Hold Police Accountable

JUSTICE FOR RAMON TIMOTHY LOPEZ

On August 4th, 2020, Ramon Timothy Lopez had just left a convenience store when a Phoenix police officer drove up to him because a woman had reported him for acting erratically. Ramon ran from the officer and was chased and tackled onto the roadway.

Two more officers arrived, and joined in restraining him on top of blacktop in 99 degree weather for five whole minutes, as they put handcuffs and leg restraints on him. Ramon was then put in the backseat of the police SUV, and was found unresponsive by the time paramedics arrived. He had sustained a broken arm, what appeared to be a 6-inch cut, and burns on his body. (Phoenix, AZ)

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JUSTICE FOR STEVE SALGADO

Steve Salgado was 18 in 2017 when he was confronted by police for obstructing traffic by parking his vehicle in an alleyway. Steve fled from the vehicle and was chased by officer David Prewett, and according to officers, seemed to be gripping something in his right pocket. He was ordered to "drop the gun," but kept running.

Officer Prewett shot him three times in the back, killing him. No weapon was found.

Steve was just a kid, and his whole life was taken from him because of the use of deadly force. The escalation from verbal order to shooting in this case is unacceptable. (Santa Ana, CA) Please join us in demanding justice for Steve and other victims of police violence! ✊SEND EMAILS FOR STEVE ✊ tinyurl.com/Email4Salgado

JUSTICE FOR FREDDY CENTENO

On September 3, 2015, a neighbor called 911 to report an odd visit by Freddy Centeno. According to the dispatcher, Freddy had knocked on the neighbors door and asked for a man named George, while holding a small black object later identified as a spray nozzle.

Freddy had a known history of mental illness, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and was known for such harmless erratic behavior in the neighborhood. However, the information relayed to the dispatcher, and later on to the officers, was that Freddy had a small gun.

Officers Zebulon Price and Felipe Lucero were dispatched to handle the situation. During the encounter, no attempt was made to determine whether Freddy was actually armed or not; the officers came out of their vehicle armed and confrontational. Just 2 seconds after issuing commands upon encountering Freddy, they opened fire on him. Freddy was shot 10 times and died of his wounds in a hospital 23 days later.  (Fresno, CA)

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JUSTICE FOR CLIFTON ARMSTRONG

In 2013, Clifton Armstrong called the police in a bout of paranoia and hallucinations from methamphetamine. Four police officers arrived and tried to convince him to get into their squad car to take him to the hospital. Clifton initially agreed and was escorted out of the house by family members, but changed his mind and turned back to the house before getting into the car. 

Officers tried to force him into the car, leading to a struggle. At some point during this, Clifton stripped off his clothes. Officers placed Clifton in handcuffs and used belts to restrain his leg movement, a method known as the "maximum restraint hobble system."

Clifton became unresponsive. Paramedics attempted CPR, but he was pronounced dead after 40 minutes. The state medical examiner ruled the death an accident and attributed the cause to “Excited Syndrome due to methamphetamine toxicity,” but noted that Clinton's physical confrontation with police was an "aggravating factor to his death."

There is no excuse for the egregious force that was used against an unarmed, naked man who was clearly not in his right mind. The restraint used includes placing a knee across the upper back while buckling the person in. There are multiple cases where such knee pressure has contributed to death, and this is very likely one of them. There are safer restraint holds such as the ones taught by QBS that can be used if necessary to prevent an emotionally distressed person from harming themselves or others.

Clifton needed medical assistance, not violence. We cannot continue to respond to every disturbance with armed forces, and we cannot allow officers to kill with impunity. None of the four police officers had to answer for their actions, though Daniel Holtzclaw is no longer with the Oklahoma City Police Department after being convicted of 18 counts of rape and sexual assualt in a separate case.

The fact that Daniel Holtzclaw managed to assault at least eight different women while working as an officer, however, casts great doubt upon the Oklahoma City Police Department's ability to hold their officers accountable. (Oklahoma City, OK)

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JUSTICE FOR MARIA FERNANDA GODINEZ

Maria Godinez was 22 when she spent a girls' weekend in Orlando in 2014. She was at a downtown bar when she was shot by a stray bullet during a police officer's confrontation with an armed man at the bar's entrance.

Officer Eduardo Sanguino was outside of the bar, trying to incapacitate a man named Kody Roach, who had a gun. He fired nine times at Roach and hit him several times, and also hit a fellow police officer. Both Roach and the other police officer survived with injuries, but Maria was killed. Kody Roach's gun turned out to be unloaded.

The death of a bystander due to actions of the police demonstrates an irresponsible use of force, and a failure to deescalate. Even if Maria hadn't been killed, firing nine shots in what was likely a crowded public area is unconscionable. (Orlando, FL)

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JUSTICE FOR ELIUTH NAVA PENALOZA

In 2018, Eliuth Nava Penaloza was sitting in his truck, under the influence of drugs and hallucinating. His parents called 911 to get him help, as they were worried that he had been acting strangely and arguing with a brother. In doing so, they mentioned that Eliuth seemed to have a knife and a gun in his truck. 

When Officers Sean Staymates and Kevin Pedersen arrived, Eliuth drove off, leading to a short chase. Officers claim that they saw Eliuth grab a handgun and point it at them, so they fired at him a total of 76 times in the middle of a busy residential neighborhood. At least 9 bullets hit Eliuth, killing him. Bullets fired by the officers also struck at least one building, a car and a tree. The gun found in Eliuth's vehicle was only an air pistol. This was an absurdly egregious amount of force against an unarmed man who never fired back, and during the incident officers directly put residents at risk. Civil courts have agreed that the officers' actions were ridiculous enough to rule in Eliuth's family's favor, and the Anaheim Police Department fired Pedersen, who fired most of the shots during the incident.

However, this is not enough. It is unconscionable that Staymates and Pedersen have not faced criminal charges for killing an innocent man. Allowing the police to kill with impunity puts our neighborhoods at risk. (Anaheim, CA)

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JUSTICE FOR HECTOR MOREJON

In 2015, 19-year-old Hector Morejon was standing against a wall in a vacant and vandalized apartment when Officer Jeffrey Meyer spotted him through an open window and drew his gun. When Hector turned towards Officer Meyer, Officer Meyer immediately shot him dead. Officer Meyer had been investigating a potential break-in, and claimed that he feared for his life because he thought Hector was holding a gun in hand, but no weapon was found.

Prosecutors criticized Officer Meyer for deciding to approach the window alone and drawing his weapon when there were no obvious signs of a public safety threat, which directly put himself and any possible trespassers inside in danger, but neglected to press charges. There is no public record of Officer Meyer having been fired or receiving disciplinary actions.

Though a federal court has ruled in favor of Hector's family, this is not enough. Officer Meyer should face criminal charges for killing an unarmed teenager based purely on suspicion. (Long Beach, CA)

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JUSTICE FOR WALTER WALLACE JR

On October 26th, 2020, Walter was experiencing a manic bipolar episode, leading his family to call 911 to request an ambulance three times. Police visited the family's house but would not take Walter to the hospital. One of those times, Walter's mother reports, officers "stood there and laughed at us". Just before 4pm, someone called 911 and reported that Walter was waving around a knife erratically. When police arrived, Walter's mother again told them that Walter had mental health issues. Yet, when Walter walked outside with a knife, officers immediately aimed their guns at him as they yelled at him to drop it. Walter's mother and at least one man followed Walter and tried to convince him to listen to the officers, but being in a mentally altered state, he did not listen and continued walking towards the officers. The officers then opened fire and shot at least 14 times at Walter, killing him. (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) 

Protestors have been out in the streets demanding justice for Walter for days. Let’s show solidarity and fight against police brutality! Black Lives Matter, and will always matter.

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JUSTICE FOR FRIDOON ZALBEG RASHAN NEHAD

In 2015, Fridoon was erroneously reported to the police for threatening a bookstore clerk with a knife. He was in fact carrying a pen. Just after midnight in an alley behind the bookstore, with his bodycam off, Officer Neal Browder confronted Fridoon and shot him fatally within 5 seconds. 

The incident was caught entirely by a surveillance camera, and the footage shows several troubling facts: Browder neglected to turn on his car's overhead lights when entering the alleyway, making it difficult to identify him as police; though Fridoon was walking towards the officer, he was slowing his pace and possibly stopped entirely when he was shot. 

At no point did Fridoon try to attack the officer — and it is possible that he didn't even recognize that a police officer was in front of him — yet he was killed within seconds due to imagined hostility. Neal Browder was not charged. (San Diego, CA)

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JUSTICE FOR ABELINO CORDOVA-CUEVAS

In 2016, Abelino (28) was allegedly driving erratically when Stockton officers Matthew Garlick and Lucas Woodward initiated a traffic stop. Abelino ran from his vehicle and fought with the officers, who used physical force and a stun gun while taking him into custody. When he was being handcuffed, they noticed he was unconscious. Emergency medical personnel performed CPR and took him to a hospital, where he later died. The autopsy indicated that the cause of death was "mechanical asphyxiation". The case was initially marked a homicide by the pathologist, then an accident by the coroner, and changed back to a homicide 2 years later upon further attention to the case. Yet, no charges were filed against the involved officers. (CA / Stockton)

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JUSTICE FOR DARRIUS STEWART

In 2015, 19-year-old Darrius Stewart was a passenger in a vehicle that was stopped by Memphis police officers for a broken headlight. Officers let the driver of the vehicle go with a ticket, but detained Darrius in the back of a patrol car while they ran his name to look for outstanding warrants. 

After coming up with some, officer Connor Shilling tried to handcuff Darrius, but apparently did so incorrectly. Police allege that Darrius struggled and swung the handcuffs back at Officer Shilling, so Officer Shilling drew his gun and fired. Darrius was taken to a hospital in critical condition and died there; Officer Shilling, on the other hand, only had a few cuts and bruises which did not need much medical attention. 

Darrius's mother has stated that her son had never been arrested, and that the warrants were for someone else with the same name, a fact that officers had brought to her attention before. The police could not confirm if the warrants they tried to arrest Darrius Stewart for were actually for him. (Memphis, Tennessee)

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JUSTICE FOR AARON BAILEY

Aaron was stopped in his car for unclear reasons by police officers Michal Dinnsen and Carlton Howard in 2017. He fled from the stop, leading to a brief chase that ended when he crashed into a tree. The officers then proceeded to fire multiple rounds at the vehicle, hitting him four times. Aaron later died at a hospital, and no weapon was ever found in his vehicle. 

To make matters worse, there was another passenger in the car who the police completely disregarded when opening fire. It was fortunate that the passenger was unharmed. Neither officer was ever charged. (Indianapolis, IN)

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JUSTICE FOR CHARLES KOSI

In 2017, Charles was killed after breaching a TSA security checkpoint at the Honolulu International Airport. Charles had run through the checkpoint, and was tackled by two Island Air employees and a private Securitas officer. 

He was pinned down on his stomach for approximately three minutes before they noticed that he was unconscious. Despite attempts at CPR, Charles was pronounced dead prior to making it to the hospital. He was unarmed at the scene. 

Though his death was officially ruled a homicide, the Kosi family never received any form of autopsy report and the people involved in the homicide were never identified. (Honolulu, HI)

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JUSTICE FOR ALTON STERLING

In 2016, Alton was selling CDs when police officers Howie Lake II and Blane Salamoni confronted him due to an anonymous call reporting that a CD seller wearing a red shirt was threatening people with a gun. Within 20 seconds of arriving on the scene, one of the officers drew his gun, pointed it at Alton's head, and yelled, "Don't fucking move or I'll shoot your fucking ass, bitch." When Alton asked what he did wrong, officers tasered him, tackled him to the ground, and pinned him on his back. Despite rendering him immobile, an officer shouted, "He’s got a gun!" and at least one of them opened fire at point-blank range, shooting him fatally 6 times. Salamoni was fired but neither officer was charged. (Baton Rouge, LA)

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JUSTICE FOR JULIUS “JULES” GRAVES

In 2019, Julius was suffering from mental health issues and reportedly acting irrationally at a bus stop. Police were called to the scene and were unable to get Julius to cooperate, so they tasered him twice, put him in handcuffs and leg restraints, and held him down with four officers. Julius was then injected with a sedative and anti-psychotic medications, and his pulse and breathing stopped. He went into cardiac arrest for 45-60 minutes, and was found braindead at the hospital. His family took him off of life support 4 days later. 

This incident wasn't the first time Julius had been tasered by SLMPD officers for a mental health breakdown either; there were two other previous occasions. 

None of the officers saw jail time. 

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JUSTICE FOR TYRONE WEST

In 2013, Tyrone was driving an acquaintance to her mother's house when two plainclothes officers in an unmarked car stopped him because he had reversed his vehicle in an intersection and because they thought he was “suspicious”. After ordering Tyrone and his acquaintance out of the car, officers searched them for drugs, and reportedly found a small amount of cocaine in Tyrone's sock. Tyrone pushed the officer, and officers reacted violently. Other police arrived and participated in the violence, continuing to beat him after he had been handcuffed. 

Tyrone died on the scene, and all witnesses stated that officers had used excessive force. (Baltimore, Maryland) 

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JUSTICE FOR FRANCISCO SERNA

Francisco was a 73-year-old man who was experiencing a dementia episode when he was shot to death by police officer Reagan Selman in 2016. Francisco was carrying a dark crucifix, which was erroneously reported as a gun. Police assumed that he was armed without independently confirming whether that was true.

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