Like the "Thin Blue Line" against whistleblowing, a code-of-conduct exhibited by the employees of the various Police agencies, almost all Firefighter agencies, volunteer or for-profit, engage in a similer code-of-conduct, nicknamed the "Thin Red Line". This practice gives us insight into not only how harmful or illegal incidents involving firefighters are denied, distorted and covered-up by their departments, but also how the monopolized media publicizes the denials, distortions and cover-ups regardless of the conflict of interest.
For the sake of accuracy, the following stories are part of the work of investigative journalists working for the monopolist "San Francisco Chronicle", which publishes the cover-up tactics of many agencies, regardless...
"D.A. investigates possible firefighter cover-up"
2013-11-17 by Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross [http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/D-A-investigates-possible-firefighter-cover-up-4989953.php]:
The San Francisco district attorney is investigating whether fellow firefighters tried to cover for Michael Quinn, the allegedly drunken firefighter who crashed his ladder truck into a motorcyclist in the South of Market in June.
"This is not your run-of-the-mill DUI investigation," is all the district attorney's spokesman, Alex Bastian, would say when asked about the possibility that Quinn's colleagues tried to cover up the circumstances of the crash.
Meanwhile, Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White says her office is considering disciplinary action against an unspecified number of firefighters who were on duty the night of the incident.
"We are looking at if things could have gone differently, or if different decisions could have been made," Hayes-White said.
Quinn, a 23-year veteran of the department, was at the wheel of a Station 1 ladder truck when he raced through a red light at Fifth and Howard streets late June 29 on his way to what turned out to be a false alarm.
The truck collided with a motorcyclist, throwing the rider into a fire hydrant and seriously injuring him.
Quinn left the crash scene before police arrived about 40 minutes later and did not turn up at Station 1 a few blocks down Howard Street for several hours.
Police obtained security-camera footage that shows Quinn drinking water at the Chieftain Irish Pub at Fifth and Howard in what appeared to be an attempt to sober up before returning to the station, sources say.
Still, after police caught up to him at the station, Quinn's blood alcohol level was measured at 0.13 percent, above the legal limit for driving of 0.08 percent, sources say. The Fire Department has a zero-tolerance policy for on-duty drinking.
Quinn was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving and hit-and-run, but has yet to be charged. The D.A.'s office says the investigation isn't complete.
Fire Department sources tell us that no fewer than 21 firefighters, paramedics and others who were on duty the night of the crash have been interviewed by police.
And at least two firefighters, besides Quinn, may face disciplinary action as well.
One is a firefighter who denied being at the Chieftain with Quinn but showed up on security-camera footage talking to him in the bar, according to sources.
Surveillance camera footage also supposedly contradicted the statement of a department higher-up who said Quinn's ladder truck had nearly cleared the intersection safely before the crash. In fact, the light was red before Quinn reached the intersection, but his rig never slowed down, sources say.
Hayes-White said she had found no evidence of a conspiracy within the department to cover up the crash circumstances.
The chief confirmed that Quinn, who had been on administrative leave without pay since the crash, submitted his resignation Nov. 1 - just in time to avoid a formal dismissal hearing that had been scheduled for that day.
His attorney told us Friday he'd get back to us to discuss the case. We're still waiting.
Like Hayes-White, Firefighters Union President Tom O'Connor rejected the notion of an attempted cover-up.
"Everybody on duty that night was making every effort possible to assist the police with their investigation," O'Connor said.
"In fact, they called the police once (Quinn) returned to the station."
After our inquiry last week, Hayes-White said she spoke to District Attorney George Gascón, who told her only that prosecutors "are getting close" to a decision on whether to file charges.
"SF firefighter suspected in drunken crash may lose job"
2013-07-22 by Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross [http://blog.sfgate.com/matierandross/2013/07/22/ax-falls-on-sf-firefighter-accused-in-drunken-crash/]:
The San Francisco Fire Department is moving to terminate the firefighter who allegedly drove a ladder truck into a motorcyclist while drunk and then left the scene.
Sources tell us Chief Joanne Hayes-White sent a letter to the Fire Commission on Thursday, asking that 20-year veteran Michael Quinn — who is in rehab outside the city — be fired, even though the police investigation is continuing.
Quinn’s lawyer, James Bustamante, himself a former firefighter, called the termination move “premature” and irresponsible” given that the investigations have not even been completed.
Quinn, 43, a 23-year veteran, was arrested after the crash late June 29 at Fifth and Howard streets, in which the motorcyclist suffered busted ribs and a punctured lung. Quinn, who works at Station 1 on Folsom Street, was driving a ladder truck to what turned out to be a false alarm.
Officials say Quinn stopped the rig but then disappeared after being told that he would have to undergo a drug and alcohol test. He showed up two hours later at the station and was subsequently arrested on suspicion of felony drunken driving and hit-and-run.
Prosecutors, however, opted not to file charges for the time being and told police to do more investigating.
The affair is particularly embarrassing for the Fire Department, because drinking on the job is not a new problem at station houses. It hasn’t helped that it came just a week before at least one Fire Department rig ran over an Asiana Airlines plane crash survivor at San Francisco International Airport, though Hayes-White has so far called that “a tragic accident.”
According to law enforcement sources, Quinn was told by his captain to wait in the truck after the crash until police arrived. Instead, he walked into a nearby bar, where a security camera filmed him drinking pitchers of water before he walked away into the night, the sources said.
About two hours later, Quinn showed up back at Fire Station 1, where he was tested and found to have a blood alcohol count of 0.13 percent, above the legal driving limit of 0.08 percent – and way, way over the departments zero tolerance level, said the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk about the case.
Police have been trying to reconstruct what Quinn did during the two hours between the crash and his reappearance at Station 1. They’re expected to give their report to the district attorney on Tuesday.
Quinn could contest his firing – and may want to, because under the city’s new retirement law, he could lose his department pension.
“In no way do we want to downplay the tragedy here,” Bustamante said. “But the move to terminate firefighter Quinn is a political move by a department that has a number of active investigations pending and a command staff in near revolt.”
"No fire crews recall hitting girl"
2013-07-10 by Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross [http://blog.sfgate.com/matierandross/2013/07/10/crash-victims-death-cast-shadow-over-fire-department-heroics/]:
While San Francisco police and fire heroics were on full national display, local officials were privately wrestling behind the scenes with the painful possibility that one of their own emergency crews fatally struck one of the two young Chinese girls found dead after the Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crashed.
“We completed our procedures and interviews with everyone, and nobody has any recollection of coming into contact with the victim,’’ said Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our first responders’ efforts under extraordinary circumstances,’’ the chief said.
The drivers of all five trucks that raced to the scene underwent routine drug and alcohol testing.
“All were negative,’’ Hayes-White said.
The Police Department — which is heading the accident investigation — is turning over all its results to the National Transportation Safety Board.
Fire Lt. Christine Emmons, who was among those who emotionally described her rescue efforts at a press conference Monday, reportedly provided police investigators with an account of arriving on the scene early on to find the girl — concluding she was already dead.
It’s unclear whether the girl had been hit by a rig before Emmons’ crew arrived. Her statement has not been divulged.
But as Hayes-White told us, “I’m hopeful the coroner’s findings indicate that the fatal injuries were sustained prior to any contact with our apparatus.’’
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Grand Jury investigations
Grand Jury Resistance Project
"Anarchist Grand Jury Cheerleaders, The Grand Jury Resistance Project encourages people to not cooperate with federal authorities investigating a variety of ongoing cases and movements"
2006-08-23 by Chris Thompson from "Eastbay Express":
On the seventeenth floor of San Francisco's Philip Burton Federal Building, a grand jury may or may not have been convened to track down the whereabouts of Daniel Andreas San Diego, the animal-rights activist and prime suspect in the 2003 bombings of Chiron Laboratories and the Shaklee Corporation. As a matter of policy, the US Attorney's office refuses to confirm or deny the existence of any grand jury. But activist Nadia Winstead claims that the feds have subpoenaed her and ordered her to testify about whatever she might know about San Diego. On the morning of August 17, she and roughly sixty people showed up at the courthouse to tell a federal prosecutor to go to hell.
The entrance to the federal building is a hodgepodge of bomb security features masquerading as public art; concrete hillocks rise before the doors, with steel posts driven into the ground before each possible driveway. The tableau has been thoroughly knobbed to keep thrashers from riding their skateboards up and down the paths. At 9 a.m., Winstead and her friends distributed posterboards denouncing the federal government. Although there's little foot traffic around the courthouse, they lined up before the entrance and waved signs reading "Fight repression — resist grand juries" and "Grand jury out of SF."
Winstead, a slight young woman with short brown hair, clogs, and black slacks, doesn't just refuse to talk to the federal government. "I'm not a media type of person," she mumbles. Digging through her possessions, she produces a sheet of paper with sound bites for the press: "The federal government is willing to use every trick in the book to silence our dissent," reads one, "but we will not be silenced." When asked about how long she's lived in the city, or what kind of animal-rights activism she does, her associate Kris Hermes intervened. "You're probably asking the same questions the grand jury is going to," he scolded.
Hermes is one of the main organizers of the Grand Jury Resistance Project, an ad hoc group of lawyers, law students, and self-described "legal activists," including the National Lawyers Guild and Oakland's Midnight Special Law Collective. In the past few years, the federal government has convened grand juries to investigate allegations of bombings and arson related to animal rights, environmentalism, and anarchist demonstrations. In response, Hermes and his colleagues have created a sort of "stop snitching" campaign, in which they not only provide legal advice to subpoenaed activists, but encourage them not to talk, and thus risk going to jail for up to eighteen months.
Grand juries have been on the minds of activists since May 2005, when an FBI agent told a Senate subcommittee that animal-rights and environmental extremists constituted "one of today's most serious domestic terrorism threats." Last year, a federal grand jury was convened to reopen the investigation into the 1971 killing of a San Francisco police officer; several former Black Panthers were jailed for refusing to testify. A grand jury in Eugene has been opened to investigate a string of arson attacks in the Pacific Northwest, and activist Jeff Hogg is sitting in jail for refusing to talk. A grand jury in New Jersey indicted seven people for conspiracy to harass the business affiliates of Huntingdon Life Sciences, a firm that uses animals in pharmaceutical and cosmetic tests.
Earlier this year, Hermes and a few lawyers and fellow activists decided that leftist movements needed a special service to advise people on how a grand jury works, what their rights are, and what they can do if they get a subpoena. The answer, of course, is not much. No judge presides over the grand jury, evidence in defense of grand jury targets cannot be presented, and the proceedings are secret. As a result, Hermes claims, people who don't understand the process can be easily intimidated into spilling their guts, even if the prosecutor is going well beyond the scope of the investigation and looking for basic intelligence about antiwar or animal-rights movements. "They are fishing expeditions," he says of the most recent grand juries. "We educate activists and the public on grand juries in general, and how they are being misused to undermine political movements."
But Hermes and the Grand Jury Resistance Project do more than "demystify" the legal system. They encourage activists to refuse to cooperate altogether by providing emotional support, rallies, and letter-writing campaigns. "People, when they get charged with unfair crimes, they should fight their cases," says Paul Marini, a member of the project. "And when they get called inappropriately before grand juries, they should fight that."
It can't be easy to convince someone to go to jail for more than a year. One of the project's main arguments, to put it rather crudely, is that martyrs strengthen the movement. Just as the grand jury's secrecy creates a climate of fear that their colleagues may have ratted them out, Hermes claims that people who go to jail encourage their colleagues to recommit themselves to the struggle. "Resisting grand juries can also empower a movement not to be intimidated and harassed by this tactic," he says.
Unfortunately, a grand jury's very secrecy makes it impossible to know whether prosecutors are pursuing violent terrorists or intimidating legitimate leftist dissenters. Take the case of Josh Wolf, a San Francisco filmmaker with anarchist sympathies who recently was jailed for refusing to turn over videotapes to a grand jury. The incident being investigated doesn't seem to merit federal attention: During a riot last year, someone set a fire that did minor damage to a cop car that may or may not have been bought with federal money, thus making the vandalism a federal crime. That this rationale has been used to convene a federal grand jury adds to the suspicion that prosecutors are really looking for broad surveillance of inconsequential anarchists.
Other cases are considerably more serious. Daniel Andreas San Diego is wanted for allegedly bombing two laboratories and issuing a communiqué posted on an animal-rights Web site that took credit for the bombings and warned Chiron CEO Sean Lance, "You never know when your house, your car even, might go boom. Who knows, that new car in the parking lot may be packed with explosives."
Grand Jury Resistance Project members acknowledge that Nadia Winstead has been subpoenaed as part of an effort to find San Diego and punish the people who have helped hide him. But they claim this also is part of a larger effort to conduct surveillance on the animal-rights movement in general. When Winstead walked into the grand jury chambers last week, the dozen people who waited in the lobby outside cheered her on, knowing that she wouldn't say a word, and that this might well be the last time they saw her for months. The clock ticked off the minutes while they sat on the cold marble floor. One woman idly bounced a yellow rubber ball over and over. A man in a gray suit walked up and down the hallways, fruitlessly looking for the BALCO case.
Finally, Winstead emerged, looking sheepish and happy. She was free while prosecutors schedule a hearing to determine her fate. Is she a martyr, or a conspirator? Thanks to the secrecy of the grand jury system, the only thing we'll know for sure is that sooner or later, she'll probably be a prisoner.
"Anarchist Grand Jury Cheerleaders, The Grand Jury Resistance Project encourages people to not cooperate with federal authorities investigating a variety of ongoing cases and movements"
2006-08-23 by Chris Thompson from "Eastbay Express":
On the seventeenth floor of San Francisco's Philip Burton Federal Building, a grand jury may or may not have been convened to track down the whereabouts of Daniel Andreas San Diego, the animal-rights activist and prime suspect in the 2003 bombings of Chiron Laboratories and the Shaklee Corporation. As a matter of policy, the US Attorney's office refuses to confirm or deny the existence of any grand jury. But activist Nadia Winstead claims that the feds have subpoenaed her and ordered her to testify about whatever she might know about San Diego. On the morning of August 17, she and roughly sixty people showed up at the courthouse to tell a federal prosecutor to go to hell.
The entrance to the federal building is a hodgepodge of bomb security features masquerading as public art; concrete hillocks rise before the doors, with steel posts driven into the ground before each possible driveway. The tableau has been thoroughly knobbed to keep thrashers from riding their skateboards up and down the paths. At 9 a.m., Winstead and her friends distributed posterboards denouncing the federal government. Although there's little foot traffic around the courthouse, they lined up before the entrance and waved signs reading "Fight repression — resist grand juries" and "Grand jury out of SF."
Winstead, a slight young woman with short brown hair, clogs, and black slacks, doesn't just refuse to talk to the federal government. "I'm not a media type of person," she mumbles. Digging through her possessions, she produces a sheet of paper with sound bites for the press: "The federal government is willing to use every trick in the book to silence our dissent," reads one, "but we will not be silenced." When asked about how long she's lived in the city, or what kind of animal-rights activism she does, her associate Kris Hermes intervened. "You're probably asking the same questions the grand jury is going to," he scolded.
Hermes is one of the main organizers of the Grand Jury Resistance Project, an ad hoc group of lawyers, law students, and self-described "legal activists," including the National Lawyers Guild and Oakland's Midnight Special Law Collective. In the past few years, the federal government has convened grand juries to investigate allegations of bombings and arson related to animal rights, environmentalism, and anarchist demonstrations. In response, Hermes and his colleagues have created a sort of "stop snitching" campaign, in which they not only provide legal advice to subpoenaed activists, but encourage them not to talk, and thus risk going to jail for up to eighteen months.
Grand juries have been on the minds of activists since May 2005, when an FBI agent told a Senate subcommittee that animal-rights and environmental extremists constituted "one of today's most serious domestic terrorism threats." Last year, a federal grand jury was convened to reopen the investigation into the 1971 killing of a San Francisco police officer; several former Black Panthers were jailed for refusing to testify. A grand jury in Eugene has been opened to investigate a string of arson attacks in the Pacific Northwest, and activist Jeff Hogg is sitting in jail for refusing to talk. A grand jury in New Jersey indicted seven people for conspiracy to harass the business affiliates of Huntingdon Life Sciences, a firm that uses animals in pharmaceutical and cosmetic tests.
Earlier this year, Hermes and a few lawyers and fellow activists decided that leftist movements needed a special service to advise people on how a grand jury works, what their rights are, and what they can do if they get a subpoena. The answer, of course, is not much. No judge presides over the grand jury, evidence in defense of grand jury targets cannot be presented, and the proceedings are secret. As a result, Hermes claims, people who don't understand the process can be easily intimidated into spilling their guts, even if the prosecutor is going well beyond the scope of the investigation and looking for basic intelligence about antiwar or animal-rights movements. "They are fishing expeditions," he says of the most recent grand juries. "We educate activists and the public on grand juries in general, and how they are being misused to undermine political movements."
But Hermes and the Grand Jury Resistance Project do more than "demystify" the legal system. They encourage activists to refuse to cooperate altogether by providing emotional support, rallies, and letter-writing campaigns. "People, when they get charged with unfair crimes, they should fight their cases," says Paul Marini, a member of the project. "And when they get called inappropriately before grand juries, they should fight that."
It can't be easy to convince someone to go to jail for more than a year. One of the project's main arguments, to put it rather crudely, is that martyrs strengthen the movement. Just as the grand jury's secrecy creates a climate of fear that their colleagues may have ratted them out, Hermes claims that people who go to jail encourage their colleagues to recommit themselves to the struggle. "Resisting grand juries can also empower a movement not to be intimidated and harassed by this tactic," he says.
Unfortunately, a grand jury's very secrecy makes it impossible to know whether prosecutors are pursuing violent terrorists or intimidating legitimate leftist dissenters. Take the case of Josh Wolf, a San Francisco filmmaker with anarchist sympathies who recently was jailed for refusing to turn over videotapes to a grand jury. The incident being investigated doesn't seem to merit federal attention: During a riot last year, someone set a fire that did minor damage to a cop car that may or may not have been bought with federal money, thus making the vandalism a federal crime. That this rationale has been used to convene a federal grand jury adds to the suspicion that prosecutors are really looking for broad surveillance of inconsequential anarchists.
Other cases are considerably more serious. Daniel Andreas San Diego is wanted for allegedly bombing two laboratories and issuing a communiqué posted on an animal-rights Web site that took credit for the bombings and warned Chiron CEO Sean Lance, "You never know when your house, your car even, might go boom. Who knows, that new car in the parking lot may be packed with explosives."
Grand Jury Resistance Project members acknowledge that Nadia Winstead has been subpoenaed as part of an effort to find San Diego and punish the people who have helped hide him. But they claim this also is part of a larger effort to conduct surveillance on the animal-rights movement in general. When Winstead walked into the grand jury chambers last week, the dozen people who waited in the lobby outside cheered her on, knowing that she wouldn't say a word, and that this might well be the last time they saw her for months. The clock ticked off the minutes while they sat on the cold marble floor. One woman idly bounced a yellow rubber ball over and over. A man in a gray suit walked up and down the hallways, fruitlessly looking for the BALCO case.
Finally, Winstead emerged, looking sheepish and happy. She was free while prosecutors schedule a hearing to determine her fate. Is she a martyr, or a conspirator? Thanks to the secrecy of the grand jury system, the only thing we'll know for sure is that sooner or later, she'll probably be a prisoner.
Beware: Media journalists provide information to police about political activities
This article is about a now-defunct group called "Hazmat 1203", and the text shows how media journalists act as the eyes and ears for security agencies, including the police and FBI, providing useful information about non-violent groups because of political affiliation.
"Starbucks Vandalism: I-Team Investigates"
2003-11-02 from "abc7news.com":
Seventeen Starbucks stores in San Francisco were the target of vandals overnight. (ABC7)
Vandals posted "For Lease" signs on windows to make the stores appear to have gone out of business. (ABC7)
Other political flyers were also posted on the windows. (ABC7)
Nov. 2 - Environmental and animal rights activists have been stepping up their campaigns around the Bay Area the past three months and resorting to extreme measures — vandalizing homes and businesses, even bombing two companies that test products on animals. Now the I-Team has the inside story of the crime spree against Starbucks three months ago. San Francisco Police have all but given up on the case, but the I-Team has found the people responsible for the vandalism — a new group of activists called "Hazmat 1203."
People in parts of San Francisco woke up August 5th to find their local Starbucks apparently out of business.
Dave Lopez, newspaper delivery man: "I thought they were actually closed, it looked real realistic. They're not."
It was an elaborate hoax. Eight Starbucks near Union Square and the Financial District had their windows soaped, locks jammed, and "for lease" signs posted, along with an official-looking statement from Starbucks headquarters titled "Case for Corporate Downsizing."
It said, "At our current market level, Starbucks cannot in good conscience guarantee all of our beans meet both rigorous quality standards as well as our commitment to social responsibility. ... We're scaling back, returning to our roots as a small Seattle coffee chain."
Investigators had a few leads — two witnesses and a blurry surveillance tape.
Dan Noyes: "What's the status of the case now?"
Dewayne Tully, SFPD spokesman: "It is still officially open. It's been difficult to come up with leads. There's not that much evidence."
But if investigators looked more closely, the clues are out there. Some graffiti on a Mission District sidewalk, "What is Hazmat 1203?," and a message on an Internet bulletin board. In June, self-described "radical anarchist conspirators" posted an ad on Craig's List for a Web site systems operator. Computer consultant Wayne Calhoon answered the ad, checked out the group's site hazmat1203.net, and turned them down.
Wayne Calhoon: "I was not willing to participate at this point because I did not agree with all of their tactics."
Calhoon forgot about his encounter with Hazmat 1203 until a report on ABC7 jarred his memory.
Calhoon: "Clearly, it took an organized effort to strike so many locations."
Two months before the Starbucks vandalism, Calhoon saw a listing on the Hazmat 1203 Web site for "Operation Act Now." The group's leader, using the code name "Marley Fowat," proposed soaping windows at Starbucks and hanging "out of business" signs.
Calhoon thought about calling the SFPD.
Calhoon: "But, I decided that would be counterproductive and would probably go nowhere. So I called the I-Team."
The I-Team made contact with Marley Fowat through the Hazmat 1203 Web site. Fowat took responsibility for the Starbucks vandalism, and agreed to come to ABC7 with another Hazmat 1203 member for an interview.
Marley Fowat: "We see ourselves at the forefront of a social and emotional revolution. And in a sense, we're throwing gasoline on the fire."
That's where they got the name. "Hazmat 1203" is the hazardous materials sign for gasoline. They're trying to get people to question authority, to question the status quo. In Operation Victory, they pasted phony pro-war posters around Santa Cruz. This one reads, "Korea, you're next. We'll finish the job." At one anti-war demonstration in San Francisco, Hazmat members posed as FBI agents — black suit and tie, white shirt, sunglasses and an earpiece.
Cal: "Saying, 'Yeah, we got a spotter on the rooftop, yeah, you got a line of sight on that one? Roger that.' That's what Hazmat 1203 is all about."
Dan Noyes: "And the point was what, there?"
Cal: "To get people thinking, 'Would the government really do that to you, would you accept that from the government?'"
Their most high-profile operation so far has been the Starbucks vandalism. They provided a tape to the I-Team that shows how they pulled it off.
Seven members of the group met at 10:30 that night in Union Square, and walked with their buckets right by police officers on duty. They met in an alley, where Marley and Cal explained how the soap and poster-paste should be applied and they discussed their targets.
Activist: "I'm a little concerned with hotels across the street and security cameras and stuff like that."
Then they climbed a fire escape to get water from a parking garage, and prepared the soap and poster-paste.
Activist: "Mixing, mixing, mixing."
And off they go to their targets. It takes them just a couple of minutes to soap a store's windows, to hang the "for lease" sign and the phony Starbucks statement and to jam the locks.
Activist: "You're little worker bees."
It's a wonder they didn't get caught, with curious bystanders all around and cars passing by. Especially when Cal scales an ATM and climbs to the roof to hang one sign. Here, he drapes himself across an awning 15 feet off the ground. They took a lot of risks to send a message to Starbuck's customers.
Cal: "What did they think when they learned it was not real, that it was a prank, that it was designed to get them to reevaluate who they were supporting every single morning before they went to work?"
Cal and Marley say Hazmat 1203 will never turn to violence, that they don't condone the tactics of the radical fringe of the animal rights movement, threatening lives, and even bombing companies
Dan Noyes: "Do you condemn those tactics, or do you understand those tactics in some way?"
Fowat: "Our organization is committed to not doing anything that either hurts people or could result in people being hurt."
Their Web site shows ideas for the future: throwing dummies off the Golden Gate Bridge to symbolize the civilians killed in Iraq, or casting hundreds of blinking bottles out to sea with a message from Hazmat 1203.
Cal: "I think definitely, you will hear from Hazmat 1203 in the very near future."
The authorities will be watching. Both the San Francisco Police Department and the FBI are interested in what the I-Team has uncovered. And Hazmat 1203 is taking more steps to avoid being caught. Their Web site is down right now while they upgrade it.
"Starbucks Vandalism: I-Team Investigates"
2003-11-02 from "abc7news.com":
Seventeen Starbucks stores in San Francisco were the target of vandals overnight. (ABC7)
Vandals posted "For Lease" signs on windows to make the stores appear to have gone out of business. (ABC7)
Other political flyers were also posted on the windows. (ABC7)
Nov. 2 - Environmental and animal rights activists have been stepping up their campaigns around the Bay Area the past three months and resorting to extreme measures — vandalizing homes and businesses, even bombing two companies that test products on animals. Now the I-Team has the inside story of the crime spree against Starbucks three months ago. San Francisco Police have all but given up on the case, but the I-Team has found the people responsible for the vandalism — a new group of activists called "Hazmat 1203."
People in parts of San Francisco woke up August 5th to find their local Starbucks apparently out of business.
Dave Lopez, newspaper delivery man: "I thought they were actually closed, it looked real realistic. They're not."
It was an elaborate hoax. Eight Starbucks near Union Square and the Financial District had their windows soaped, locks jammed, and "for lease" signs posted, along with an official-looking statement from Starbucks headquarters titled "Case for Corporate Downsizing."
It said, "At our current market level, Starbucks cannot in good conscience guarantee all of our beans meet both rigorous quality standards as well as our commitment to social responsibility. ... We're scaling back, returning to our roots as a small Seattle coffee chain."
Investigators had a few leads — two witnesses and a blurry surveillance tape.
Dan Noyes: "What's the status of the case now?"
Dewayne Tully, SFPD spokesman: "It is still officially open. It's been difficult to come up with leads. There's not that much evidence."
But if investigators looked more closely, the clues are out there. Some graffiti on a Mission District sidewalk, "What is Hazmat 1203?," and a message on an Internet bulletin board. In June, self-described "radical anarchist conspirators" posted an ad on Craig's List for a Web site systems operator. Computer consultant Wayne Calhoon answered the ad, checked out the group's site hazmat1203.net, and turned them down.
Wayne Calhoon: "I was not willing to participate at this point because I did not agree with all of their tactics."
Calhoon forgot about his encounter with Hazmat 1203 until a report on ABC7 jarred his memory.
Calhoon: "Clearly, it took an organized effort to strike so many locations."
Two months before the Starbucks vandalism, Calhoon saw a listing on the Hazmat 1203 Web site for "Operation Act Now." The group's leader, using the code name "Marley Fowat," proposed soaping windows at Starbucks and hanging "out of business" signs.
Calhoon thought about calling the SFPD.
Calhoon: "But, I decided that would be counterproductive and would probably go nowhere. So I called the I-Team."
The I-Team made contact with Marley Fowat through the Hazmat 1203 Web site. Fowat took responsibility for the Starbucks vandalism, and agreed to come to ABC7 with another Hazmat 1203 member for an interview.
Marley Fowat: "We see ourselves at the forefront of a social and emotional revolution. And in a sense, we're throwing gasoline on the fire."
That's where they got the name. "Hazmat 1203" is the hazardous materials sign for gasoline. They're trying to get people to question authority, to question the status quo. In Operation Victory, they pasted phony pro-war posters around Santa Cruz. This one reads, "Korea, you're next. We'll finish the job." At one anti-war demonstration in San Francisco, Hazmat members posed as FBI agents — black suit and tie, white shirt, sunglasses and an earpiece.
Cal: "Saying, 'Yeah, we got a spotter on the rooftop, yeah, you got a line of sight on that one? Roger that.' That's what Hazmat 1203 is all about."
Dan Noyes: "And the point was what, there?"
Cal: "To get people thinking, 'Would the government really do that to you, would you accept that from the government?'"
Their most high-profile operation so far has been the Starbucks vandalism. They provided a tape to the I-Team that shows how they pulled it off.
Seven members of the group met at 10:30 that night in Union Square, and walked with their buckets right by police officers on duty. They met in an alley, where Marley and Cal explained how the soap and poster-paste should be applied and they discussed their targets.
Activist: "I'm a little concerned with hotels across the street and security cameras and stuff like that."
Then they climbed a fire escape to get water from a parking garage, and prepared the soap and poster-paste.
Activist: "Mixing, mixing, mixing."
And off they go to their targets. It takes them just a couple of minutes to soap a store's windows, to hang the "for lease" sign and the phony Starbucks statement and to jam the locks.
Activist: "You're little worker bees."
It's a wonder they didn't get caught, with curious bystanders all around and cars passing by. Especially when Cal scales an ATM and climbs to the roof to hang one sign. Here, he drapes himself across an awning 15 feet off the ground. They took a lot of risks to send a message to Starbuck's customers.
Cal: "What did they think when they learned it was not real, that it was a prank, that it was designed to get them to reevaluate who they were supporting every single morning before they went to work?"
Cal and Marley say Hazmat 1203 will never turn to violence, that they don't condone the tactics of the radical fringe of the animal rights movement, threatening lives, and even bombing companies
Dan Noyes: "Do you condemn those tactics, or do you understand those tactics in some way?"
Fowat: "Our organization is committed to not doing anything that either hurts people or could result in people being hurt."
Their Web site shows ideas for the future: throwing dummies off the Golden Gate Bridge to symbolize the civilians killed in Iraq, or casting hundreds of blinking bottles out to sea with a message from Hazmat 1203.
Cal: "I think definitely, you will hear from Hazmat 1203 in the very near future."
The authorities will be watching. Both the San Francisco Police Department and the FBI are interested in what the I-Team has uncovered. And Hazmat 1203 is taking more steps to avoid being caught. Their Web site is down right now while they upgrade it.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
ATF San Francisco Field Division - Northern California Field Offices
[www.atf.gov/field/sanfrancisco/fo-california-north.html]"Arms agents shift focus from gangs to individuals"
2013-11-03 by Justin Berton from "San Francisco Chronicle" [http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Arms-agents-shift-focus-from-gangs-to-individuals-4950372.php]:
Tehran Palmer of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives describes an Oakland arrest. Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle
The young man from Richmond said he had a grenade launcher with three grenades to sell for $1,000, so he texted a photo of the goods to Tehran Palmer, a buyer who had approached him through a friend.
The budding firearms dealer, 23-year-old Otis Mobley, and two friends arranged a meeting with Palmer in a parking lot near Hilltop Mall. But instead of handing over the military-grade weaponry, one of the men hoisted a semiautomatic pistol to Palmer's head and demanded his cash and car keys.
A team of local and federal agents promptly swarmed the vehicle, wounding one of the suspects in a gunbattle and arresting all three of the men. Palmer, an undercover agent for U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, was uninjured.
The daytime shootout last year was more than just a difficult bust: It was the outgrowth of a strategy change by federal gun authorities, who, working on a tight budget, now concentrate on individual bad actors rather than trying to take down weapons-dealing networks.
The idea is "to do more with less," said Joseph Riehl, special agent in charge of the local office of the ATF, enforcer of the nation's gun laws.
"It's a new business model approach," Riehl said. "It's identifying the worst of the worst and then going after them directly. We're going after the shot-callers, the decision makers, instead of entire gangs, and trying to work our way in."
Making do with less -
It's a coping mechanism for an agency often described as the neglected stepchild of federal law enforcement. With responsibility over more than 300 million guns in circulation and 137,000 federal firearms licensees - along with the explosives industry and illegal trafficking of alcohol and tobacco - the bureau has 2,388 special agents nationwide. That's not a lot more than the 1,600 police officers who patrol San Francisco. In the past decade, the bureau has added exactly 38 agents across the country.
In some places, budget constraints have resulted in fewer boots on the ground, and nowhere are those losses more apparent than in the Bay Area.
The agency's San Francisco field division, which extends to the Oregon border and includes the Central Valley and state of Nevada, had 127 agents in the mid-1990s. Today, even with a national outcry to clamp down on illegal firearms, 62 agents patrol the same sprawling territory.
Last year, despite the widely acknowledged existence of a pipeline of guns moving illegally into California from Nevada, the bureau's Reno office was effectively closed and its six agents reassigned. Riehl said they were needed elsewhere.
In Oakland, which has the highest crime rate in the state, about a half dozen field agents investigate cases, compared with 25 to 30 a decade ago.
"I may not need six agents in Reno right now," Riehl said, noting that some of the Nevada employees were moved to the Bay Area. "But we do need them in Stockton and Oakland today. That's where the data shows us the gun crime is."
Prosecutions down -
The number of cases that the ATF has brought for prosecution has also dropped since the peak staffing years, Riehl said.
"When you have a smaller staff, you have fewer cases to present," Riehl said. "But we're hoping the cases we do bring have an impact on violent crime. Instead of trying to take down Gang X with 30 members, we'll focus on the two or three members of Gang X who are involved in the violent activity."
The agent's day-to-day job has also shifted, from making street contacts to analyzing data from behind a desk.
Palmer, now a supervising agent based in the Dublin office, no longer spends weeks trying to develop one undercover buy. He joined the Oakland office as a rookie nine years ago, when he said the directive was to "try and grab everybody who has an illegal firearm."
Now, reports from local agencies coupled with hot-spot crime sheets and data collected through ShotSpotter, the automated gunshot locator, narrow the agent's efforts.
"It's more, 'Let's focus on the places where people are using guns and the people who we know will use the crime guns,' " Palmer said.
The bureau cemented that strategy change by starting Operation Frontline, which rolled out locally in the Bay Area last year. Rather than embarking on months-long infiltrations into gangs and drug cartels, the ATF relies heavily on local intelligence to identify what authorities call the handful of criminals and gang members who account for a large percentage of gun crime.
Agents work with local and state police to help them identify gun-use patterns and pinpoint traffickers, sellers and users. The strategy relies heavily on use of undercover agents, informants and often-controversial sting operations.
In the Bay Area, Mobley was one of the first targets.
Long history -
In many ways, Mobley's rap sheet made him a model target for Frontline. His criminal history dated to 2005, when he was 15 and gave a loaded gun to a cousin who was later caught with it at school. He was convicted twice as a juvenile for car theft, shot and killed a marijuana dealer in what was ruled self-defense, and was arrested twice for gun possession but never convicted.
Richmond officers who met with ATF agents said he was a member of a local gang, and they helped federal authorities pull together a "target packet" on him, Riehl said.
Palmer's undercover team made inroads by cold-calling one of Mobley's former high school classmates in search of a gun to purchase. The informant said Mobley had bragged that he'd just returned from Reno and had a box of new weapons for sale.
Weeks later, Mobley and his friends contacted an undercover agent and proposed the grenade-launcher deal. Mobley's attorneys said he never actually had a launcher or grenades - he simply texted a photo to Palmer.
In May, Mobley and one of his accomplices pleaded guilty to conspiracy to rob and assault a federal officer and were sentenced to 9 1/2 and nine years, respectively. A third defendant, who was convicted in August of robbery and assault of a federal officer, was sentenced to 12 years.
"Mobley was in our sights as an active shooter," Palmer said, "regardless of his lack of convictions. In the past, maybe an agent would have taken a look at him if he came across the radar, but he would have been low priority without a felony conviction. Now, he's a priority."
In some instances, the federal bureau's tactics have led to charges it is concocting criminal enterprises to entrap people.
In May 2012, the agency focused on Jarvis Toussaint, whom Oakland police had branded among the city's shot-callers. According to court records, undercover ATF agents offered Toussaint a deal: If they told him the location of a drug stash house loaded with 5 kilograms of cocaine, and he robbed it, they would split the proceeds.
Over the course of several days, according to transcripts of recordings, Toussaint boasted of committing a previous shooting and his involvement in similar robberies.
'Risk of entrapment' -
On the morning of the planned heist, the agents rounded up Toussaint and two other armed men and drove toward an East Oakland house that Toussaint had been led to believe was a distribution center for a Mexican cartel.
Instead of knocking over a drug den, the agents drove into a storage center's parking lot on Hegenberger Road and arrested the three. All pleaded guilty to gun and drug charges and were sent to prison.
Such ruses, however, have raised concern from federal judges and local attorneys.
Last year, a federal appeals judge in Illinois wrote in a dissent to an opinion upholding the convictions of three defendants that the stings were a "disreputable tactic" that create "an increased risk of entrapment."
In August, another judge in U.S. District Court in Chicago reviewing a case with five defendants found there was a "strong showing of potential bias" that the stings targeted racial minorities.
Chance to back out -
Paul DeMeester, an attorney for one of the men convicted in the Oakland setup, said his client had a history of drug convictions but nothing involving guns.
"In their zeal to get guns off the street, they're manufacturing crimes for people who wouldn't commit them without their inducement and encouragement," DeMeester said.
Facing a 20 year-sentence, DeMeester said, his client pleaded guilty to accept a term of six years.
"The ATF is planting the seeds and saying, 'Would you do this?' " DeMeester said. "It's just wrong."
Helen Dunkel, an ATF spokeswoman, stressed that agents always give the suspects an opportunity to back out and said the practice fulfilled the mission of the agency.
"If we know these are the people who would commit the most violent crimes with guns, why wouldn't we take them out?" she said. "Someone willing to commit an armed home invasion, and possibly kill people to steal drugs and cash, is someone who is willing to commit serious violence in the streets."
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Oakland Police provide political affiliation information to private business for purpose of intimidating targeted dissidents
"Activist protesting police militarization exercise says police used surveillance footage to get him fired"
2013-10-30 [http://privacysos.org/node/1221]:
According to an activist in Oakland, California, police officers produced surveillance footage of his participation in a political demonstration last week to his employers, prompting his firing. The activist, who goes by @Anon4Justice on Twitter, tweeted the following this morning:
It appears as if the police used surveillance camera footage paired with records in private and public databases to identify the activist and find out where he works. The police then allegedly called his employer and notified them that, while the activist said he had been sick, he was really out at a protest confronting the police. He was subsequently fired.
The protest the activist attended was a rally in opposition to Oakland’s hosting of regional, DHS-funded ‘Urban Shield’ exercises. These are paramilitary style disaster response trainings that occur nationwide thanks to funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Thousands of law enforcement officials participated in Oakland’s Urban Shield operation this year.
The Domain Awareness Center, police militarization and the war on dissent
The city’s use of publicly funded surveillance cameras and police officers to harass and intimidate a political activist comes at a time when surveillance in Oakland is under heightened national scrutiny.
The city received $7 million from the Department of Homeland Security for port security programs, but plans to spend the funds building a massive surveillance operation it calls a “Domain Awareness Center”. The New York Times profiled the center in October 2013, describing the controversy surrounding the gargantuan surveillance dragnet [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/14/technology/privacy-fears-as-surveillance-grows-in-cities.html?pagewanted=2]:
[begin excerpt]
Proponents of the Oakland initiative…say it will help the police reduce the city’s notoriously high crime rates. But critics say the program, which will create a central repository of surveillance information, will also gather data about the everyday movements and habits of law-abiding residents, raising legal and ethical questions about tracking people so closely.
Libby Schaaf, an Oakland City Council member, said that because of the city’s high crime rate, “it’s our responsibility to take advantage of new tools that become available.” She added, though, that the center would be able to “paint a pretty detailed picture of someone’s personal life, someone who may be innocent.”
…
Even before the initiative, Oakland spent millions of dollars on traffic cameras, license plate readers and a network of sound sensors to pick up gunshots. Still, the city has one of the highest violent crime rates in the country. And an internal audit in August 2012 found that the police had spent $1.87 million on technology tools that did not work properly or remained unused because their vendors had gone out of business.
The new center will be far more ambitious. From a central location, it will electronically gather data around the clock from a variety of sensors and databases, analyze that data and display some of the information on a bank of giant monitors.
[end excerpt]
Critics of these enormous, wasteful expenditures wondered aloud to the Times about what would happen with the “comprehensive information about Oakland residents who have engaged in no wrongdoing” that the DAC plans to stockpile.
“What happens when someone doesn’t like me and has access to all that information?” a public policy researcher asked.
If today’s events are any indication, Oakland residents can expect the police to use the vast troves of information the city collects against them to hurt them even when they have broken no law. This kind of government action sends a chilling message to all Oakland residents: If you protest the police, they will use the powerful surveillance tools at their disposal to come after you and interfere with your life — regardless of whether or not you’ve done anything wrong.
Was the compilation of photographs of @Anon4Justice part of the Urban Shield exercise the activist was protesting? Is it OPD policy to use photographs of people exercising their First Amendment rights to get them in trouble with their employers? Is this kind of McCarthyite political repression how Oakland residents — or the rest of the country — want their tax dollars spent?
2013-10-30 [http://privacysos.org/node/1221]:
According to an activist in Oakland, California, police officers produced surveillance footage of his participation in a political demonstration last week to his employers, prompting his firing. The activist, who goes by @Anon4Justice on Twitter, tweeted the following this morning:
It appears as if the police used surveillance camera footage paired with records in private and public databases to identify the activist and find out where he works. The police then allegedly called his employer and notified them that, while the activist said he had been sick, he was really out at a protest confronting the police. He was subsequently fired.
The protest the activist attended was a rally in opposition to Oakland’s hosting of regional, DHS-funded ‘Urban Shield’ exercises. These are paramilitary style disaster response trainings that occur nationwide thanks to funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Thousands of law enforcement officials participated in Oakland’s Urban Shield operation this year.
The Domain Awareness Center, police militarization and the war on dissent
The city’s use of publicly funded surveillance cameras and police officers to harass and intimidate a political activist comes at a time when surveillance in Oakland is under heightened national scrutiny.
The city received $7 million from the Department of Homeland Security for port security programs, but plans to spend the funds building a massive surveillance operation it calls a “Domain Awareness Center”. The New York Times profiled the center in October 2013, describing the controversy surrounding the gargantuan surveillance dragnet [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/14/technology/privacy-fears-as-surveillance-grows-in-cities.html?pagewanted=2]:
[begin excerpt]
Proponents of the Oakland initiative…say it will help the police reduce the city’s notoriously high crime rates. But critics say the program, which will create a central repository of surveillance information, will also gather data about the everyday movements and habits of law-abiding residents, raising legal and ethical questions about tracking people so closely.
Libby Schaaf, an Oakland City Council member, said that because of the city’s high crime rate, “it’s our responsibility to take advantage of new tools that become available.” She added, though, that the center would be able to “paint a pretty detailed picture of someone’s personal life, someone who may be innocent.”
…
Even before the initiative, Oakland spent millions of dollars on traffic cameras, license plate readers and a network of sound sensors to pick up gunshots. Still, the city has one of the highest violent crime rates in the country. And an internal audit in August 2012 found that the police had spent $1.87 million on technology tools that did not work properly or remained unused because their vendors had gone out of business.
The new center will be far more ambitious. From a central location, it will electronically gather data around the clock from a variety of sensors and databases, analyze that data and display some of the information on a bank of giant monitors.
[end excerpt]
Critics of these enormous, wasteful expenditures wondered aloud to the Times about what would happen with the “comprehensive information about Oakland residents who have engaged in no wrongdoing” that the DAC plans to stockpile.
“What happens when someone doesn’t like me and has access to all that information?” a public policy researcher asked.
If today’s events are any indication, Oakland residents can expect the police to use the vast troves of information the city collects against them to hurt them even when they have broken no law. This kind of government action sends a chilling message to all Oakland residents: If you protest the police, they will use the powerful surveillance tools at their disposal to come after you and interfere with your life — regardless of whether or not you’ve done anything wrong.
Was the compilation of photographs of @Anon4Justice part of the Urban Shield exercise the activist was protesting? Is it OPD policy to use photographs of people exercising their First Amendment rights to get them in trouble with their employers? Is this kind of McCarthyite political repression how Oakland residents — or the rest of the country — want their tax dollars spent?
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Justice for Andy Lopez Cruz! (Santa Rosa, d. 2013-10-22)
Official campaign coalition website, associated directly with Andy's family [JusticeCoalitionForAndyLopez.com]
* Independent Autopsy Report shows how Andy was executed by Sonoma County Sheriff's Deputy [link], see for yourself the manner of policing by Sonoma County Sheriffs.
* Sonoma County D.A. Report on Andy Lopez Shooting [link]
Headlines:
* Justice for Andy Lopez! Action called for Sept. 9th in Santa Rosa! [link]* Independent Autopsy Report shows how Andy was executed by Sonoma County Sheriff's Deputy [link], see for yourself the manner of policing by Sonoma County Sheriffs.
* Sonoma County D.A. Report on Andy Lopez Shooting [link]
Headlines:
* MASS BAY AREA RALLY IN SANTA ROSA; DA SAYS – “JUSTIFIED – WE SAY HOMICIDE” (2014-07-11 press release) [link]
* Latest Incident in Sonoma County re: Harassment of Latino Youth (2014-07-08) [link]
* "LOPEZ FAMILY REACTS TO DA’S DECISION NOT TO CHARGE ERICK GELHAUSE" (2014-07-07) [link]
* Sonoma County DA Jill Ravitch faces demands for Justice for Andy Lopez! (2014-07-03) [link]
* "Sociology Students on Andy Lopez Case", 2014-06-01 [link]
* Hands off Jose! Justice for Andy Lopez Supporters Held At Gun Point By Santa Rosa Police Dept. [link]
* Cook Middle School in Santa Rosa retaliates against students seeking justice for Andy Lopez (2014-04) [link]
* "Lopez Protestors to Confront DA Ravitch With Conclusive Autopsy Evidence of Deputy Gelhaus Criminal Liability for the Shooting of Andy Lopez", 2014-04-08 [link]
* Pressure Mounts on AG Harris to Act in Lopez Case: NAACP & Local Attorneys Weigh In to Demand Action - “Bring Back Justice Cruz Reynoso as Special Prosecutor” [link]
* "DA Ravitch Stonewalls Investigation into Assault by Security Detail at Pasta Fundraiser; Mounting Evidence of Bias Against Lopez Protestors", 2014-03-19 [link]
* California Attorney General Office stonewalls Justice for Andy Lopez! 2014-02-13 [link]
* Justice Coalition for Andy Lopez begins "Spring Justice Offensive" with legal actions! 2014-02-06 [link]
* “JCAL Blasts DA Ravitch and the SR Police Department’s Total Lack of Transparency in Deputy Gelhaus Shooting Investigation” [link]
* Amended Federal Complaint vs. Sonoma County and Deputy Sheriff Erick Gelhaus [link]
* Mothers in White, and a Founding Member of the Black Panther Party, Protests the Killing of Andy Lopez by Sonoma County at Board of Supervisors meeting, 2013-01-07 [link]
* "Andy Lopez Memorial Torched: Community will Rebuild", 2014-01-02 [link]
* Andy's Youth demand Justice in Santa Rosa! [link]
* "Community Objects to Sonoma County Deputy Gellhaus Return to Duty" [link]
* Justice for Andy Lopez on Human Rights Day! [link]
* "Santa Rosa, Calif. 80 youth march surrounded by 26 cop cars; Community demands justice for Andy Lopez!" [link]
* Nov. 26th, 2013, March for Justice and Human Rights in Santa Rosa! [link]
Solidarity against the repression of a community in Santa Rosa! [link]
* Hands off Ramon Cairo! [link]
* Hands off Douglass! [link]
* Hands off Godoy! [link]
* Hands off Jose! [link]
* Hands off Andy's Youth! [link]
"Re: Police shooting of Andy Lopez"
2013-11-02 letter by John Sakowicz of Ukiah to the "Mendocino Country Independent Newspaper":
I have researched an "Intelius Background Check" on Sonoma County deputy, Erick Gelhaus, who shot 13-year old Andy Lopez seven times, killing him, on October 22, 2013. Gelhaus was deliberate. He fired eight times in 26 seconds. That's a lot of time in the split-second world of law enforcement. Trigger-happy? You decide. The kid was holding a toy replica of a gun. The FBI is now investigating the shooting, because neither the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office nor the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office can be trusted my many members of the public to conduct an impartial investigation. The family of Andy Lopez and much of the local Latino community have cried out for justice. If guilty, Erick Gelhaus should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. As a law enforcement officer sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States, this is a greater demand for justice put upon Erick Gelhaus than for ordinary citizens. Adding the facts that Gelhaus was also a SWAT team member and wrote for SWAT Magazine, was also training instructor at the Gunsite Academy in Sonoma County, and that he demonstrated products for Aimpoint Red Dot Sights, Blue Force Gear, and other vendors of the deadly tools of the trade for law enforcement, there may no excuse for this killing. Gelhaus was not just an ordinary citizen, he was not just an ordinary cop...he was a lot more. He should have known better.
No Justice. No Peace.
"Letters sent today to the US Civil Rights Commission re: death of Andy Lopez"
2013-11-08, The following letter with background articles is being sent today by US Postal Service to both the Western Regional Director, Dr. Peter Minarik of the US Civil Rights Commission in Los Angeles as well as Michael Yaki, of San Francisco, a Commissioner of that body. It is signed by sixteen local groups as a community response to the October 22 killing of Andy Lopez by Sonoma County Sheriff Deputy Erick Gilhous.
---
WE ASK FOR THE RETURN OF THE US CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION TO SONOMA COUNTY TO HOLD HEARINGS
We write to you today as a coalition of human rights and social justice groups in Sonoma County where the tragic death of a thirteen year old child has galvanized and outraged our community. The October 22 shooting death of Andy Lopez by Sonoma County deputy Sheriff Erick Gelhaus has resulted in near daily protests and vigils over the past two weeks with no end in sight. We are writing to request that you return to Sonoma County to hold all day hearings as you did in February of 1998. You came here then as a result of a serious spate of law enforcement related civilian killings in the mid 1990s.
You issued a comprehensive report in May of 2000 with several recommendations including setting up civilian review boards. Unfortunately all law enforcement agencies in Sonoma County ignored those recommendations claiming that all concerns could be solved through a Grand Jury approach. Since 2000 there have been 56 more civilian deaths at the hands of local law enforcement, including 16 year old Jeremiah Chass and 30 year old Richard DeSantis, both in 2007 which resulted in a similar outcry from our community. Several of those unnecessary deaths resulted in private lawsuits and ended in settlements costly to our county and taxpayers.
We are now united in our condemnation of this most recent unnecessary killing of Andy Lopez on October 22 and believe it shows an unfortunate and continuing pattern over the past two decades that urgently needs outside intervention and oversight. Please let us know what we can do to start the process for the Commission to return to Sonoma County for official hearings.
[signed]
* Peace and Justice Center of Sonoma County
* Police Accountability Clinic and Helpline (PACH)
* Committee for Immigrant Rights of Sonoma County
* Round Valley Indians for Justice
* 100 Thousand Poets for Change
* Missing Pages Productions
* Bohemian Grove Action Network
* Apple Roots Group
* North Coast Coalition for Palestine
* Sonoma County Peace and Freedom Party
* Coalition for Grassroots Progress: Sonoma County
* Latino Democratic Club of Sonoma County
* National Lawyers Guild: San Francisco Bay Area Chapter
* Val Barber—mother of Jesse Hamilton, killed by law enforcement 2008
* Emory Douglas Black Panther Party Artist
* Northbay Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS)
"Andy Lopez Shooting: Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit to be Filed"
2013-11-04 press release from the Law Office of Arnoldo Casillas, Esq. [323-725-0917] [Acasillas@morenolawoffices.com]:
Press Conference:
Date: Monday, November 4, 2013 Time: 1:00 p.m.
Location: 44 Montgomery Street
Market Conference Room, Lower Level San Francisco, CA 94104
The parents of 13-year-old Andy Lopez will sue Erick Gelhaus and Sonoma County for killing their son.
The federal civil rights lawsuit will be filed on Monday, November 4, 2013, at the Federal District Court in San Francisco.
The lawsuit will allege that the shooting of Andy Lopez was unconstitutional in that it violated the Fourth Amendment’s limits on police authority. The lawsuit will detail the circumstances of the shooting and allege that defendant Erick Gelhaus shot and killed Andy Lopez without reasonable cause, in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The complaint will also allege that the shooting resulted from an unconstitutional custom and practice at the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department regarding the use of deadly force.
Andy’s parents and their lawyer will hold a press conference on Monday, November 4, 2013, to discuss the findings of their investigation, the results of their private autopsy, and the details of Andy’s short life. The family will have an electronic media package available to those attending the press conference. Andy Lopez’s parents will be present at the press conference.
Justice for Andy shirt!
This shirt is sold to raise money for the family. When you see this shirt and Aztlan Industries, know that all the money is being donated to the family. It's all for Andy. (donations were received by Family of Andy Lopez, Nov 12th, after the last shirt was sold by Aztlan Industries).
"Andy Lopez developments: Monday and Tuesday"
For Immediate Release: November 3, 2013
Contact: Michael Rothenberg 305 753 4569
1) IMPORTANT PRESS CONFERENCE, The Lopez Family Lawyers- MONDAY NOVEMBER 4 : SAN FRANCISCO FRIENDS PLEASE GO TO: 44 Montgomery St., San Francisco, CA, Market Conferennce Room, Lower Level at 1pm. The lawyers for Andy Lopez Family will make a very important statement!!
2) On Tuesday Nov. 5th we will be marching to demand that Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch convene a Grand Jury for the purpose of indicting Deputy Sheriff Erick Gelhaus for the wanton murder of our 13-year old brother and friend Andy Lopez. Today we have sent an official written request to the DA demanding a meeting with DA Ravitch for Nov. 5 at 2:30 to present our Declaration of Indictment. We will let you know if we hear back from the DA. DA Ravitch do your job - indict Gelhaus for "criminal matters"
TAKE NOTE: On November 5, 2010, Johannes Mehserle, who shot and killed Oscar Grant, was sentenced to two years, minus time served. He served his time in the Los Angeles County Jail, occupying a private cell away from other prisoners. He was released on June 13, 2011. He only served 9 months. We must make sure this time around JUSTICE is SERVED! November 5th we march for Andy Lopez, we march for Oscar Grant, we march for Ernest Duenez Jr.!!!
Poster attached in Spanish and English gives Tuesday action specifics. Please contact Michael Rothenberg, walterblue@bigbridge.org or call 305-753-4569 for more information
"Joint statement to bring US Civil Rights Commission back to Sonoma County"
Limited copies of the 2000 report from the US COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS of their 1998 Hearings in Sonoma County are available by request. For more info contact Mary Moore [707-874-2248] [justice3@sonic.net]
---
October 30, 2013, Joint Statement from Sonoma County Human Rights and Social Justice groups to ask the US Civil Rights Commission to return to our community in the aftermath of the killing of Andy Lopez.
"We are a coalition of Sonoma County human rights and social justice groups who have come together to suggest that the US Civil Right Commission revisit Sonoma County in light of the recent killing of thirteen-year old Andy Lopez by a Sonoma County Sheriff Deputy on October 22. In 1998 the California Advisory Committee of the Commission came to Sonoma County for an all day hearing regarding a spate of questionable civilian killings in the 1990s and in 2000 issued a very comprehensive report which sided with the community concerns.
Since the 1998 hearings there have been way too many preventable civilian deaths at the hands of local law enforcement, including 16 year old Jeremiah Chass and 30 year old Richard DeSantis, both in 2007. Several of those unnecessary deaths resulted in private lawsuits and ended in settlements costly to our county and taxpayers. We are now united in our condemnation of this most recent unnecessary killing by local law enforcement and believe it shows an unfortunate pattern over the past two decades that needs outside intervention and oversight.
In this latest killing of Andy Lopez the FBI has quickly stepped up to conduct its own investigation but given it's history regarding social justice issues we would like another set of "outside" eyes to go along with this. We will soon be approaching the US Civil Rights Commission with this request. If your group would like to join us please email justice3@sonic.net to add your name."
Signed
* Peace and Justice Center of Sonoma County
* Police Accountability Clinic and Helpline (PACH)
* Committee for Immigrant Rights of Sonoma County
* Round Valley Indians for Justice
* 100 Thousand Poets for Change
* Missing Pages Productions
* Bohemian Grove Action Network
* Apple Roots Group
* North Coast Coalition for Palestine
* Sonoma County Peace and Freedom Party
* Northbay MDS
* Val Barber—mother of Jesse Hamilton, killed by law enforcement 2008
"Continuing vigils, marches, and activism around the killing of Andy Lopez by Sonoma County Sheriff's Deputies"
2013-10-26 from the "Sonoma County Peace and Justice Center"
The Peace & Justice Center of Sonoma County is attempting to be a hub of information for ongoing activism regarding the killing of 13-year-old Andy Lopez by Sonoma County Sheriff's deputies. The most up-to-date information can be found on our Facebook page [facebook.com/PJCSonoma] If you know of anything we aren't posting, please post it to that page and we will share it. Thank you for your help in reducing gun culture and police shoot-to-kill policies. We will also be working on citizen oversight of law enforcement. Thank you.
Want to know how you can be part of the solution?
March for Andy Lopez!
Tuesday, The march will be on October 29th and will have 2 meeting places. At 12pm, people can either meet at The Old Court House Square or Santa Rosa Junior College. Those that choose to go to the Court House will begin marching to the SRJC at 1 pm. Those that choose to protest at the SRJC will meet at 12 and rally while they await the arrival of those marching from the Old Court House Square. Once the two parties are united, we will all march toward the Sheriffs Department. There, we will have another protest with both parties and those who can join at the Sheriffs department around 3pm.......
Addresses:
Santa Rosa Junior College(12pm): 1501 Mendocino Ave, Santa Rosa, Ca, 95401
Old Courthouse Square (12pm): Old Courthouse Square Santa Rosa, CA 95404
Sheriffs Department (3pm): 2796 Ventura Avenue
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
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Justice Now! Unity March for Andy Lopez!
Wednesday, Meet at the Dollar Tree parking lot on Sebastopol Ave. in Roseland at 5:00 p.m.
We'll march to Old Courthouse Square in Santa Rosa, planning to arrive by 6:30 p.m.
Candlelight vigil and speakers in Old Courthouse Square at 6:30 p.m.
Unity March from Roseland to Courthouse Square for a peaceful demonstration and afternoon rally with speakers (TBA). At sundown there will be a silent vigil and return walk to Roseland. This event hopes to bring together the diverse communities of Santa Rosa for a massive demonstration of unity against police brutality, gun violence, and racial profiling in our neighborhoods and a call for justice in the brutal slaying of Andy Lopez. Together we can create change and make Santa Rosa a safe and just home for ALL of our children. This march and vigil will be a continuation and culmination of the many protests, actions, demonstrations taking place around Santa Rosa. We will continue until there is justice for Andy Lopez!
"A CHILD IS DEAD"
2013-10-23 statement from Elbert “Big Man” Howard, co-founder for PACH Police Accountability Clinic & Helpline of Sonoma County:
My name is Elbert “Big Man” Howard, and I am a founding member of The Black Panther Party and also of PACH, the Police Accountability Clinic & Helpline of Sonoma County. PACH, an all-volunteer organization, was formed to take reports of police misconduct after community meetings which occurred because of a series of killings which took place in 2007. I am making this statement on behalf of myself and PACH and in response and protest to the killing of Andy Lopez, 13 years of age, by law enforcement.
One of the reasons that the Black Panther Party was formed in 1966, and why they fought so hard many years ago, was to have community control of the police – to make the policeaccountable to the community. In the present atmosphere that still exists of racial profiling and police abuse, the politicians and law enforcement agencies are accountable to no one.
Now, 47 years later, here I am, waking up to the news that yesterday, Oct 22nd, on the very day we recognize as the National day of protest against police brutality, this 13 year-old child has been shot down and killed by Sonoma County Sheriff's deputies.
Clearly, police misconduct remains an on-going issue in our community as the civil and human rights of people in our communities are ignored and violated. We all need to protest the police abuse, racial profiling, and the killings by law enforcement that continue to occur in our community.
Law enforcement, in this county, is a system against the people. The treatment of people at the hands of law enforcement remains an ongoing issue, and instead of improving, has clearly worsened. The fact that this child has been gunned down is just one example of an entire unjust system.
Details of these deaths in the past and present are always "not for public record". The so-called details take weeks to be obtained. We, as community members, demand an accounting of this shooting. We want to know why this child is dead.
In order to protest the police abuse and racial profiling that continues to thrive in our community, we need to take action in various ways.
One of these ways is that we need to cease supporting, as taxpayers, the funding of laws, law enforcement agencies, and criminal penalties that do not work and violate our civil, constitutional, and human rights.
Some of you may remember, back in May of 2000, the US Commission on Civil Rights, after investigating charges of police misconduct in Sonoma County, recommended that there should be an office formed, independent of the District Attorney’s, to both investigate and prosecute cases of police abuse. It never happened.Why? Was it due to a lack of community political will?
Are we to continue to ignore the injustices in our community? Are we to continue to support laws that erode our basic human and civil rights? We must form alliances within our community in order to deal with this issue of misconduct by law enforcement. We must do it now before someone else's child lies dead at the age of 13.
"Exclusive: More Corruption in Sonoma Law Enforcement"
2013-12-03 by Jan Tucker [http://janbtucker.com/blog/2013/12/03/exclusive-more-corruption-in-sonoma-law-enforcement/]:
Detective’s Diary has been keeping watch on the aftermath of the death of 13 year old Andy Lopez in the outskirts of Santa Rosa October 22 of this year. Andy was gunned down by sheriff deputy Erick William Gelhaus within seconds after Gelhaus saw the middle school student walking along Moorland Avenue with a bb gun. Our friend and colleague, Private Investigator Alex Salazar, has been working on the case for the Lopez family’s attorneys (one of whom is, like Jan B. Tucker, a 1970s era CSU Northridge Mechista).
The killing is being “investigated” by the Santa Rosa Police Department while many activists, community residents, and outraged citizens are calling upon the District Attorney Jill Ravitch to bring criminal charges against the law enforcement officer, a highly trained weapons instructor.
A public records search of campaign filings was made of the incumbent Sonoma County Sheriff Steve Freitas who is seeking another term next year by longtime Peace & Freedom Party activist and Detective’s Diary reporter Irv Sutley. The Freitas financial documents show that the sheriff (whose employee, Deputy Gelhaus is under investigation by the SRPD) has as his campaign committee treasurer one Ernesto Olivares. Mr. Olivares is not only a former high ranking officer of the Santa Rosa Police Department and now a current Santa Rosa city council member but was also formerly city mayor. The Freitas-Olivares connection ordinarily might not have attracted much comment other than being just another example of the old boys network among county law enforcement.
That is until Sutley while going through the Freitas for sheriff campaign documents came across the committee’s physical address: 415 Steele Lane, Santa Rosa, California. This location is property owned by the City of Santa Rosa and is the headquarters of the Recreation, Parks, & Community Service programs of the City of Santa Rosa.
Sutley, a Peace and Freedom Party organizer since February 1967 who served as State Chair from 1970-72, says the filings clearly show that council member Olivares is breaking the law and misusing city assets and city property in furtherance of his personal management of the campaign on behalf of the county sheriff: “No candidate or campaign committee has the right to misappropriate public property or public monies while pursuing their political ambitions. There needs to be an investigation of Ernesto Olivares in this matter. Did the sheriff know and when did he know? The city attorney, the district attorney, the state Attorney General and possibly federal agencies need to look into these Olivares misdeeds in the Steve Freitas campaign. A corrupt individual relationship like this in electoral matters may indicate that there can not be justice for Andy Lopez when these same individuals are and have been part and parcel of ‘investigating’ each other’s ‘good shootings’ which are always held to be justified.”
"Deputy who shot boy with BB gun IDd as gun expert"
2013-10-28 by Henry K. Lee [http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Deputy-who-shot-boy-with-toy-gun-ID-d-as-gun-4933421.php]:
Tonia Coleman hangs clothing printed with Andy Lopez Cruz's image while Fernando Alducin (center), Cristian Sev, Marisol Hernandez and Carlos Sev wait outside Andy's viewing service in Windsor. Photo: Raphael Kluzniok, The Chronicle
This combination of photos provided by the family via The Press Democrat and the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department shows an undated photo of 13-year-old Andy Lopez and the replica assault rifle he was holding when he was shot and killed by two Sonoma County deputies in Santa Rosa, Calif. on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013. Photo: Family Via The Press Democrat, Sonoma County Sheriff's Department, AP
In this photo taken Wednesday Oct. 23, 2013, pictures and written messages mark where 13-year-old Andy Lopez was shot and killed by a Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy Tuesday in Santa Rosa, Calif. Ten seconds elapsed between the time sheriff's deputies spotted a Northern California 13-year-old walking with what would turn out to be a replica assault rifle and their report that they had shot the teen, according to police. In that time, they put on the emergency lights of their patrol car, got out of the vehicle and took cover behind a passenger door and issued warnings to the teen to drop the weapon before one of them opened fire, police said. Photo: Conner Jay, AP
In this photo taken Tuesday Oct. 22, 2013, law enforcement investigators cover the body of a 13-year-old boy shot and killed by officers in Santa Rosa, Calif. Two California sheriff's deputies saw the boy walking with what appeared to be a high-powered weapon Tuesday, sheriff's Lt. Dennis O'Leary said. The replica gun resembled an AK-47, according to a photograph released by the sheriff's office. Deputies learned after the shooting that it wasn't an actual firearm, according to O'Leary. The teen was pronounced dead at the scene. The deputies, who have not been identified, have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard after a shooting, O'Leary said. Photo: Conner Jay, AP
The Sonoma County sheriff's deputy who killed a 13-year-old boy after mistaking his toy AK-47 for a real rifle was identified Monday as a firearms instructor, hunter and war veteran who in the past has warned other officers that they may need to use lethal force to survive an encounter.
Deputy Erick Gelhaus, 48, had broad experience with guns - even relative to others in his profession - before he fatally shot Andy Lopez Cruz last Tuesday just outside Santa Rosa, an incident that has prompted community outrage.
Gelhaus is a frequent contributor to law enforcement magazines and online forums in which he promotes officer safety. He served as an infantry squad leader in Iraq, according to his online profiles, and he describes himself as an avid hunter in North America as well as Africa.
He once accidentally shot himself in the leg in 1995 while on duty with the Sheriff's Office - reportedly while holstering a gun. However, officials said he has not fired upon a suspect in 24 years with the agency, where he serves as a field training officer for new recruits and trains colleagues to shoot at the department's gun range.
Gelhaus pondered such a possibility in a 2008 article for S.W.A.T., a monthly magazine that focuses on policing, weaponry and gun rights.
"Today is the day you may need to kill someone in order to go home," he wrote. "If you cannot turn on the 'mean gene' for yourself, who will? If you find yourself in an ambush, in the kill zone, you need to turn on that mean gene."
He added, "Taking some kind of action - any kind of action - is critical. If you shut down (physically, psychologically, or both) and stay in the kill zone, bad things will happen to you. You must take some kind of action."
Medal of valor -
Gelhaus received the sheriff's medal of valor in 2004 for rescuing people from a burning car. Records show he served in the Army from 1983 to 1987, the Army Reserve from 1987 to 1995, and the Army National Guard of California from 2003 to 2010. He served in Iraq in 2005.
Sonoma County Assistant Sheriff Lorenzo Duenas, who, along with Gelhaus, was part of a gang investigations team in the 1990s, said Monday of the deputy's online postings, "His opinions are his opinions."
Gelhaus is a "respected and solid employee," Duenas said. He said the office did not release the deputy's name earlier out of concern for his safety, after becoming aware of threats.
An attorney for Gelhaus has declined to comment. The deputy is on paid administrative leave, which is standard procedure, pending investigations by Santa Rosa and Petaluma police and the Sonoma County district attorney's office.
According to Santa Rosa police officials, the shooting happened after Gelhaus and a newly hired deputy he was training pulled up behind Andy. They had seen him walking near his home west of Highway 101 with what appeared to be an assault rifle, officials said, but was actually a plastic BB gun that Andy used to play games with friends.
Gelhaus got out of the vehicle and ordered the boy to drop the gun, which did not have an orange tip - a feature that toy guns must have under federal law. When he didn't drop the gun and turned toward the deputies, Gelhaus fired eight times, fearing for his life, officials said.
The FBI has also launched an independent inquiry to determine whether any federal civil rights violations occurred in the case, said agency spokesman Peter Lee, who declined to elaborate.
Duenas said sheriff's officials welcomed the FBI's involvement in the case, "since there has been discussion and questions regarding an independent review." He said his office would fully cooperate and was glad to have "another set of eyes on this tragic event."
District Attorney Jill Ravitch, meanwhile, urged the public over the weekend to be patient, saying that although the community "wears a shroud of grief" over Andy's killing, her office's investigation would take time.
'Time needed' -
She said she would be unable to release piecemeal accounts of what happened.
"In order for the process to succeed, I ask that we be given the time needed for a deliberate, step-by-step investigation to occur," Ravitch said. "I know we all seek the truth about what occurred on Oct. 22, and there is no one more committed to determining the facts than me."
Andy's family and friends have railed against the Sheriff's Office, saying Gelhaus should have known that the boy was carrying a fake rifle. There have been several protest marches and rallies since his killing, and another is scheduled for noon Tuesday.
At a march Friday, some protesters carried fake guns, and "at least one person displayed the weapon to passing citizens," Santa Rosa police said, adding that officers "were forced to respond to address the situation that created unnecessary risks for all involved."
"Driver says Sonoma deputy pulled gun on him"
2013-11-01 by Henry K. Lee from "San Francisco Chronicle" [http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Driver-says-Sonoma-deputy-pulled-gun-on-him-4944495.php]:
The Sonoma County sheriff's deputy who shot and killed a 13-year-old boy after mistaking his toy AK-47 for a real rifle pulled a gun on a motorist twice during a traffic stop on Highway 101 about two months earlier, the driver said Thursday.
Jeff Westbrook of Santa Rosa said he was mistreated by Deputy Erick Gelhaus after being pulled over Aug. 21 in Cotati for failing to signal a lane change in his BMW. The interaction troubled Westbrook so much that he recalled asking Gelhaus at one point, "Sir, is there something wrong with you?"
"I felt like I was watching somebody I needed to help," said Westbrook, 57, a program manager at an information technology company. "This was not right. He did not manage this correctly."
Gelhaus is on routine paid leave after the Oct. 22 shooting of eighth-grader Andy Lopez Cruz, who was walking with a replica AK-47 pellet gun near his home just outside Santa Rosa. His attorney declined Thursday to comment on Westbrook's allegations.
Gelhaus, who joined the sheriff's office 24 years ago, is a gun expert - an Iraq War veteran and hunter who serves as a field training officer and weapons instructor.
He told investigators he shot Andy because he thought the pellet gun was real and because he felt threatened when the boy turned toward him.
But Andy's friends and relatives believe the deputy overreacted and did not give the boy a chance to put the gun down.
Westbrook said he had hoped to meet with Gelhaus last week to clear the air about what happened during the traffic stop.
He said he had already discussed the incident with Gelhaus' supervisor, telling the sergeant he had concerns about the deputy's "emotional stability."
But a day after Andy was killed, Westbrook received an e-mail from Gelhaus' supervisor saying the deputy would be out of the office "due to unforeseen circumstances."
"Now I find out a child is involved. I am such an irrelevant part of this thing," Westbrook said. "I am devastated. I'm terribly shocked. I'm appalled."
Westbrook said he is now wondering whether he should have pressed his complaints.
"I'm struggling with that now," Westbrook said. "I'm wondering, if I had fought this a little more aggressively - actually waved around like a chimpanzee with my arms in the air to the district attorney's office and come down there physically - that maybe something could have changed. I don't know."
Assistant Sheriff Lorenzo Duenas said Thursday that he could not discuss Westbrook's traffic stop because it was a personnel issue and part of an internal investigation.
Westbrook said he and a colleague were traveling south on Highway 101 near Highway 116 when Gelhaus pulled them over and then approached the BMW on the passenger side.
There wasn't much room on the side of the highway, Westbrook said, so he rolled down his window and offered to move the car. That's when Gelhaus pulled a gun on him and yelled at him to turn the car off, Westbrook said. He said he responded that the car was already off.
According to Westbrook, Gelhaus returned to his cruiser to write a ticket. Several minutes later, the driver said, Gelhaus asked him to walk back to his cruiser and then pulled a gun on him a second time, asking him if he had any weapons before frisking him.
Westbrook said he finally asked the deputy why he had pulled him over, with Gelhaus referring to an illegal lane change. Westbrook said that's when he asked the deputy if he was OK. Gelhaus didn't answer, he said.
"Deputy who shot Santa Rosa boy identified"
2013-10-28 by Brett Wilkinson & Derek Moore from "The Press Democrat" [http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20131028/articles/310281004?title=Deputy-who-shot-Santa-Rosa-boy-ID'd#page=0]: Staff writers Julie Johnson, Randi Rossmann and Paul Payne and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Sonoma County sheriff's deputy who fired the shots that killed 13-year-old Andy Lopez last week is a firearms expert, Iraq War veteran and prolific contributor to magazines and online forums dealing with guns and police use of force.
The Sheriff's Office confirmed Sunday that Deputy Erick Gelhaus, 48, fired the shots. A 24-year veteran of the office, Gelhaus has been a frequent advocate in his writing for a prepared, aggressive stance in law enforcement, a profession he has described as a "calling" and likened to a "contact sport."
In a 2008 article he wrote for S.W.A.T. Magazine about strategies for surviving an ambush in the "kill zone," Gelhaus began by describing the "nanoseconds (that) seem like minutes as you scramble to react while simultaneously thinking about your children and spouse."
Sheriff's officials had previously declined to release the deputy's name, citing threats to his safety.
Assistant Sheriff Lorenzo Dueñas said the office was still dealing with those threats and would, if necessary, take measures to protect Gelhaus. He said the decision to confirm the deputy's name was based on an awareness that it was starting to circulate publicly.
Gelhaus joined the Sheriff's Office in 1989 and is one of its two dozen field training officers -- a group in charge of training newly hired and newly minted deputies -- in addition to being a firearms instructor and range master with special training in firearms safety and instruction.
He has testified in court as an expert on gangs and narcotics, according to a colleague. In 2004, he was awarded the office's Medal of Valor for pulling occupants of a burning vehicle to safety.
Dueñas on Sunday described Gelhaus as a "solid employee" and proven instructor among the office's 275 deputies and roughly 250 correctional officers.
Gelhaus "has a lot of credibility in the department," said a ranking Sheriff's Office veteran, noting his years in the military and experience vetting new employees. Like others interviewed last week, he would speak only on condition of anonymity because the Sheriff's Office command staff asked employees not to talk to the media about the investigation.
On Tuesday, Gelhaus was with a deputy he had supervised for a month, a new hire with 11 years of experience. Just after 3:14 p.m., they drove up behind Lopez about a half-mile north of the boy's Moorland Avenue home on the southwestern outskirts of Santa Rosa.
Ten seconds later, after the deputies had reported a suspicious person to dispatchers, radioed for backup and issued orders to the boy to drop his weapon, according to Santa Rosa police, Gelhaus opened fire when he saw Lopez -- his back to the deputies -- begin to turn toward him, the barrel of the BB gun rising.
The deputy mistook the BB gun for an assault rifle, investigators said.
Gelhaus fired eight rounds, striking the boy seven times, investigators said. Two shots were fatal, an autopsy determined.
His partner, the trainee, did not fire his weapon, investigators said. Gelhaus and the other deputy were placed on paid administrative leave.
Gelhaus has not returned repeated calls for comment.
Asked about how he is coping, Dueñas said Gelhaus is "doing as best as can be expected."
Sheriff's officials have declined to name the second deputy, citing his partial role as a "witness" in the incident and saying they did not want to interfere with the local investigation being led by Santa Rosa police.
The FBI also is looking into the shooting.
Gelhaus' involvement caused ripples as word leaked out last week among the sheriff's sworn personnel.
"Him of all people . . . that was my first thought," said another ranking sheriff's deputy. "He's a range master; he's respected; he's a go-to guy."
He noted the challenge of distinguishing in a moment's flash a BB gun -- described by police as a "replica AK-47 assault-style rifle" -- with the real thing.
Sheriff Steve Freitas did not respond to requests for comment Sunday.
Gelhaus' decision to fire at Lopez has sparked intense criticism of law enforcement and touched off a debate about whether the deputy was right to feel threatened and fire his weapon.
"We don't know the reason why they killed him; they should know if a gun is real," said Katia Ontiveros, 18, one of hundreds of local residents who joined protests and vigils last week in the shooting's aftermath.
But Geoffrey Alpert, a professor of criminology at the University of South Carolina, said officers are typically justified in the use of deadly force when they sincerely believe lives are at stake.
If the teen was raising the barrel of the gun toward officers, they had little choice about firing, Alpert told the Associated Press.
"If it's a pink bubble-gum gun and an obvious fake to most, then there is no reason to shoot," he said. "But if the gun looks real, the barrel is being pointed at you . . . it's unfortunate, but a perceived threat trumps age, and the officers have to protect themselves."
Aside from those assigned to substations, sheriff's deputies generally do not have specific beats. Gelhaus, nevertheless, would have been familiar with the area of southwest Santa Rosa where he was on patrol Tuesday, Dueñas said.
"Most deputies are," he said.
The area has had an uneasy relationship with law enforcement and long been confronted by a high concentration of assaults and gang and drug activity, according to Dueñas, who grew up in the neighborhood and went to the same schools as Lopez.
He touched only in general terms on how the area's past might have affected the deputies' actions in their encounter with the boy.
"For any situation, you're going to take into it the totality of what you know," plus information you gather, he said. It would be oversimplifying to say: "We go into any given neighborhood and say 'This is a bad neigbhorhood.' "
Dueñas did not have access Sunday to records detailing the level of Sheriff's Office patrol in the neighborhood, statistics on crime or answers about whether deputies had been in the area in the days before the shooting.
Dueñas said Gelhaus has served as a training officer since 2007. The role includes instruction in a wide range of operations, including arrest procedures, citizen contacts and office policies. It requires years of experience, good judgment and careful evaluation of co-workers, Dueñas said.
"They're good deputies. They're good performers," he said, speaking of the group.
He said he was not aware of any office policy that would have prohibited the trainee from firing his weapon. As to why he didn't and Gelhaus did, "Santa Rosa police will be looking into that," he said.
Gelhaus' role as a firearms instructor dates back to at least 1995. In an accident that made the news that year, he shot himself in the leg with his service handgun while holstering the gun to frisk a teen for weapons.
Aside from that incident, Gelhaus has not been involved in a shooting while working with the Sheriff's Office, Dueñas said.
His military career spans roughly 10 years, according to Sheriff's Office records, and includes service in the Army and National Guard.
An online profile posted on LinkedIn states that Gelhaus served as a non-commissioned officer with the Army National Guard from 2004 to 2010. While serving in Iraq, he reportedly supervised a heavy weapons squad and testified in court trials of insurgents.
He also is an adjunct instructor, according to his LinkedIn profile, for Gunsite Academy, an Arizona company that teaches markmanship, gun-handling and other skills to military personnel, law enforcement and "free citizens of the U.S."
In his writing, he cuts an usually high profile, with a voluminous number of online posts and magazine articles. They shed some light on his worldview and outlook on law enforcement.
He wrote for S.W.A.T. in 2008 that among the things he tells his trainees early on is that "Today is the day you may need to kill someone in order to go home."
"If you cannot turn on the 'Mean Gene' for yourself, who will?" he wrote. "If you find yourself in an ambush, in the kill zone, you need to turn on that mean gene."
Dueñas, asked to provide some law enforcement context that would explain the comments, said "the statement is just saying that today is the day you may have to engage and fight for your life."
"From an officer perspective, the reality is you could be making a traffic stop and walk back to the car and have someone shoot at you," Dueñas said.
As a prolific poster and moderator on The Firing Line, an online forum for gun enthusiasts hosted by S.W.A.T, Gelhaus, using his real name, offers his opinions on everything from weapons and technology, law enforcement and military tactics, and what it's like to work as a sheriff's deputy.
Gelhaus' participation in the forum was confirmed Friday by Denny Hansen, S.W.A.T.'s editor-in-chief.
In one revealing thread, forum members debated whether the use of force is justified if someone brandishes or fires a BB gun at another person.
Gelhaus chimed in, writing that "It's going to come down to YOUR ability to articulate to law enforcement and very likely the Court that you were in fear of death or serious bodily injury.
"I think we keep coming back to this, articulation -- your ability to explain why -- will be quite significant," Gelhaus wrote.
A jury in 2002 found that Gelhaus and the Sheriff's Office were not liable in a civil lawsuit alleging excessive force in a 1997 incident against two minors, Karla and Israel Salazar. The pair were walking on Kenton Court when an officer approached Israel in the belief he had escaped from police custody, according to court records submitted by attorneys representing the minors.
Israel muttered, "f------ pigs," prompting a fight that drew a crowd of up to 75 onlookers and other officers, including Gelhaus, who struck the boy in the leg with a flashlight, records show.
Criminal charges of resisting arrest were later dropped. But the family sued in Sonoma County civil court, alleging the minors' rights were violated..
In another online post, Gelhaus described his tenure as a deputy as a time of "the good, bad, terrible & indifferent," and advised one person asking for career advice to consider the potential of having to face the "very rare" situation of "having to take a life so that you survive and go home to yours."
"The time to make that decision is now, not at 1 a.m. in a muddy ditch or garbage-filled parking lot," Gelhaus wrote.
"Boy with toy rifle had 7 bullet wounds"
2013-10-24 by Henry K. Lee and Kurtis Alexander from "San Francisco Chronicle" [http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Boy-with-toy-rifle-had-7-bullet-wounds-4924334.php]:
The 13-year-old boy who was killed by police while carrying a toy assault rifle near his home outside Santa Rosa was struck seven times by bullets fired by a 24-year veteran of the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office, authorities said Thursday.
An autopsy by the county coroner on eighth-grader Andy Lopez Cruz found that two of the wounds were fatal, one in the right side of his chest and the second in his right hip, said Lt. Paul Henry of the Santa Rosa Police Department, one of the agencies investigating Tuesday's shooting.
Andy was also shot in his right wrist, left biceps, right forearm, right buttocks and right hip, Henry said. He said the deputy, who has not been identified, fired a total of eight rounds. He did not say how many of those bullets hit the boy; it's possible one or more of the bullets could have caused multiple wounds.
About 3 p.m. Tuesday, the deputy and a rookie deputy he was training spotted Andy walking on Moorland Avenue just west of Highway 101 with what appeared to be an assault rifle in his left hand, authorities said. The rookie deputy, who was driving, pulled behind Andy, who wore a blue hoodie and shorts.
According to the account from Santa Rosa police, both deputies got out of the car and took cover behind open doors. The veteran deputy twice shouted, "Put the gun down," before Andy turned to his right, authorities said.
The veteran deputy reported that he fired after fearing for his life because the rifle barrel was "rising up and turning in his direction," police said. At a news conference, officials displayed the replica rifle Andy carried - an air gun that shot plastic projectiles - alongside a real AK-47, saying the two looked similar.
The rookie deputy, who was hired last month, did not fire any shots, said Assistant Sheriff Lorenzo Duenas. That deputy had served 11 years with another police agency, said Duenas, who declined to identify that agency.
The shooting has prompted outrage in Santa Rosa and beyond. Andy's family members and friends have blasted the sheriff's office, saying the deputy who fired overreacted to a situation that did not require deadly force.
On Thursday, a tribute to Andy grew at the site of the shooting. Hundreds of people stopped at the memorial to pay their respects, and many shared concerns about what happened.
One sign in the field where Andy died read, "Wanted for Murder: Sonoma County Sheriff."
"I don't understand. I think if anyone would know what a real gun would look like it would be a police officer," said Elizabeth Cardenas, who used to live next door to Andy's family. "He was a good boy."
---
Luis Diaz, 13, a close friend of Andy Lopez Cruz, said his best friend should not have been shot. Photo: Kurtis Alexander, The Chronicle
Friday, October 25, 2013
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