Family seeks justice for son slain by police
Anthony Bernal Cano’s family and friends gathered in front of Chandler City Hall looking for justice Monday, but it’s still out of reach.
Cano was shot by police on Jan. 2 after being pulled over for a traffic stop at Gazelle Meadows Park. The front headlight was out on Cano’s bicycle.
According to Chandler police, the 17year-old Cano refused to stop, rode into both lanes of traffic and abandoned his bike to run toward the park.
During a foot pursuit, a gun Cano was carrying fell to the ground. As he stopped to pick up the gun, the officer drew his weapon.
The officer shot twice at Cano, making him the first person shot by police in Arizona in 2021. He was hospitalized for weeks and died Jan. 23.
The incident was still under investigation, but Cano’s family is seeking answers. His family and friends gathered at sunset Monday in hopes of entering a meeting inside city hall and talking to council members. They were unable to get inside.
Instead, they held up signs and played music for passing cars in Cano’s memory.
Amidst all the honking prompted by a sign, Cano’s mother, Renee Clum, watched.
“I still don’t know the whole story, because it’s still an open investigation,” she said. “So I don’t really know everything that happened. And I’ve not watched the video. I can’t yet. Sorry, I might start crying.”
She turned away, wiping tears, and continued, “Just unfair. He was scared, coming home. He wasn’t doing anything wrong other than riding a bike without a light.”
Family says they haven’t heard from police in weeks
Clum and the rest of the family are looking for answers in an investigation that’s gone silent on their end.
In the last few weeks, they have heard nothing from officers.
And they are sick of the police brutality that they say led to their family’s tragedy.
Phil Martinez is an activist for Change Our America, a bipartisan group against police violence. He said the gathering was to petition for release of the full body-cam video, radio transmissions and dashcam footage of what happened that night.
Chandler police released short, edited clips of body-camera video. The plan was to ask the city council to look into the issue.
“We are trying to make the city aware of what has happened, so it doesn’t happen to anybody else, any other children … And to get some kind of justice, some kind of answers for what really, truly happened to AnthoAfter
ny,” explained Cano’s grandmother, Sylvia Morales, who said the family called him “Peanut.”
Morales recounted how Cano brought friends to her house for a lastminute birthday party, and how she cried when he received his first haircut at two years old. He was the best grandson, she said, and she wants the city and the police department to know their plight.
“What’s going on at this point? That’s what we’re looking for,” Morales said of the investigation. “I hope that what we’re doing here makes some kind of impact, opens somebody’s eyes to see why we’re here. To stop it from happening to somebody else.”
Clum called for change — policy change and deescalation training. Something, anything to change.
Police dropped by the event when protestors crossed the street to the median.
All was calm, but when police rode by again on bicycles — one of which had the front headlight out — family and friends confronted what they saw as hypocrisy.
Cano’s friend Oliver Aguirre said, “And that’s the only reason our 17-yearold little brother got shot in the park, was for not having a light at 9 p.m. He was 17 years old and he can’t be in a park without a light on? It doesn’t make sense. And for the officers to do it and argue with us about it was just ridiculous, you know.”
“I feel like it’s almost an intimidation thing, and that’s where I think things went wrong,” said Cano’s older cousin Reyna Allen. She said officers rode up, waving their hands even though they didn’t yet know what was going on. “They were just standing there, judging the situation.”
Cano remembered as loving, helpful
Aguirre said he could always hear Cano’s mother yelling down the street for her son to come back to their home right by Gazelle Meadows Park. “And I would hear that every day. Every day, even if it’s probably today, if I could, you know.”
He wanted the full footage from the officer’s body camera to be released, calling it edited.
The family made the decision Saturday to hold the event, Martinez said, and the turnout and energy “showed the character of the person who was lost.”
Martinez, who also lost a family member to police violence and has talked to many more families in the same situation, explained that he saw the investigation as “business as usual,” part of a larger pattern of how investigations go at police departments like Chandler’s. Slow, in tidbits, with minimal communication with the family.
Meanwhile, Morales said of her grandson, “He loved everyone. … He helped everyone, you know, that he could help, in any way he could help. And he was there — he was there for a lot of people. And a lot of people will be here for him as well.”
Martinez said they would try again Thursday to have their voices heard inside city hall.
WASHINGTON – Health secretary nominee Xavier Becerra told senators Tuesday that confronting the coronavirus pandemic will be his first priority if confirmed, but he also pledged to expand health insurance, rein in prescription drug costs and reduce racial and ethnic disparities in medical care.
“To meet this moment, we need strong federal leadership,” Becerra said at the first of two hearings on his nomination. “I understand the enormous challenges before us and our solemn responsibility to faithfully steward this agency that touches almost every aspect of our lives.”
Becerra, 63, now serves as California’s attorney general and previously represented the Los Angeles area for more than 20 years in the U.S. House. A liberal politician-lawyer, he faces opposition from many GOP senators, who question his support for abortion rights and government-run health insurance, along with his lack of a clinical background. However, in the past 25 years, only one medical doctor has led the Department of Health and Human Services in a permanent capacity.
Appearing before the Senate health committee, Becerra seconded President Joe Biden’s goals of 100 million vaccine shots in his first 100 days, increased coronavirus testing, ramped-up DNA mapping of the virus to track worrisome mutations and reopening schools and businesses.
On health insurance, he pledged to work to expand the Obama-era Affordable Care Act, though in the past he’s supported a government-run system like Sen. Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare for All” idea. He said he would act to lower drug prices, particularly the cost of insulin. It’s a goal that has bipartisan backing. Republican Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana noted that Becerra seems to have no drug industry support, adding, “I think I know why.”
Although leading Republicans are portraying Becerra as unfit, Democrats seem unfazed about his prospects, accusing the GOP of playing politics despite the urgency of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
Following Tuesday’s appearance before the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Becerra will be questioned Wednesday by the Finance Committee, which will vote on sending his nomination to the Senate floor. If confirmed, he’d be the first Latino to head HHS, a $1.4 trillion agency with a broad portfolio that includes health insurance programs, drug safety and approvals, advanced medical research and the welfare of children.
Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, the ranking Republican on the health committee, left no doubt that Becerra faces tough scrutiny.
“I’m not sold yet,” Burr said at Tuesday’s hearing, looking straight at the nominee. “I’m not sure that you have the necessary experience or skills to do this job at this moment.” Burr questioned whether Becerra respects the role of private companies in the health care system, particularly innovative pharmaceutical firms.
But other Republican senators sidestepped ideological confrontation and asked questions that centered on home state concerns. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., made a reference to “when” Becerra is confirmed, not “if.” And Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said she would encourage him to visit her state early.
Becerra sought to soften his image as an enemy of drug companies. “We need the pharmaceutical industry in America to always feel like we’ve got their back to innovate,” he told Sen. Chris Murphy, DConn. “COVID is a perfect example of how we can come up with a vaccine, but we have to make sure that we’re getting our dollar’s worth.”
And he also credited the Trump administration for its shepherding of two highly effective coronavirus vaccines. “There are a lot of people to thank, but without the work that the previous administration did, we would certainly not be here,” he told Braun.