California professor Loay Alnaji, 50, seen in his mugshot a day after being arrested on involuntary manslaughter charge for death of Jewish protester Paul Kessler

The California professor charged with the death of a Jewish protester who he clashed with at an Israel Palestine demonstration earlier this month has been seen smiling in his mugshot. 

Loay Alnaji, 50, was yesterday taken into custody on an involuntary manslaughter charge for the death of Paul Kessler. 

Kessler, 69, died after getting into an altercation with Alnaji at a protest in Thousand Oaks earlier this month. 

An autopsy revealed he’d been hit in the face and died after hitting his head on the concrete sidewalk. Witnesses said Alnaji attacked him, causing him to fall. 

At a press conference on Friday, police said they reviewed more than 600 pieces of evidence and interviewed 60 people before charging Alnaji.

‘Our task was to search for the truth and to achieve clarity in this case, and that is what we have done. 

‘This was not an easy undertaking, given the disparate, often-conflicting interpretations and statements, and also the fragmentary nature of the evidence,’ Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko said. 

Kessler, 69, died after getting into an altercation with Alnaji at a protest in Thousand Oaks earlier this month. An autopsy revealed he’d been hit in the face and died after hitting his head on the concrete sidewalk. Witnesses said Alnaji attacked him, causing him to fall

Alnaji was taken into custody today by The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office. 

He is being held on a $1million bond. 

Police continue to appeal to anyone who captured their altercation on video. 

At the scene, Alnjai was filmed telling a police officer he was trying to hit Kessler’s phone away. 

But witnesses including Kessler’s friend, Jonathan Oswaks, say he punched him with his megaphone. 

‘All of a sudden, I see a punch…the white megaphone flying through the air,’ Oswaks, speaking at the scene of the protest last week, said. 

Oswaks implored the police to act sooner. 

Alnaji stayed at the scene after Kessler was taken away in an ambulance. He later cooperated with police at his home. 

Videos taken after he fell show Palestine supporters continuing to chant against Israel, and some making antisemitic remarks about Hitler. 

DailyMail.com was the first to name Alnaji, who works as a computer science professor at Ventura County Community College.  

A female Palestinian supporter appears to be helping Kessler as he lay stricken on the pavement. He died the following day in hospital