A college professor has been arrested in the death of an elderly Jewish man injured in a clash this month at a Palestinian-Israeli demonstration in greater Los Angeles.

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office said Loay Abdelfattah Alnaji, 50, of Moorpark, was arrested Thursday and will be booked on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter. His bail was set at $1 million.

Paul Kessler, 69, died Nov. 6 from head injuries sustained the day before when he fell backward and hit his head on the ground at the competing protests in Thousand Oaks, a suburb 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

What caused him to fall was unclear. Sheriff Jim Fryhoff said at a Nov. 7 press conference that witnesses gave conflicting statements on what happened during the “interaction” with Mr. Alnaji, a professor in the computer science department at Moorpark College.

After Kessler fell, Mr. Alnaji called 911 and cooperated with officers at the scene, Sheriff Fryhoff said. Detectives later searched Mr. Alnaji’s home, and he was briefly detained during a traffic stop.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles said Kessler was hit in the face with a megaphone, but Sheriff Fryhoff said he was unable to verify the account.

An autopsy determined the cause of death was blunt-force trauma to the head and was ruled a homicide, according to Ventura County Chief Medical Examiner Christopher Young.

He said the victim had injuries to the back of his head consistent with a fall as well as nonlethal injuries on the left side of his face, which “could be consistent with a blow to the face.”

About 75-100 people attended the protests at a popular intersection in Thousand Oaks, one of many demonstrations nationwide after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.