Protest Against Modesto Police for Killing of Man and Continued Brutality

[crudo]

When: Saturday Jan 15th
Time: 10am
Where: Graceada Park, Needham Street
What: Rally against police brutality and shootings in Modesto. March to protest the Modesto Police Department

Since 2000, 8 people have died at the hands of the Modesto Police Department. All but one have been a white person, (a shoot out with a jewel thief, in which the only partial injuries to police happened), and have all taken part in Modesto's poorer areas.

The most recent victim of the Modesto Police Department has been Sammy Galvan, who was shoot to death in August 2004. Police responded to a domestic disturbance call in which Sammy and his girlfriend had been fighting, and Sammy according to police came out with a small Swiss Army knife. According to the two police officers, he attacked them, (although no officers were hurt), and Sammy was then shot in the chest, and then died.

But neighbors tell a very different story, according to a Modesto Bee article in August 26th, 2004. "They came out of the car. They saw him there. He just sat there, and all of a sudden they shoot him," Tony Martinez said. Galvan was holding a small Buck pocketknife, Martinez said, but made no threatening moves at all: "This guy was standing there in one spot." According to Tony, about 15-10 people watched the event happen, although police claim there were hardly any onlookers.

This isn't the first time police in Modesto have murdered. In 2001 they shot a 11 year old boy in a house that was suspected of producing meth, (but was later found to have none), by a officer that had left the Stockton Police after shooting a person in a raid, who had "already committed suicide". This officer is still working on the force.

In April of 2003, two officers killed Eustolio Aguilar after the 22-year-old Modesto man was stopped by police and reached for his cell phone, and was then shot to death. After the police searched the body, they "found" a gun on his person.

This is not counting of course the continued harassment of homeless people, anarchists and other activists, and youth in the downtown area of Modesto.

8 dead since 2000 is enough! End the brutality, end the harrassment, end the murder! Protest and march against the Modesto Police Department!

DAAA Collective - Modesto CA

www.modanarcho.tk

 

[CALICOE509]

DAMN!....IF I LIVED THERE I'D BE A FRONTLINER....FO SHO

 

[RuThLeSs RiCk]

When: Saturday Jan 15th
Time: 10am
Where: Graceada Park, Needham Street
What: Rally against police brutality and shootings in Modesto. March to protest the Modesto Police Department

Since 2000, 8 people have died at the hands of the Modesto Police Department. All but one have been a white person, (a shoot out with a jewel thief, in which the only partial injuries to police happened), and have all taken part in Modesto's poorer areas.

The most recent victim of the Modesto Police Department has been Sammy Galvan, who was shoot to death in August 2004. Police responded to a domestic disturbance call in which Sammy and his girlfriend had been fighting, and Sammy according to police came out with a small Swiss Army knife. According to the two police officers, he attacked them, (although no officers were hurt), and Sammy was then shot in the chest, and then died.

But neighbors tell a very different story, according to a Modesto Bee article in August 26th, 2004. "They came out of the car. They saw him there. He just sat there, and all of a sudden they shoot him," Tony Martinez said. Galvan was holding a small Buck pocketknife, Martinez said, but made no threatening moves at all: "This guy was standing there in one spot." According to Tony, about 15-10 people watched the event happen, although police claim there were hardly any onlookers.

This isn't the first time police in Modesto have murdered. In 2001 they shot a 11 year old boy in a house that was suspected of producing meth, (but was later found to have none), by a officer that had left the Stockton Police after shooting a person in a raid, who had "already committed suicide". This officer is still working on the force.

In April of 2003, two officers killed Eustolio Aguilar after the 22-year-old Modesto man was stopped by police and reached for his cell phone, and was then shot to death. After the police searched the body, they "found" a gun on his person.

This is not counting of course the continued harassment of homeless people, anarchists and other activists, and youth in the downtown area of Modesto.

8 dead since 2000 is enough! End the brutality, end the harrassment, end the murder! Protest and march against the Modesto Police Department!

DAAA Collective - Modesto CA

www.modanarcho.tk

I wrote about that shit a couple of times on here. I'm glad they're finally doing something about it. These pigs kill Mexicans for fun. Fuck em.

 

[Mcleanhatch]

lol. i live about 15 minutes down the road in turlock and rarely if ever hear about this. i doubt it is true. probly just a bunch a socialists picking up another movement now that the anti war and over left wing movements have fizzled

 

[Ethereal]

Since 2000, 8 people have died at the hands of the Modesto Police Department. All but one have been a white person

Are they talking about the victims? Because I thought Ruthless Rick's information was different than that.

 

[40ozThugsta]

ALL I GOTTA SAY is....

let me hear you scream fuck tha police... police... Fuck tha police.....
Police.....

yeah fuck cops.. they never there when real shit happens...
but they fast to kill people who can;t defend themselves..
fuckin pussies...

 

[WHITE DEVIL]

I have been both helped and hurt by police. I'm sure the situation is the same all over. To assume that police are 100% faulty in every situation I believe is a logical fallacy...

Though I have no information as to the nature of the events or pattern being protested. Also, the fact that all but one have been white is different from what Rick posted I believe.

 

[bigantdna3]

they have killed 5 in 3 days already in the bay! 5 in 3 days there homocide rate is higher than any set right now! fuck this! I feeling like joining those 18th street gangstas in L.A and putting these pigz on slabs! You take one of ours we take one of yours! Shit motherfuckers need to hire mercs and have these mufuckas eradicated! Thats bullshit!

 

[bigantdna3]

A mentally distraught Pacifica man died early Monday after police repeatedly shocked a handcuffed Gregory Saulsbury Jr. with a Taser gun, family members said, ignoring their assurances that they had calmed him down.

But Pacifica police said officers responding to a call for medical assistance at 11:34 p.m. Sunday were confronted by an unarmed but "combative and uncooperative'' Saulsbury. "Officers struggled with Mr. Saulsbury and subsequently 'Tased' him in an attempt to control him,'' according to brief statement that police issued Monday.

The death comes as civil rights groups have repeatedly warned of the increasing number of fatalities among people shocked by police Tasers, raising questions about whether people suffering from mental illness, intoxication and heart problems may be especially vulnerable to stun guns.

Saulsbury, 30, suffered cardiac arrest at his family's home on Inverness Drive in the Westview district of Pacifica and was pronounced dead at Seton Medical Center in Daly City at 12:40 a.m., according to San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault.

The cause of death is pending an autopsy to be conducted today and possible toxicology tests that could take two weeks.

"They put the handcuffs on him, and they started shooting him with that stun gun. The next thing you know he wasn't breathing,'' said the man's aunt, Shenita King

King said she called 911 for paramedics, saying her nephew, a recently unemployed legal paper server, was acting paranoid and occasionally kicking and swinging at loved ones trying to soothe him. Saulsbury's sister added that he was suggesting that someone had slipped him drugs.

Police arrived first, apparently to secure the scene before medical workers entered. Family members and the coroner said paramedics entered the residence after Saulsbury had been shocked and a police officer administered mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

King insisted that Saulsbury, who had been saying that people were plotting to kill him, had calmed down by the time police arrived. "He was just sitting there when they came in there. He didn't fight with them or anything, '' she said Monday.

During the confrontation, family members accused officers of shoving aside relatives, including Saulsbury's 68-year-old grandmother, who had demanded that paramedics -- not police -- handle the case.

With several people wrestling in the congested room, police also shocked the suspect's unarmed father, perhaps by accident, relatives said.

Police did not respond to The Chronicle's requests for comments about the family's allegations. Sgt. Pete Newell said the agency would release no further details on the case Monday, beyond the statement, because investigators were still gathering information.

"We are fairly comfortable that everything happened as it should,'' Newell said, implying that officers followed proper procedure.

As all in fatal cases involving police use of force, the death will be investigated by the county district attorney's office and the police department.

Last month, Amnesty International called on police to stop using the devices until independent studies deem them safe. The group cited at least 74 people who have died in the United States and Canada in the past four years after being stunned with Tasers.

On Monday, the Solano County coroner's office ruled that the Sept. 16 death of car-theft suspect Andrew Washington, after Vallejo police zapped him with a Taser, was a result of "cardiac arrest associated with excitement during (the) police chase and cocaine and alcohol intoxication, occurring shortly after Tasering.''

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California has also urged police departments that are considering equipping patrol officers with stun guns, including police in San Francisco, to restrict their use to life- threatening situations where the only alternative would be using a firearm.

The Pacifica man's family described a chaotic scene, saying a half-dozen officers burst through the front door, shoving aside the grandmother, who owns the home and was refusing police entry.

Police found Saulsbury in the den with his father, Gregory Saulsbury Sr.

"My dad was telling them that he had his son under control,'' said the dead man's sister, Laneka Saulsbury, 26, who was not present but got the account from her dad.

Saulsbury's aunt said the struggle appeared to begin when police tried to handcuff the man and he was wrestled to the floor with several officers on top of him.

From outside the den's doorway, King said she heard her nephew shouting.

"He was on the floor screaming 'Granny they're shooting me. They're shooting me,' " King said. "And his daddy was hollering, 'Don't be doing that to him. You're killing my son.' ''

Family members, who have contacted an attorney, said they warned the dispatcher not to send police -- only paramedics.

But Foucrault, the coroner, said dispatchers will automatically send police if a caller says not to, because that "raises a red flag'' about a security threat and the need to safeguard unarmed paramedics.

Preliminary paramedic reports suggest Saulsbury was shocked at least two times when an officer directly held the stun gun against him, Foucrault said. During the autopsy, he said, doctors will look for evidence of "how long (the Taser) was administered and how many times. Sometimes, if these things are left on too long, burn marks are left on the skin.''

My homey RIP Greg!

 

[flipyawig]

they have killed 5 in 3 days already in the bay! 5 in 3 days there homocide rate is higher than any set right now! fuck this! I feeling like joining those 18th street gangstas in L.A and putting these pigz on slabs! You take one of ours we take one of yours! Shit motherfuckers need to hire mercs and have these mufuckas eradicated! Thats bullshit!

hmmm..i wonder if the cops had a new years resolution to kill as many innocent people as possible...