Vallejoans react to verdict with relief
The Vallejo area reacted to the news out of a Minnesota courtroom Tuesday — three guilty counts against police officer Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd — with equal shares gratitude and relief.
Gratitude that a police officer had been held accountable for his actions. Relief that Vallejo would be looking at a peaceful evening.
Vallejo resident Cheri Benjamin was just getting ready to fill her gas tank on Fairgrounds Drive when she heard the verdict.
“I feel they made the right decision,” she said, though she expressed understanding for the pressure that police officers can be under. Still, she felt the trial sent a good message.
“This is an eye-opener for police,” she said. “I don’t think the police are ‘bad.’ They just need extensive training.”
She also said she thanked God that Vallejo would most likely not be facing the same fallout that occurred after Floyd’s death last summer.
Vallejo Police Chief Shawny Williams, in the wake of last summer’s civil unrest that led to the death of Sean Monterrosa at the hands of Vallejo police, released a statement prior to the Chauvin verdict:
“I know this is a difficult time for our country,” he wrote. “It is my hope that moving forward, we will achieve justice through reconciliation and building strong
partnerships in our communities, especially in our marginalized and adversely impacted communities.”
The Benicia and Vallejo police departments, along with the Solano County Sheriff’s Office, were all on high alert before the verdict, each saying they were committed to offering aid to one another should unrest break out.
Civil rights attorney and lawyer for the family of Oscar Grant, Adante Pointer, told the Times-Herald that
he welcomed the Chauvin verdict “with open arms.”
“Disgraced Officer Chauvin’s conviction was an important step in the march toward justice,” Pointer said. “However, I will not relax or celebrate this hard-earned piece of justice until the judge bangs his gavel and announces a long prison sentence. I remember far too well how Johannes Mehserle was convicted of manslaughter for killing Oscar Grant, yet spent less time in jail than most folks who are convicted of non-violent crimes.”
Melissa Nold is a civil rights attorney who has
represented the families of people killed by the Vallejo police.
“Like many others, I breathed a sigh of relief and shed tears when I heard the verdict,” she told the Times-Herald. “This is not just a victory for Mr. Floyd’s family and community, it is a victory for all impacted families. That being said, this was the bare minimum of justice for Mr. Floyd’s horrific, cold-blooded murder and there will be no real justice until the police stop killing people.”
Bernard Spencer, in town from San Mateo, said that what Chauvin did was “racism,”
but that Floyd “died how he lived,” citing his drug use.
Vallejo filmmaker Joe S. Starr disagreed with Spencer.
“The verdict is appropriate,” he said, dismissing the idea that drugs had anything to do with Floyd’s death.
“The policeman stepped on his neck. I hope his family feels justified.”
Louis Michael, Jr. is the founder of Vessels of Vallejo and a community activist. He described the verdict as “what justice feels like.”
“I watched the verdict be read as my 2-week old son was sleeping in my arms,”
he said. “When I heard the verdict, my eyes teared up and I immediately thought about being able to tell my son this story when he’s older. Hopefully we can use this momentum to continue to address systemic issues that harm our Black and Brown communities.”
Liat Meitzenheimer, Vallejo community advocate and a member of the Vallejo Housing Justice Coalition steering committee, says she hopes this helps push police reform to the top of each city’s priorities.
“It takes the losing of a Black man’s life to bring attention to the need for police reform,” she said.
Local resident Calvin Harrell said he was reminded of the Rodney King beating at the hands of Los Angeles police, and how different the trial of those officers was in comparison to Chauvin’s. The officers in the King case were acquitted by a jury in Simi Valley that contained zero Black jurors.
“This particular trial did not have the same jury pool, shall we say,” he told the Times-Herald. “What we are seeing here is quite possibly the nexus of the next step in police reform. Accountability is becoming paramount in law enforcement.”