[HPN] San Deigo police shooting of homeless man not justified FWD

[Tom Boland]

FWD via Forrest Curo <orest@cts.net>
>From: Jusprobono@aol.com
>Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2000 22:03:44 EST
>Subject: Fwd: Shooting of homeless man not justified
>To: forest@cts.net

This was sent by Ron Sills to a local tv station in response to their
coverage of the police shooting a homeless mentally ill guy here in San
Diego yesterday. This happened in mid-day in a well-trafficked part of town;
there were respectable witnesses and they were shocked. There was also video
coverage from an overhead police helicopter, which the police will not want
to make public but probably will have to, even in this hotbed of compulsive
authoritarianism.
        One thing Ron did not mention was the amount of public sympathy
extended to the police dog, who was wounded by his 'allies' in the course of
this incident. On at least one station, the dog got more coverage than the
dead man.
        We have yet to have an organized response to this incident, but a
lot of homeless people are scared & angry about it.
                                                       (F. Curo)
>Come on, you have to be kidding!!!
>     First of all, he was outnumbered and the only visible weapon was a
>stick, he could have been physically taken down with the first three at the
>scene.  Secondly, perhaps most important is that he stood there quietly and
>talked for ten minutes, so a police psychologist or contract psychologist
>could have been brought to the scene to defuse the tension and resolve it
>without violence.  Calling in the unit with the k9 and having the officer and
>dog come from behind was pure error, it evoked a reponse which witnesses say
>precipitated his moving to wards the other officers and away from the threat
>of the dog which has teeth and can bite painfully.  He did not want to be bit
>neither did he need to be shot.  He perhaps needed treatment or some jail
>time, but those involve due process, that requires a live malefactor.  Due
>process also involves a judicial proceeding, hearing or like process.  Murder
>by the state is acceptable to some if one's due process rights are protected,
>others do not condone it even then opting for life sentences as punishment
>for crime. No stretch of the imagination or law provides for Jedburgh Justice
>like this shooting. Even if he were guilty of assaulting the bike rider, it
>could hardly be expected that he would have received a death sentence. Even
>then he would have had the benefit of an appeal process. While the status of
>homelessness has been criminalized ad demonized, it should not be said that
>the constitution ad its protections has been withdrawn. Yes, some police
>officers do not like the homeless, some citizens do not, some lawyers do not,
>some judges do not, even some radio and TV people do not, some producers do
>not, but, this does not mean that we should be put to death at a contrived
>point in time that could have been handled far less catastrophically. This
>appears to have been either a contrived kill or worse yet, it would appear
>that San Diego Police Officers are poorly trained to deal with these
>situations. I would welcome email from anyone concerning this shooting and
>will be networking with the National Coalition on Homelessness and others
>concerning this tragedy.
>Ron "Doc" Sills
>Research Technician
>StreetLight Newspaper
>4138 Fairmount Avenue
>San Diego, CA 92105
>619-528-0407
>619-528-0409 fax
>jusprobono@aol.com
>drydoc@justice.com
>

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