Death of FB official’s brother probed
DA says two deputies used their stun guns ‘three or four times’
MILLBRAE >> Ebele Okobi moved her family to London after her son was born four years ago, fearing that even with her high-level job at social media giant Facebook, Silicon Valley’s wealth and privilege wouldn’t shield a black male from a tragic encounter with police.
What she called “exactly my worst nightmare” became a reality this month. Her brother’s death in a confrontation with deputy sheriffs on a Millbrae street brought her back to the Bay Area for his funeral Tuesday and a meeting Wednesday morning with prosecutors investigating the incident.
“It was both shocking and not shocking, a huge amount of grief, but also a feeling of inevitability,” Ebele Okobi recalled in an interview Wednesday about hearing the news of her 36-year-old brother Chinedu Valentine Okobi’s Oct. 3 death.
The incident has quickly gained traction with the Black Lives Matter movement as the latest example of an unarmed black man to die in a confrontation with police. Ebele Okobi, Facebook’s head of public policy for Africa, said fear of such encounters is familiar to every black American — she recalled police stopping her and her college classmates in Los Angeles with guns drawn as they went to a party.
Writer and civil-rights activist Shaun King called attention to the Chinedu Okobi case in a Tuesday Facebook post.
“He should be alive right now,”
King wrote. “The United States has no sincere interest in protecting and valuing the lives of Black people.”
The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office has issued two news statements on the incident and referred questions to the District Attorney’s Office, which investigates officer-involved fatalities.
According to the statements, deputy sheriffs “contacted a male adult who was running in and out of traffic in the 1300 block of El Camino Real” around 1 p.m. Oct. 3 in Millbrae. A deputy “exited his vehicle to contact the suspect and the suspect immediately assaulted the deputy.
“The deputy radioed for assistance,” the sheriff’s office statement continued. “Additional law enforcement resources responded and the struggle continued with the deputies on scene. The suspect was taken into custody. The deputy who was assaulted was transported to the hospital, where he was treated for his injuries. The suspect was also transported to the hospital, where it was later learned that he died.”
The sheriff’s statement said “the incident did not involve gun fire.” San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said two deputies used stun guns on the 6-foot-3, 330-pound Okobi “three or four times.”
John Burris, an attorney for the family, said Okobi, who has suffered from mental illness, was walking along El Camino Real in downtown Millbrae when he experienced a “mental break” and began stepping in and out of oncoming traffic. San Mateo County sheriff’s deputies who went to the scene did not call for medical help and instead escalated things by repeatedly shocking him with stun guns, according to Burris.
Okobi tried to run away, but he was surrounded by a sergeant and four deputies and taken to the ground, Burris said. A passerby described seeing Okobi sitting with his
chin to his chest, appearing to be unconscious with foam around his mouth, while being propped up by the knee of a deputy.
“Most concerning to me is the basis of the stop, the basis of using force, using the Taser, how many times the Taser was used and what ultimately caused his demise,” Burris said in an interview Wednesday. “He seemed to be a healthy 36-year-old man.”
Under a new state law, authorities have 45 days to disclose materials related to deadly use of force incidents. Burris, an Oakland-based civil rights attorney, had called on prosecutors to release evidence sooner.
But after he and the family met Wednesday with Wagstaffe, he said he was satisfied with the progress in the investigation.
“It was a positive meeting,” Burris said, adding that he was encouraged to hear that the investigation will be completed in eight to 10 weeks and that they will have full access to the evidence, which is believed to include video. “They’re more open and transparent than just about any other agency I’ve dealt with over the years.”
Wagstaffe said he could not release evidence piecemeal in order to preserve the integrity of the investigation.
“I will not have the investigation interfered with, but I do understand why there is a public interest in the release of the video and audio recordings,” Wagstaffe said. “We will meet that interest.”
Wagstaffe said his office has finished interviewing the sergeant and four deputies who were involved. The sheriff’s office identified the sergeant as David Weidner and the deputies as John DeMartini, Alyssa Lorenzatti, Joshua Wang and Bryan Watt.
The San Mateo County Coroner’s Office, meanwhile, has completed Okobi’s autopsy and is waiting on a toxicology report before determining his cause of death.
The family and civil rights activists are left struggling to make sense of the tragedy.
King said on Facebook that he knew Chinedu Okobi at Morehouse College in Georgia.
“He was a sweet, gregarious soul,” King posted.
Ebele Okobi said she worried that her brother’s size would make officers unduly fearful of him.
“He was a gentle person, a kind and gentle person,” Ebele Okobi said, noting that her brother doted on his daughter. His death, she said, underscores a fear she says few who aren’t black in America understand, one that prompts black parents to warn their sons about how to speak with police.
“If you’re a black person, you feel constant terror, especially if there are men in your life,” Ebele Okobi said. “Every black man I know has been stopped by police. It’s the kind of thing that if you’re not black, you have no concept of.”
Wagstaffe said an additional probe that looks at stun gun use in the county may also be warranted, he added. In the past 11 months, three people have died following incidents in which the “less-than-lethal” devices were used.
“That makes me concerned,” he said. “We need to look into this use of the Taser very carefully.”
Axon Enterprise, the Arizona-based company that manufactures Taser stun guns used in law enforcement, did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment.