The line of crap these cops are trying to feed us is beyond arrogance. Neither case is seems to be even half plausible. Or maybe my incredulity is a response to the apparent blind faith in the truthfulness of police accounts. Here we have witnesses to the shootings in direct contradiction to the department statements. For me, anyway, I don't care if a guy is armed or not, the cops shouldn't be shooting people on the streets. It is not helping. Do you feel safer?
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/media?id=6035797
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Witnesses: Teen killed by police had his hands up
Accounts dispute Oakland police version of fatal shooting of 15-year-old
Tribune - Mar. 21
Witnesses said Thursday that Jose Luis Buenrostro-Gonzalez, 15, had his hands in the air and was unarmed when he was fatally shot by Oakland police Wednesday.
"I saw the boy (with his) hands up and saw bullets flying," said witness Luis, who declined to give his last name for fear of retribution. When he rounded the corner, Luis said, he saw Buenrostro-Gonzalez facing the police.
"I didn't see a gun," he said.
Another witness, Ricardo Pedroza, 17, said that when he was coming to meet Buenrostro-Gonzalez from a block away, he heard an undercover police vehicle screech to a halt and an officer on a loudspeaker warn Buenrostro-Gonzalez to put his hands in the air.
"He had his hands up and they were still shooting him," Pedroza said. Pedroza ran to tell his sister and told her to call for an ambulance. His sister, Maria Pedroza, 24, then went to check on Buenrostro-Gonzalez before police ordered her away, Pedroza said. "I ran down the street and saw him flat on his stomach. I asked the police 'Why did you shoot him?' The police said that he had a gun on him," Maria Pedroza said. "That is when they reached in his waistband and pulled something silver out. ... He never had a gun (when he left the Pedroza's house minutes earlier).”
Three gang-unit officers said they saw Buenrostro-Gonzalez walking near 79th Avenue and Rudsdale Street about noon Wednesday, with what they believed to be a firearm. Police said before they could give a verbal command to surrender, Buenrostro-Gonzalez pulled out a sawed-off rifle and pointed it at them, then all three officers shot at him. It was not known how many times Buenrostro-Gonzalez had been hit. "No one in the family is accustomed to having guns ... We are humble people," Buenrostro-Gonzalez's father, Jose Luis Buenrostro, said, disputing the police account of the fatal shooting.
Police maintain that the officers were not at fault and that Buenrostro-Gonzalez had threatened them with a firearm. "The officers reacted appropriately and in compliance with our policies when confronting an armed and dangerous suspect," said police Assistant Chief Howard Jordan. "They fired in defense of their lives after (Buenrostro-Gonzalez) pointed a weapon at them.”
Police said Buenrosto-Gonzalez may have been associated with gangs in East Oakland. His friends and family vehemently denied the possibility. "He was not in no gangs or nothing. He was calm, went to school, get good grades, was focused," his cousin Jess Gonzalez said. Buenrostro-Gonzalez was a sophomore at Oakland Aviation High School, a charter school, his family said.
This is the second fatal police shooting in Oakland in two weeks. Last Friday, Casper Banjo, 70, was fatally shot by police after pointing a replica pistol at officers. In September, police came under fire for the controversial shooting of Gary King.
Rashidah Grinage, director of PUEBLO, a police watchdog group, said she was not privy to the facts of the two most recent fatal shooting cases, but said she won't blindly accept the police story of what happened without an independent investigation. "I am definitely troubled that there have been three of these in a relatively short period of time," she said. "I think that definitely the department is going to have to look at this.” She called on the Oakland Police Department to immediately release the names of the officers involved. "What other public official who's involved in any kind of public controversy has his name withheld?" Grinage said.
original
Tribune - Mar. 21
Witnesses said Thursday that Jose Luis Buenrostro-Gonzalez, 15, had his hands in the air and was unarmed when he was fatally shot by Oakland police Wednesday.
"I saw the boy (with his) hands up and saw bullets flying," said witness Luis, who declined to give his last name for fear of retribution. When he rounded the corner, Luis said, he saw Buenrostro-Gonzalez facing the police.
"I didn't see a gun," he said.
Another witness, Ricardo Pedroza, 17, said that when he was coming to meet Buenrostro-Gonzalez from a block away, he heard an undercover police vehicle screech to a halt and an officer on a loudspeaker warn Buenrostro-Gonzalez to put his hands in the air.
"He had his hands up and they were still shooting him," Pedroza said. Pedroza ran to tell his sister and told her to call for an ambulance. His sister, Maria Pedroza, 24, then went to check on Buenrostro-Gonzalez before police ordered her away, Pedroza said. "I ran down the street and saw him flat on his stomach. I asked the police 'Why did you shoot him?' The police said that he had a gun on him," Maria Pedroza said. "That is when they reached in his waistband and pulled something silver out. ... He never had a gun (when he left the Pedroza's house minutes earlier).”
Three gang-unit officers said they saw Buenrostro-Gonzalez walking near 79th Avenue and Rudsdale Street about noon Wednesday, with what they believed to be a firearm. Police said before they could give a verbal command to surrender, Buenrostro-Gonzalez pulled out a sawed-off rifle and pointed it at them, then all three officers shot at him. It was not known how many times Buenrostro-Gonzalez had been hit. "No one in the family is accustomed to having guns ... We are humble people," Buenrostro-Gonzalez's father, Jose Luis Buenrostro, said, disputing the police account of the fatal shooting.
Police maintain that the officers were not at fault and that Buenrostro-Gonzalez had threatened them with a firearm. "The officers reacted appropriately and in compliance with our policies when confronting an armed and dangerous suspect," said police Assistant Chief Howard Jordan. "They fired in defense of their lives after (Buenrostro-Gonzalez) pointed a weapon at them.”
Police said Buenrosto-Gonzalez may have been associated with gangs in East Oakland. His friends and family vehemently denied the possibility. "He was not in no gangs or nothing. He was calm, went to school, get good grades, was focused," his cousin Jess Gonzalez said. Buenrostro-Gonzalez was a sophomore at Oakland Aviation High School, a charter school, his family said.
This is the second fatal police shooting in Oakland in two weeks. Last Friday, Casper Banjo, 70, was fatally shot by police after pointing a replica pistol at officers. In September, police came under fire for the controversial shooting of Gary King.
Rashidah Grinage, director of PUEBLO, a police watchdog group, said she was not privy to the facts of the two most recent fatal shooting cases, but said she won't blindly accept the police story of what happened without an independent investigation. "I am definitely troubled that there have been three of these in a relatively short period of time," she said. "I think that definitely the department is going to have to look at this.” She called on the Oakland Police Department to immediately release the names of the officers involved. "What other public official who's involved in any kind of public controversy has his name withheld?" Grinage said.
original
Dates and Names
March 19, 2008 - Unnamed OPD shot Jose Luis Buenrostro-Gonzales
March 14, 2008 - OPD Officer Tim Martin shot Casper Banjo
February 16, 2008 - BPD Officer Rashawn Cummings shot Anita Gay
Family of slain man asks: 'How did we get here?'
We need to stop taking the explanations of police as granted. This here is another shooting that doesn't add up. Cops never seem to think it is important to examine whether they should have been bothering this old guy in the first place. There doesn't sound like there are actually any allegations of criminal activity by Banjo. Apparently, the question, "So?" doesn't immediately pop up for these reporters like it does for me.
They shot Banjo because he was in posession of a replica gun? It still wouldn't have been okay to shoot him if the gun had been real, right?
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Questions linger in death of Oakland artist fatally shot by police
Tribune - March 22
As if the grief over Oakland artist Casper Banjo's sudden death last week was not enough sorrow for friends and family, there is the weight of unanswered questions about how he died.
On the evening of March 14, the 70-year-old Banjo was surrounded by armed officers outside the Eastmont Mall police precinct commanding him to relinquish the cast-iron 9-mm Berretta replica pistol he was holding. He did not.
The question burdening those who knew him is how Banjo — by all accounts a talented printmaker and peaceful person — came to be standing in front of police with a fake firearm at sunset on 73rd Avenue.
And why a 160-pound elderly man was shot by an assault rifle instead of a non-lethal weapon.
The bottom line, police said, is that only Officer Tim Martin can fully answer why he felt Banjo was enough of a threat to police to shoot him.
Police who had surrounded Banjo called for an officer trained to use a non-lethal bean bag round, which can still be dangerous if used incorrectly. But he was too late. Police will not approach an armed person with a stun gun in such a situation.
That leaves the basic command "put down your gun," Assistant Chief Howard Jordan said.
Meanwhile, mourners are left with heavy hearts and minds.
Banjo had been working from a small Section-8 subsidized apartment on 69th Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard, near where he was killed.
He walked past the Eastmont Mall in the mornings to exercise after quadruple bypass heart surgery last year.
Banjo disliked living in East Oakland and Deterville and said he feared nearby drug dealers and was cautious not to linger on the street for too long for fear of becoming a target.
A worker at the Center for Elders Independence called the family Thursday — as they were preparing for Banjo's funeral — to say he could move next week to a board and care facility. He wanted to live in a place where people eat breakfast and dinner in the kitchen, his family said.
Akili Banjo said Banjo had complained to her and his doctor at the Center for Elders Independence, which supervised his medical care, that the medication he had recently been prescribed was making him feel anxious (he took four medications and the latest one was changed a month ago). I just didn't realize it could be worse than he thought it was," she said.
She said she worried about his health but emphasized that he wasn't mentally unstable.
He could have been confused, however, during the confrontation with police, and she wondered if he had suffered a seizure while officers were commanding him to drop the replica gun. She said Banjo would "black out" during a seizure and remember nothing, as is common among some forms of epileptic seizures.
Wright said Banjo did not sound depressed or mentally out of sorts when the two talked by phone the day before the shooting.
The idea of Banjo threatening anyone with a gun was "bizarre," Wright added, echoing the reaction of a dozen colleagues and family members.
Deterville said it boiled down to black men — young, old and in between — being profiled as dangerous. Racism is the "elephant in the room," he said.
Police, he said, should be able to discern whether someone is a real threat.
It is extremely hard to tell if a gun is fake and police don't have enough time to say "Hey, is that a real gun?" if they feel their life is in danger, said Holmgren.
original
They shot Banjo because he was in posession of a replica gun? It still wouldn't have been okay to shoot him if the gun had been real, right?
-----------------------------
Questions linger in death of Oakland artist fatally shot by police
Tribune - March 22
As if the grief over Oakland artist Casper Banjo's sudden death last week was not enough sorrow for friends and family, there is the weight of unanswered questions about how he died.
On the evening of March 14, the 70-year-old Banjo was surrounded by armed officers outside the Eastmont Mall police precinct commanding him to relinquish the cast-iron 9-mm Berretta replica pistol he was holding. He did not.
The question burdening those who knew him is how Banjo — by all accounts a talented printmaker and peaceful person — came to be standing in front of police with a fake firearm at sunset on 73rd Avenue.
And why a 160-pound elderly man was shot by an assault rifle instead of a non-lethal weapon.
The bottom line, police said, is that only Officer Tim Martin can fully answer why he felt Banjo was enough of a threat to police to shoot him.
Police who had surrounded Banjo called for an officer trained to use a non-lethal bean bag round, which can still be dangerous if used incorrectly. But he was too late. Police will not approach an armed person with a stun gun in such a situation.
That leaves the basic command "put down your gun," Assistant Chief Howard Jordan said.
Meanwhile, mourners are left with heavy hearts and minds.
Banjo had been working from a small Section-8 subsidized apartment on 69th Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard, near where he was killed.
He walked past the Eastmont Mall in the mornings to exercise after quadruple bypass heart surgery last year.
Banjo disliked living in East Oakland and Deterville and said he feared nearby drug dealers and was cautious not to linger on the street for too long for fear of becoming a target.
A worker at the Center for Elders Independence called the family Thursday — as they were preparing for Banjo's funeral — to say he could move next week to a board and care facility. He wanted to live in a place where people eat breakfast and dinner in the kitchen, his family said.
Akili Banjo said Banjo had complained to her and his doctor at the Center for Elders Independence, which supervised his medical care, that the medication he had recently been prescribed was making him feel anxious (he took four medications and the latest one was changed a month ago). I just didn't realize it could be worse than he thought it was," she said.
She said she worried about his health but emphasized that he wasn't mentally unstable.
He could have been confused, however, during the confrontation with police, and she wondered if he had suffered a seizure while officers were commanding him to drop the replica gun. She said Banjo would "black out" during a seizure and remember nothing, as is common among some forms of epileptic seizures.
Wright said Banjo did not sound depressed or mentally out of sorts when the two talked by phone the day before the shooting.
The idea of Banjo threatening anyone with a gun was "bizarre," Wright added, echoing the reaction of a dozen colleagues and family members.
Deterville said it boiled down to black men — young, old and in between — being profiled as dangerous. Racism is the "elephant in the room," he said.
Police, he said, should be able to discern whether someone is a real threat.
It is extremely hard to tell if a gun is fake and police don't have enough time to say "Hey, is that a real gun?" if they feel their life is in danger, said Holmgren.
original
Friday, March 21, 2008
May 22 event at Sweetie Pie & Poppy's
Parking lot party celebrating the youth of Oakland, building the awareness of the violence going in our community. This event will also be celebrating Gary King Jr., the 20-year old who was shot and killed by Oakland Police last September. There will be an open mic for young people to rap, sing, dance or just speak about their views on the violence in Oakland. This is a peaceful celebration where creative energy can come together and strengthen the neighborhoods of Oakland.
Sweetie Pie & Poppy
5319 Martin Luther King Jr. Way
Oakland, CA 94609
(510) 547-9743
From noon-6 pm
Police Hold Gun On Teacher Aboard Bus Full of Students
The most awful part of this story is that even after a week, the Berkeley Police failed to acknowledge a mistake had been made. The police are so busy claiming that their actions are justified, they appear to be oblivious to the harmful and dangerous impact they have on the community.
This kind of thing has an impact on the children who witness it. I find it difficult to understand how those children are ever going to feel safe on the streets after witnessing such an indefensible non-voluntary stop. This police spokesperson admits that the cops were supposed to be looking for a juvenile.
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Daily Planet - March 14, 2008
Several Berkeley police officers jumped on a public bus full of Cragmont elementary students last week and held a gun on their teacher, misidentified as a robbery suspect, while he was taking students to a basketball game.
Parents and school staff charge the Berkeley Police Department with bias against black males.
DeAndre Swygert told the Planet that he was taking 10 students from Cragmont to Emerson when three to four police cars surrounded their AC Transit bus and pulled it over.
“One of the kids said ‘look’ and I saw one of the officers banging on the bus window with his gun,” Swygert said. “Then six to seven officers approached the bus through the back door, put a gun by my face and told me to put my hands up. They did not handcuff me, but they made me put my hands behind my back. One of the officers grabbed me by my shirt and got me off the bus. They started searching my backpack and asked me who I was, where I was going and if I was with the kids.”
Berkeley police spokesperson Sgt. Mary Kusmiss told the planet, “Since the suspects were seen with a gun by the victim, officers, in keeping with tactics to ensure community and officer safety, will have their guns drawn.”
“If there is a suggestion or report that a suspect is armed, officers are well within policy in keeping with not just their own safety but also the community’s safety. The suspect could have posed a threat to the children.”
On the 1100 block of Euclid, a teenager jumped out of a maroon van and pointed a semi-automatic pistol at a student and made off with a camera and some other belongings. Reportedly, the thief jumped back into the van and drove off.
After searching the maroon van, officers did not find a gun, which led them to believe the suspect was still armed.
“What they did was inappropriate,” Swygert said. “I had children with me ... Some of them started to cry. I think the police could have done a whole lot better. They singled me out because I am a young black male with dreadlocks. They stopped me for no reason. If they were looking for robbers who had hijacked a car then why did they have to stop the bus?”
“They were looking for a black male juvenile,” she said. “In this case they would not have been looking for anyone else.”
Angela Gilder called DeAndre’s encounter with the police “humiliating.”
“Yet another case of ‘mistaken identity,’ Mr. Swygert was at the mercy of the officers in a very degrading and embarrassing manner,” she said. “No apology was given to Mr. Swygert or our students. All too often this ... is a situation that occurs numerous times with many young African American males.”
A Cragmont parent said her son was very upset by incident.
“I thought it was crazy they drew guns, and that they dragged the coach down and asked him questions,” she said. “I am shocked they would do it in the presence of children ... I have grown up in Berkeley and it’s very common for the BPD to go out of their way to do this ... They think everybody with dreads and a sweatshirt is a suspect.”
Alonzo told the Planet that he and some of his friends had put their hands up when they saw the police.
“They asked us who Mr. Swygert was,” the 10-year-old said. “We told him he was our coach and we were coming from Cragmont.
Another parent said her son has had nightmares from the incident.
“My son told me he didn’t know what was going to happen to him or DeAndre in the bus,” she said. “I told him it was unfortunate, but that if you were a young black male you were going to get stopped at least once, if not more, in your lifetime. We’ll probably have this conversation more than once.”
Principal Vu said he was trying to set up a meeting with the Berkeley Police Department to bring in counselors to meet with the students.
Vu said that counselors would be available on campus Thursday to talk to students about the incident.
Berkeley Police Officer Jerome Colbert, a former teacher and school resource officer, will meet with Swygert, students and parents today to answer questions about the incident.
original
This kind of thing has an impact on the children who witness it. I find it difficult to understand how those children are ever going to feel safe on the streets after witnessing such an indefensible non-voluntary stop. This police spokesperson admits that the cops were supposed to be looking for a juvenile.
------------------------
Daily Planet - March 14, 2008
Several Berkeley police officers jumped on a public bus full of Cragmont elementary students last week and held a gun on their teacher, misidentified as a robbery suspect, while he was taking students to a basketball game.
Parents and school staff charge the Berkeley Police Department with bias against black males.
DeAndre Swygert told the Planet that he was taking 10 students from Cragmont to Emerson when three to four police cars surrounded their AC Transit bus and pulled it over.
“One of the kids said ‘look’ and I saw one of the officers banging on the bus window with his gun,” Swygert said. “Then six to seven officers approached the bus through the back door, put a gun by my face and told me to put my hands up. They did not handcuff me, but they made me put my hands behind my back. One of the officers grabbed me by my shirt and got me off the bus. They started searching my backpack and asked me who I was, where I was going and if I was with the kids.”
Berkeley police spokesperson Sgt. Mary Kusmiss told the planet, “Since the suspects were seen with a gun by the victim, officers, in keeping with tactics to ensure community and officer safety, will have their guns drawn.”
“If there is a suggestion or report that a suspect is armed, officers are well within policy in keeping with not just their own safety but also the community’s safety. The suspect could have posed a threat to the children.”
On the 1100 block of Euclid, a teenager jumped out of a maroon van and pointed a semi-automatic pistol at a student and made off with a camera and some other belongings. Reportedly, the thief jumped back into the van and drove off.
After searching the maroon van, officers did not find a gun, which led them to believe the suspect was still armed.
“What they did was inappropriate,” Swygert said. “I had children with me ... Some of them started to cry. I think the police could have done a whole lot better. They singled me out because I am a young black male with dreadlocks. They stopped me for no reason. If they were looking for robbers who had hijacked a car then why did they have to stop the bus?”
“They were looking for a black male juvenile,” she said. “In this case they would not have been looking for anyone else.”
Angela Gilder called DeAndre’s encounter with the police “humiliating.”
“Yet another case of ‘mistaken identity,’ Mr. Swygert was at the mercy of the officers in a very degrading and embarrassing manner,” she said. “No apology was given to Mr. Swygert or our students. All too often this ... is a situation that occurs numerous times with many young African American males.”
A Cragmont parent said her son was very upset by incident.
“I thought it was crazy they drew guns, and that they dragged the coach down and asked him questions,” she said. “I am shocked they would do it in the presence of children ... I have grown up in Berkeley and it’s very common for the BPD to go out of their way to do this ... They think everybody with dreads and a sweatshirt is a suspect.”
Alonzo told the Planet that he and some of his friends had put their hands up when they saw the police.
“They asked us who Mr. Swygert was,” the 10-year-old said. “We told him he was our coach and we were coming from Cragmont.
Another parent said her son has had nightmares from the incident.
“My son told me he didn’t know what was going to happen to him or DeAndre in the bus,” she said. “I told him it was unfortunate, but that if you were a young black male you were going to get stopped at least once, if not more, in your lifetime. We’ll probably have this conversation more than once.”
Principal Vu said he was trying to set up a meeting with the Berkeley Police Department to bring in counselors to meet with the students.
Vu said that counselors would be available on campus Thursday to talk to students about the incident.
Berkeley Police Officer Jerome Colbert, a former teacher and school resource officer, will meet with Swygert, students and parents today to answer questions about the incident.
original
PRC, Copwatch Want Answers On Shooting by Police Officer
That's how the taser companies have been able to make so much money in law enforcement. People dislike seeing people getting killed in these police actions when the cop over-reacts and pulls his weapon when more finesse is called for.
But tasers tend to be taken for granted in that they are billed as non-lethal. So officers misuse them out of a falsely placed confidence in their safe effect. I've seen video of people getting tased for talking back to an officer. In those cases, I want to say ban their use. The benefit of tasers can only be seen if drawn guns are the only alternative. In all other uses, tasers seem to me to be cruel punishment.
Also, they seem to be inefficient in the goal of immobilizing the subject. I've seen videos where people get tased over and over presumably because they keep moving instead of following the officer's order to be still or "stop fighting." It stands to reason that a person who has just been tased might have trouble staying still because of the survival instinct to escape pain as well as the loss of motor control tasers are designed to effect.
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Daily Planet-Feb 22, 2008
Berkeley’s Police Review Commission and Copwatch are among the groups demanding answers to why five-year Berkeley Police Officer Rashawn Cummings used deadly force on Anita Gay, a 51-year-old South Berkeley grandmother.
Still, she said there are questions she would want to see answered: “Why did the officer respond by himself?” she asked. The Berkeley Police Department General Order D-5 issued Oct. 30, 2006 says that, in the case of a domestic dispute, a dispatcher “should, whenever possible, dispatch two officers to the scene.”
“Domestic violence is one of the most dangerous calls,” Prichett said, underscoring that she questions whether there is adequate supervision and training of Berkeley police.
Prichett said she also wants to know why the officer didn’t use pepper spray rather than deadly force, which was an option.
Questions have been raised about whether the Berkeley police department ought to invest in Taser guns, devices that emit electro shocks. The BPD currently is not prohibited from purchasing them.
Councilmember Betty Olds said she understands some people have died from the use of Tasers, “But a lot fewer people have died with Tasers than with pistols,” she said.
“We would caution against suggesting that a Taser may have been a viable option in Saturday night’s officer involved shooting. The incident unfolded very quickly,” said Sgt. Mary Kusmiss in a written statement.
Schlosberg said the ACLU doesn’t have a position against Tasers. “They should be very strictly regulated,” he said, noting that Tasers have been implicated with loss of life when there have been multiple shocks, prolonged shocks and pre-existing medical conditions.
“They are not risk free,” he said.
The district attorney’s investigation should be completed in about six weeks.
original
But tasers tend to be taken for granted in that they are billed as non-lethal. So officers misuse them out of a falsely placed confidence in their safe effect. I've seen video of people getting tased for talking back to an officer. In those cases, I want to say ban their use. The benefit of tasers can only be seen if drawn guns are the only alternative. In all other uses, tasers seem to me to be cruel punishment.
Also, they seem to be inefficient in the goal of immobilizing the subject. I've seen videos where people get tased over and over presumably because they keep moving instead of following the officer's order to be still or "stop fighting." It stands to reason that a person who has just been tased might have trouble staying still because of the survival instinct to escape pain as well as the loss of motor control tasers are designed to effect.
------------
Daily Planet-Feb 22, 2008
Berkeley’s Police Review Commission and Copwatch are among the groups demanding answers to why five-year Berkeley Police Officer Rashawn Cummings used deadly force on Anita Gay, a 51-year-old South Berkeley grandmother.
Still, she said there are questions she would want to see answered: “Why did the officer respond by himself?” she asked. The Berkeley Police Department General Order D-5 issued Oct. 30, 2006 says that, in the case of a domestic dispute, a dispatcher “should, whenever possible, dispatch two officers to the scene.”
“Domestic violence is one of the most dangerous calls,” Prichett said, underscoring that she questions whether there is adequate supervision and training of Berkeley police.
Prichett said she also wants to know why the officer didn’t use pepper spray rather than deadly force, which was an option.
Questions have been raised about whether the Berkeley police department ought to invest in Taser guns, devices that emit electro shocks. The BPD currently is not prohibited from purchasing them.
Councilmember Betty Olds said she understands some people have died from the use of Tasers, “But a lot fewer people have died with Tasers than with pistols,” she said.
“We would caution against suggesting that a Taser may have been a viable option in Saturday night’s officer involved shooting. The incident unfolded very quickly,” said Sgt. Mary Kusmiss in a written statement.
Schlosberg said the ACLU doesn’t have a position against Tasers. “They should be very strictly regulated,” he said, noting that Tasers have been implicated with loss of life when there have been multiple shocks, prolonged shocks and pre-existing medical conditions.
“They are not risk free,” he said.
The district attorney’s investigation should be completed in about six weeks.
original
Fatal shooting OPD's second in two weeks
Police should not be permitted to fire on fleeing suspects. It constitutes shooting a person in the back.
According to department policy, an officer is justified in a shooting if he is in fear for his life. Fear is too easy. Even if the person is only trying to escape, the officer still claims he worried the person would turn around and fire a weapon.
That "fear standard" justifies the mistakes of cops who fire in response to a man pulling his wallet for example. No wonder there are so many mistakes when, after the fact, this standard justifies any shooting by police. Police can say they were afeared for their life and bypass the absence of real danger.
The policy is interpreted as an unspoken mandate to kill persons who simply appear to have a gun. It seems it is no matter what the circumstances of the stop nor whether the officer’s own actions provoked an unnecessary confrontation.
Rationally, if an officer makes a bad stop, meaning they abuse the benefit of the doubt given them, the natural reaction of the person being stopped includes making moves to protect himself.
If you justify an officer's kill by the fear standard, then it seems only fair that you have to justify defensive moves made by the person he is stopping. Oaklanders have good reason to run when they see officers with guns drawn, in reasonable fear for their lives. Yet, officers are exonerated after shooting people in the back.
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Officers say teen pointed rifle at them
Tribune - Mar. 20
OAKLAND — A 15-year-old boy was fatally shot around noon Wednesday by police officers who said he pointed a rifle at them, making it the second deadly shooting by Oakland police in as many weeks. Wednesday's shooting occurred in the area of 79th Avenue and Rudsdale Street.
The department said officers saw the youth walking on the sidewalk with what they believed to be a firearm. All three officers shot at him. It is not known yet how many times the youth was hit.
"The officers fired in defense of their lives," Holmgren said. "They thought he was going to shoot them. It's a traumatic experience.”
It is the second fatal police shooting in Oakland since Friday, when a 70-year-old man, Casper Banjo, was shot and killed after pointing a replica pistol.
Last year, authorities said, officers shot at a suspect in about a dozen cases, fatally wounding five of them, including the highly controversial September 2007 shooting of Gary King. King was shot in the back twice after a struggle with police, who said he was reaching for a loaded weapon. The witnesses said they never saw a gun — or saw King reach for one — and that the officer overreacted.
The litmus test is whether a reasonable person would fear for his life and the safety of others. It is a responsibility that must be considered critically when exercised, said Oakland civil rights attorney John Burris, known for handling police misconduct cases. Burris said, "The question is, if a person has a gun, do you automatically get to shoot them?" Burris said police justify shootings by claiming the officer's life was in danger.
Officers and their departments have no interest in admitting a mistake in judgment, such as whether they panicked or shot in error, because the death raises the possibility of civil or criminal liability, Burris said. The officer is probably going to get the benefit of the doubt, but the evidence has to be critically reviewed and evaluated to determine if deadly use of force was justified, he added. Officers can resort to nonlethal weapons, such as a shotgun that fires bean bags or a Taser— if the time and situation permit their use.
In the Friday shooting of Banjo, police were waiting for an officer to arrive and subdue him with a bean bag round. But, they said, before that officer arrived, Banjo pointed a fake gun at an officer after being ordered him to drop it.
Police are trained to assume someone may be armed. Officers will shoot if they fear for their safety, a POST official said.
original article
According to department policy, an officer is justified in a shooting if he is in fear for his life. Fear is too easy. Even if the person is only trying to escape, the officer still claims he worried the person would turn around and fire a weapon.
That "fear standard" justifies the mistakes of cops who fire in response to a man pulling his wallet for example. No wonder there are so many mistakes when, after the fact, this standard justifies any shooting by police. Police can say they were afeared for their life and bypass the absence of real danger.
The policy is interpreted as an unspoken mandate to kill persons who simply appear to have a gun. It seems it is no matter what the circumstances of the stop nor whether the officer’s own actions provoked an unnecessary confrontation.
Rationally, if an officer makes a bad stop, meaning they abuse the benefit of the doubt given them, the natural reaction of the person being stopped includes making moves to protect himself.
If you justify an officer's kill by the fear standard, then it seems only fair that you have to justify defensive moves made by the person he is stopping. Oaklanders have good reason to run when they see officers with guns drawn, in reasonable fear for their lives. Yet, officers are exonerated after shooting people in the back.
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Officers say teen pointed rifle at them
Tribune - Mar. 20
OAKLAND — A 15-year-old boy was fatally shot around noon Wednesday by police officers who said he pointed a rifle at them, making it the second deadly shooting by Oakland police in as many weeks. Wednesday's shooting occurred in the area of 79th Avenue and Rudsdale Street.
The department said officers saw the youth walking on the sidewalk with what they believed to be a firearm. All three officers shot at him. It is not known yet how many times the youth was hit.
"The officers fired in defense of their lives," Holmgren said. "They thought he was going to shoot them. It's a traumatic experience.”
It is the second fatal police shooting in Oakland since Friday, when a 70-year-old man, Casper Banjo, was shot and killed after pointing a replica pistol.
Last year, authorities said, officers shot at a suspect in about a dozen cases, fatally wounding five of them, including the highly controversial September 2007 shooting of Gary King. King was shot in the back twice after a struggle with police, who said he was reaching for a loaded weapon. The witnesses said they never saw a gun — or saw King reach for one — and that the officer overreacted.
The litmus test is whether a reasonable person would fear for his life and the safety of others. It is a responsibility that must be considered critically when exercised, said Oakland civil rights attorney John Burris, known for handling police misconduct cases. Burris said, "The question is, if a person has a gun, do you automatically get to shoot them?" Burris said police justify shootings by claiming the officer's life was in danger.
Officers and their departments have no interest in admitting a mistake in judgment, such as whether they panicked or shot in error, because the death raises the possibility of civil or criminal liability, Burris said. The officer is probably going to get the benefit of the doubt, but the evidence has to be critically reviewed and evaluated to determine if deadly use of force was justified, he added. Officers can resort to nonlethal weapons, such as a shotgun that fires bean bags or a Taser— if the time and situation permit their use.
In the Friday shooting of Banjo, police were waiting for an officer to arrive and subdue him with a bean bag round. But, they said, before that officer arrived, Banjo pointed a fake gun at an officer after being ordered him to drop it.
Police are trained to assume someone may be armed. Officers will shoot if they fear for their safety, a POST official said.
original article
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Sonya
She reached the roof just as the hour of the rat began. A few blocks away, the clock tower broadcast twelve bell tones.
She looked out at the blackness of the night. The day had been clear but no stars shone in the sky due to the flood of lights beaming up from the cities.
It had been after sundown when she and Taric were stopped by the police last Summer. When they refused to allow a voluntary search, the men ripped the bags from from both their backs.
The cops were in full riot regalla regardless of the peaceful nature of the protest. Sonya never saw their faces, never saw name tags. The furious and frightened police dumped the contents of the backpacks out on the street.
She looked out at the blackness of the night. The day had been clear but no stars shone in the sky due to the flood of lights beaming up from the cities.
It had been after sundown when she and Taric were stopped by the police last Summer. When they refused to allow a voluntary search, the men ripped the bags from from both their backs.
The cops were in full riot regalla regardless of the peaceful nature of the protest. Sonya never saw their faces, never saw name tags. The furious and frightened police dumped the contents of the backpacks out on the street.
Berkeley Copwatch interview
This is an old interview but still kick ass
http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=6590
http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=6590
Daily Show Coverage of Code Pink
Jon Stewart calls it an all volunteer army. I guess he doesn't count all the mercenaries. The state can't expect to staff a war with voluntary recruits, so they have to use subterfuge to trick young people into joining.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=163653&title=marines-in-berkeley
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=163653&title=marines-in-berkeley
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