ACLU seeks records on police shootings
Relying on a new state law that allows the public to obtain some previously secret police records, the American Civil Liberties Union is seeking documents from Northern California police agencies involved in eight fatal shootings, including the killing of Oscar Grant at an Oakland BART station 10 years ago.
“These families deserve to know the truth,” Kathleen Guneratne, an ACLU attorney who filed the requests on behalf of family and friends of the victims, said Wednesday. “They deserve to know how the police were investigated, whether the officers previously had sustained findings of misconduct.”
SB1421, which took effect Jan. 1, requires police departments to release records of officers who have shot or seriously injured someone, have committed a sexual assault or have been found to have acted dishonestly. Departments must furnish records of internal investigations, disciplinary proceedings and any criminal investigations of the officers.
Those records had been kept confidential under a law passed 40 years ago. A police union in San Bernardino County contends the new law does not apply to pre-2019 records and has filed suit in Los Angeles County after the state Supreme Court refused to hear the case last month.
Grant, 22, was shot to death while lying face-down and unarmed on a platform at BART’s Fruitvale Station on Jan. 1, 2009. After a scuffle on a train, he had been pulled out by police and shoved to the platform, where he was shot by Officer Johannes Mehserle, who later said he thought he was using his Taser and believed Grant was reaching for a gun. Charged with murder, Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and served seven months in prison.
The ACLU has asked BART for records of its own investigation of Mehserle and Officers Tony Pirone, who pulled Grant from the train and kneed him in the back, and Marysol Domenici, who helped Pirone detain Grant. BART fired Pirone and sought to dismiss Domenici, but she was reinstated after a hearing. The transit agency also paid $2.8 million to settle suits by Grant’s daughter and mother.
The ACLU is also seeking records from Sacramento police involved in the death of Stephon Clark, 22, shot in March in his grandmother’s backyard, where he had run from officers who chased him after a report of windowbreaking. Police said they thought he was carrying a gun, but the only object found was a cell phone. Most of the wounds were in his back. The district attorney is investigating the shooting.
Records are also being sought for:
James Rivera Jr., 16, killed in July 2010 by Stockton police, who said he was heading at them in a stolen van.
Derrick Gaines, 15, shot in June 2012 by police in South San Francisco after he ran from them and a gun fell out of his pocket.
Richard Pedro “Pedie” Perez, 24, killed in September 2014 by police in Richmond after walking away from them when they stopped him at a liquor store. An officer said he thought Perez was reaching for the officer’s gun, but the city’s civilian review panel later found the officer had used excessive force.
Richard Hester Perkins, 39, shot by Oakland police in November 2015 while pointing a pellet gun at them. His family said later that he was trying to show them it wasn’t a real gun.
Terry Amons Jr., 43, killed in January 2018 by police in Pittsburg who were responding to reports of drug-dealing and said they thought he was reaching for a gun.
Augustin Gonsalez, 29, shot Nov. 15 by police in Hayward after he walked toward them and refused to drop an object he was holding, which turned out to be a razor blade.