, “Election season: Know the line.”

Comments brought up the Flock cameras wanting to know if police had developed leads from them.

“ Because this is an active investigation, we cannot comment on specific investigative steps, evidence that has been reviewed, or information that may have been developed regarding a suspect, vehicle, or motive.”

“We do want to clarify one misconception regarding Flock cameras. The Flock cameras used by the Manteca Police Department in this area are Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) cameras, not Flock Condor security cameras. They are designed to capture license plates and vehicle information, not provide traditional surveillance video. At night, the cameras are optimized to capture the reflective license plate, and the image available may be limited primarily to the plate rather than providing identifying images of the vehicle.”

“As with any investigation, our officers will follow the available evidence and utilize appropriate investigative resources. If information develops that can be released without compromising the investigation, we will provide an update.”

Police are making a presentation about the department’s use of cameras and license plate readers at tonight’s 6 p.m. council meeting.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com