Outrage, no answers in shooting
SACRAMENTO — The family wants criminal charges against the officers who opened fire. Protesters are demanding changes in how police approach black men in tense situations. Politicians from the mayor to the lieutenant governor and a U.S. senator express outrage.
But furor aside, there’s little prospect of quick action in the aftermath of the March 18 death of 22-year-old Stephon Clark, an unarmed African American man shot to death in his family’s backyard by two Sacramento police officers.
Experts who study police use of force say the facts and officers’ motives in a fatal shooting are not always immediately clear, despite appearances. Decisions on whether to file charges can take months, even years. The last time Sacramento went through an upheaval like
the Clark shooting — in summer 2016, when two officers shot to death Joseph Mann, an African American who was mentally ill and unarmed — it took 15 months for the Police Department to conclude its internal investigation and prosecutors to decide not to file a criminal case. The department tightened policies encouraging nonlethal measures in tense situations, but the family is still pursuing legal action against the city.
Sacramento is not alone. In San Francisco, prosecutors have yet to make a charging decision in the police shooting of stabbing suspect Mario Woods in the Bayview in December 2015, video footage of which prompted widespread protests.
In the Clark shooting, “it doesn’t look good for the officers, but I don’t think we can tell yet what to conclude,” said Geoffrey Alpert, a University of South Carolina criminology professor who specializes in police use of force. “They’ve got to do all of the investigation first.”
He said he had viewed bodycamera and helicopter footage taken by officers on the night of the shooting, “and I can’t tell what exactly happened.”
Clark was holding only a cell phone when he was shot to death by two officers who were responding to reports of a suspect breaking into vehicles. His family and African American community leaders said at a news conference Monday that they want prosecutors to file criminal charges against the officers, who fired a total of 20 shots at Clark.
“I want justice,” Sequita Thompson, Clark’s grandmother, said through sobs. “Please give us justice.”
The killing ignited protests around the state and energized the Black Lives Matter movement in the capital. Hundreds of protesters briefly shut down a freeway Thursday and blocked all but a few hundred fans from entering the downtown Golden 1 Center arena for a Sacramento Kings NBA game.
Activists said they plan more protests Tuesday, outside the offices of Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert.
“No family should have to endure this pain and suffering as they try to seek answers for an execution of their loved one who was only holding a cell phone,” said Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney who has been retained by Clark’s family. “The Clark family isn’t the only family that has had to endure this suffering.”
Crump has represented the families of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, black teenagers who were also shot and killed under controversial circumstances. Police say Clark was shot after he ran from officers responding to reports that someone was smashing car windows on 29th Street. They said deputies in a Sacramento County Sheriff ’s Department helicopter saw Clark shatter a sliding glass door of a residence and then jump fences into the backyard where he was eventually shot.
Officers said Clark was facing them and advanced toward them with his arms extended and holding an object in his hands that they believed was a gun. The only object found at the scene was the cell phone, police said.
In the body-worn-camera footage released Wednesday, the officers are seen running after the suspect into the backyard, yelling, “Show me your hands. Stop! Stop!”
Seconds after rounding the corner from the home’s driveway toward the yard, one officer shouts, “Show me your hands. Gun, gun, gun.” Both officer then open fire repeatedly on Clark.
Alpert said that as damning as the footage may appear, it doesn’t answer crucial questions.
“Did the young man reach out and try to tell the cops, ‘No, no, no?’ Were they behind any kind of cover as they shot? Were they concerned he was going to break into a house?
“The optics of this event don’t look good, and we have another dead unarmed black man,” Alpert said. “But optics don’t determine if it was a ( justified shooting) or not.”
Charles “Sid” Heal, a former Los Angeles County sheriff ’s commander and president of the California Association of Tactical Officers, said police killings of unarmed people often boil down to mistakes of fact by the officers, rather than bad judgment.
If the officers believed Clark had a gun, and that their lives were in danger, they would not necessarily have violated policy by shooting him.
“You’re only responsible for what you knew or should have known,” Heal said. “Anything learned after the fact is completely irrelevant.”
The Police Department has not released the names of the officers, but Melissa Nold, a Bay Area attorney who works with civil rights attorney John Burris, told The Chronicle on Friday that officers Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet were involved in the shooting. The officers have two and four years of experience with the department, respectively.
Without confirming the names, the Sacramento Police Department said the officers involved in the shooting have received death threats.
Although the shooting was recorded on the officers’ bodyworn chest cameras, both muted the cameras shortly after Clark was hit. Alpert called that difficult to understand, and said it would hinder the investigation by prosecutors and police.
“I don’t think anyone in law enforcement would say that’s a good thing to do,” he said. “When you turn off the sound like that, you’re losing information. Someone could have said something, and it could have helped the officers, or helped anyone else.”
Among those who were nearby when the officers fired their shots was Thompson, Clark’s grandmother. She was inside the home, dived to the floor and crawled to the sofa to protect her 7-year-old granddaughter, who was asleep.
Afterward, she said, police told her not to go outside.
“They didn’t have to kill him like that,” she said. “They didn’t have to shoot him that many times . ... Now my great grandbabies don’t have a daddy.”
Clark had two young children. He had several encounters with the law, including convictions for robbery and domestic violence, according to Sacramento County court records, and reportedly had been living in his grandmother’s house for about a month.
Elected officials’ reaction to the shooting has helped energize protesters. Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said he was “horrified” by the videos of the shooting, and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom tweeted, “A suspect that looks like me would still be alive.” Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., called for “swift accountability.”
As tensions mount and national attention on the shooting increases, protesters said they will continue to march.
“The momentum is not going to stop,” said Pastor Les Simmons, a Sacramento-based faith leader and social justice advocate. “Folks want change, need change, and I think there’s going to be boots on the ground until we get it.”