Chief faces in-custody death on his watch

Progressive policing couldn’t stop fatality

When Tucson police Chief Chris Magnus arrived in Tucson in 2016, he came with a reputation for being progressive. In his previous job, in Richmond, California, he had rubbed some officers the wrong way with his preference for community policing rather than a tough-on-crime philosophy.

Magnus was quick to condemn the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. He has been a public supporter of the #Blacklivesmatter movement for years. He has instituted policies in Tucson intended to prevent unnecessary use of force.

But even that did not prevent the incustody death of 27-year-old Carlos Adrian Ingram-Lopez at the hands of Tucson police in April, or the public outcry that has followed.

Ingram-Lopez was naked, handcuffed, and face down for 12 minutes. He begged his grandmother in Spanish for water repeatedly before he died. “Nana, ayúdame,” he pleaded. Ingram-Lopez’s final words have become a rallying cry to defund the Police Department in Tucson, a city of 548,000 residents, 42% of whom are Hispanic, known for its progressive politics.

The three officers involved resigned last month. The chief said they would have been fired if they didn’t resign for violating the policy of not helping Ingram-Lopez.

The Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the cause of death “undetermined.” It found that IngramLopez died as a result of sudden cardiac arrest and the contributing factors of physical restraint by officers and cocaine intoxication.

To the surprise of many, Magnus offered his resignation following the death. The mayor and city manager declined his offer and asked him to lead the Police Department through this time.

Ingram-Lopez’s family lawyer also agreed Magnus should stay on.

Magnus told The Arizona Republic

that he hopes the incident will lead to further change within the department.

“Once you get past the anger and the disappointment and the breakdown in trust that inevitably happens following something like this, then we got to figure out how we rebuild, how we make things better going forward, how we understand each other,” he said.

But for advocates, Ingram-Lopez’s death is proof that a chief ’s politics and leadership are not enough to stop police killings.

“What happened to Carlos Adrian highlights what activists, including Black Lives Matter Tucson, have been saying for years, which is this idea of progressive policing doesn’t exist,” Tiera Rainey, an organizer with Black Lives Matter Tucson, said.

Zaira Livier, executive director of the advocacy group Peoples Defense Initiative, said advocates are not looking to change police chiefs’ politics but to stop depending on officers to respond to non-criminal calls.

“There is no such thing as a progressive police force. These things are built into the system,” she said. “Chief Magnus can scream at the top of his lungs all he wants about the training that his police officers are going through. And the reforms that they might be willing to take on, but you’re going to end up with more of the same.”

They say this is why the City Council must step in and reallocate some of the Police Department’s funds to social services, education and community centers.

“When people are resourced, crime goes way down,” Rainey said. “When people have housing and food and they have access to mental health care and medical care. These are things that make people not commit crimes.”

‘Our lives will matter when Black lives matter’

Ingram-Lopez’s death happened a month before Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis on May 25. Floyd’s death prompted protests in Phoenix, Tucson and across the world.

Ingram-Lopez, a Hispanic man and the father of a 2-year-old girl, was a reminder to some that Latinos have also dealt with violent police interactions that have caused a rift between them and police departments across the country.

On a national scale, the #Blacklivesmatter movement has primarily been focused on Black people, and rightfully so, Livier said.

But it is important not to overlook the negative relationship Hispanic people have had with the police, too, she said. Ultimately, she said, for Hispanic people, some of whom identify as brown, the goal is the same: to end police killings of all people.

“Our lives will matter when Black lives matter,” she said.

Rainey said #Blacklivesmatter is not an exclusionary movement. But the reason that it’s focused on Black people is because they’re at the bottom of “a racial caste system.”

“If you can create a world where they (Black people) can be free and live past the age of 35, that is a world that everyone benefits,” Rainey said.

In 8 years, 39 people killed by Tucson police

Between 2011 and 2018, Tucson police officers have shot at people in 55 cases. Of those, 39 people were killed, two of whom were women, according to data collected and analyzed by The Republic.

The average age of a person shot by police in Tucson is 33, The Republic found.

The Pima County Attorney’s Office has cleared officers of any criminal wrongdoing in 54 of the shootings. One case is pending.

The prosecutor’s office has received Tucson police’s investigation into the death of Ingram-Lopez. It will have to decide if any charges should be filed against the officers.

The National Police Foundation, a national organization on police studies, conducted a study for the Phoenix Police Department in 2018 for its recordbreaking number of police shootings. Among the top 20 police departments with the highest rates of police shootings that year, the study found the Tucson Police Department had the 10th highest shooting rate.

It found Tucson police officers shot at 1.13 for every 100,000 people. In comparison, the Mesa Police Department, which was ranked No. 4, had 1.46 shootings for every 100,000 people. New York, the most populated city in the country, ranked 20 with .05 shootings for every 100,000 people.

Part of the criticism Magnus received was that his Police Department did not make Ingram-Lopez’s case public until two months after his death.

Unlike police shootings, Magnus said the Police Department historically did not notify the public of an in-custody death.

In the past decade, he said, there have been 12 in-custody deaths, including Ingram-Lopez’s, within the Tucson Police Department. Seven were determined to be suicides and five were because of cardiac arrest. In four of the cardiac arrest cases, prosecutors did not file any charges.

Magnus said that moving forward, his department will release preliminary details of in-custody deaths, including releasing on-body camera footage within 72 hours, barring legal issues.

But he doesn’t agree with it. He said releasing information before an investigation is completed can harm the probe. He said he supports releasing footage of a police shooting at least within 72 hours, but in-custody deaths are more complex.

“We are going to release preliminary information about these deaths, even if we can’t guarantee that it’s accurate,” he said. “I don’t know that that’s a great thing, to tell you the truth, because, with these in-custody deaths, the circumstances really can be extremely complicated and not always what they appear to be initially.”

Support of the chief

Eduardo Coronado, Ingram-Lopez’s family lawyer, previously told The Republic that the family agreed with Tucson’s city manager and mayor that Magnus should stay.

“(Ingram-Lopez’s) mom said, ‘He wasn’t there, he didn’t do this to my son — I’m not holding him personally responsible,’” Coronado said.

He added that the family believes Magnus is “probably the best person” to handle the situation now because he was in charge when the incident happened and that the lines of communication between the family and the department could be disrupted by Magnus’ ousting.

Tucson Mayor Regina Romero in a statement said Magnus shouldn’t have to resign. Not long after, City Manager Michael Ortega emailed Romero and City Council members to say he wouldn’t accept Magnus’ resignation, the Arizona Daily Star reported.

“My focus is on the fact that the life of a fellow Tucsonan, Carlos Adrian Ingram-Lopez, was needlessly lost,” Romero said. “The best way we can honor Carlos Adrian’s memory is by coming together and taking immediate action to build a better, more just community.”

Councilman Paul Durham on Twitter said he hopes to “ensure this never happens again.”

“I am deeply saddened, concerned and frustrated by this incident. I share in Mayor Romero’s condolences to the family and join my colleagues in a commitment to ensure this never happens again,” he wrote.

Romero said the Tucson Police Department has benefited from Magnus’ leadership and reform.

“Chief Magnus has brought forwardthinking changes to TPD policies, practices and trainings, and has built strong relationships with our community since he joined the department in 2016,” she said. “Now is the time to work together and rebuild public trust in our police department by increasing transparency, ensuring accountability, and re-imagining how we provide safety to our community. I look forward to working with Chief Magnus to accomplish these reforms.”

Magnus said he offered to resign because he thought that anything he said would sound like excuses. He said that what happens with the Police Department is ultimately his responsibility, which is “both frustrating and scary sometimes.”

He said he is glad the city manager and mayor have allowed him to stay.

Changing policing in Tucson

Magnus, who grew up in Michigan, said he always had a passion for social justice issues. He said as a teenager he volunteered for the United Farm Workers in Lansing, participated in political campaigns and helped set up an 800 number for young people to learn about their rights.

People thought he would be the last person to be a police officer.

“I’ve always seen policing as a way to really partner with community members. But I readily recognize that that approach to policing is not the case everywhere and that it is still a real problem in so many cities,” he said. “We have a long way to go as a profession, and I never, ever declare victory or mission accomplished as a chief.”

Since Floyd’s death, some police chiefs have resigned in light of their officers killing someone, while others have overhauled use-of-force policies.

In Phoenix, Chief Jeri Williams in June banned her officers from using a stranglehold meant to cut the blood flow to the brain.

In Tucson, Magnus had already put a ban on strangleholds and chokeholds,

as well as a ban on officers shooting at moving vehicles. But he said there is more to do.

He wants to end clauses in union contracts that allow departments to purge use-of-force complaints, sexual harassment history and disciplinary history of officers. He said this can allow people who should not be an officer to move from one department to another.

He said police chiefs should have more power in deciding whether officers are fired. For example, he said, some Tucson police officers have been able to get their jobs back after arbitrators or the city’s Civil Service Commission, which hears appeals from fired employees, overturns a police chief ’s termination.

Phoenix has a similar process and advocates have criticized the panel for allowing officers to get their jobs back even after clear evidence against them.

Magnus, who has a master’s degree in labor relations, said he understands officers have rights, too, but there are cases in which finding a “middle ground is not appropriate.”

As an example, he said he had recommended firing Officer Nicholas Horn, who was arrested and charged in a domestic violence case. The charges were later dismissed. The Civil Service Commission overturned Magnus’ decision and suspended Horn instead, Magnus said.

“It’s very difficult for police chiefs to hold officers

accountable,” he said.

Fully funding police

Magnus opposes the efforts to defund the Police Department.

He said he supports increasing funding for social services that can help reduce crime. But taking away resources from the Police Department and relying solely on social workers for certain situations is not the solution, he said.

For example, he said, when it comes to calls related to people experiencing homelessness and dealing with mental health issues, he thinks officers and social workers should work together.

“I think that’s when you get the best outcomes,” he said. “But the idea of just saying, ‘We’re going to take everything that involves the social problem and move it over to somebody else and the police are just going to be crime fighters or emergency responders,’ it sounds so good to people that know nothing about either aspect of that work.”

Moving forward, he said, he knows he can’t bring back a life.

“But if there are ways that we can prevent loss of life in the future,” he said. “That’s always a primary goal.”