San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
East Side town hall considers justice and police brutality
A wide range of attendees voiced their opinions about police brutality and criminal justice reform at a recent town hall on the East Side, offering possible solutions to the problem.
Community members, San Antonio police officers and representatives from the district attorney’s office weighed in on the topics at SA Heals, 1212 N. Gevers.
The nonprofit P.O.W.E.R (Phoenix Outreach Working Education and Re-Creation) sponsored the 90-minute event.
On a stage lit by ceiling strunglightbulbs, the group’s outreach director, Hubert Brown, moderated its third town hall. He said the gathering was a result of recent protests and marches spurred by the Memorial Day killing in Minneapolis of George Floyd while in police custody.
“I’m against police brutality, but I’m also against looting,” he said. “We locked arms and protected people’s buildings because we weren’t with the looters. I want to have a dialogue to see how the issue can be resolved.”
Brown wore a jersey with “Do The Right Thing” emblazoned on the front. He said police brutality is not just a physical act, it’s also mental. He said contact with a police officer could change a black man’s life dramatically.
The 17 participants received a document with 14 strategies identified by community members as possible solutions. The strategies included having police live where they patrol, pairing a nonpolice mediator with a traditional enforcer and having an after-incident citizen review process.
Police Officer Richard Odoms spoke about probable cause to stop a motorist and the misconception that a driver can’t lawfully be removed from a vehicle.
He said that if a police officer pulls over a driver for a traffic violation, the motorist is considered under arrest at that time. Odoms said a stop can result in one of three scenarios: a written warning, a ticket or furthering the arrest.
Aaron Jackson, 43, said there is a process that needs to be followed with the application of the law. He said the bigger issue is that people don’t understand one another.
“There’s one group of people in here, and that’s the human people,” Jackson said. “Everyone is going to get along or it’s going to be chaos. Let’s have a real conversation about something we can apply today that will help us tomorrow. It’s not, “I Have a Dream,” but I have a goal, and that is to make it a better place.”
He asked the African-American police officers why there weren’t any white officers at the meeting. Odoms asked him to imagine how uncomfortable they might feel at the forum.
Jackson offered to go wherever the white officers are to have a conversation with them.
Mario Martinez, 44, said police brutality and false arrests are just the beginning. He called for a reversal of fines and punishment based on race.
Brown asked about the possibility of the DA’s office reopening the Marquise Jones case. In February 2014, Jones was killed when an off-duty San Antonio police officer shot him in the drive-thru of Chacho’s and Chalucci’s on the Northeast Side.
Christian Henricksen, chief of litigation at the DA’s office, said the case was reviewed again when District Attorney Joe Gonzales came into office.
“We have to be able to prove that the officer knew that his life was not in danger,” Henricksen said. “That is really hard to do. There’s evidence on both sides of that case that can make you say his life was in danger or his life wasn’t in danger.”
Daryl Harris, assistant district attorney, said there are too many incidental interactions with the police that end up at the courthouse. He said when his sons were learning to drive, he talked to them about how to conduct themselves if stopped by a police officer.
“My father used to tell me that there should be required training,” Harris said. “Black man and the law, starting around 14 or 15 when you start going out to places where you can get stopped.”
Former Police Officer Willie Ng applauded the nonprofit’s town halls.
“This is the way reform starts,” Ng said. “It doesn’t start at the DA’s office. It doesn’t start at the police headquarters. It starts in the community.”
Before the forum ended, the nonprofit’s founder, Andre Underwood, said solving the problem rests with each individual.
“We have to learn how to treat people with respect and decency,” he said. “It goes back to you looking in the mirror.”