Lopez attorney: Sheriff's office 'encourages' use of deadly force

[FreakinDJ]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by pinto (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

As a large wooden shrine sprung up Friday in the southwest Santa Rosa lot where a sheriff's deputy killed Andy Lopez last week, an attorney for the teen's family outlined the framework of a federal civil rights lawsuit the family intends to file next week.

Arnoldo Casillas, the attorney representing the Lopez family, said the Oct. 22 shooting was unconstitutional because it violated the Fourth Amendment's limits on police authority.

The family will file a lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco contending that Deputy Erick Gelhaus shot Lopez “without reasonable cause,” Casillas said in a statement. The shooting, he said, resulted from “an unconstitutional custom and practice” of the use of deadly force by the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office.

The family made similar allegations in a tort claim filed Thursday with the county. In that claim, Casillas alleged the “sheriff's department's training encourages deputies to prematurely shoot suspects who pose no threat or danger to deputies or the public at large.”


Read more: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20131101/articles/131109983

---

In the Shooters own writing he advocated shooting suspects in "Less then allowed by Supreme Court circumstances", comparing it to "Hunting an animal"

Just like you don’t always see the whole animal when hunting, you may not always see the whole weapon – or even a lot of it – in low light. Look for the parts.

http://modernserviceweapons.com/?p=2058

[bemildred]

1. Why does this remind me of George Zimmerman? nt

[FreakinDJ]

2. Look for this case to go to the SCOTUS

What this Cop and the Sonoma Co Sheriff are suggesting mere possesion is a Justiable use of Deadly Force

[notadmblnd]

3. I hope this sends a chill down the spine of all the open carry nuts out there

[FreakinDJ]

7. it should

[bemildred]

4. "Because we can."

Last edited Sat Nov 2, 2013, 02:30 PM - Edit history (1)

You can tell the cop really likes to shoot his gun.

I think the police department will be handed its ass by a jury, and that will be appealed and reversed on appeal, because we will all be less safe if unbalanced cops are held accountable and removed from police work.

And it going to be very expensive. We had a story in the LA Times recently about the County Gov't complainmg about all the money they cough up because of Sheriff's Dept. failures and excesses, yet it never occurs to them to do anything of substance about it

[gopiscrap]

5. yup, it seems that that is the mo for almost all law enforcement agencies nowadays!

[AnotherMcIntosh]

6. More than 10 years ago, the California Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

found that the Sonoma

"community had lost confidence in the complaint process offered citizens by the law enforcement departments. Although each department has a commendation and complaint pamphlet/form, it was unclear whether these were readily available. The community perception was that filing a complaint was intimidating, discouraged, and if filed, the process took significant time and did not lead to satisfactory resolution."

http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/sac/ca0500/ch5.htm

Among other things, they recommended that

"officials should ensure commitment from law enforcement command structure for alternatives to the use of deadly force and provide resources to the departments for implementation."

http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/sac/ca0500/ch5.htm

It appears that the City of Santa Rosa has followed that recommendation and has fewer needless shootings while the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department has not. The attorney for the Lopez case will be able to make his case, in part, by comparing training methods and statistics.

[hopemountain]

8. adding to your last sentence,

may i add: hiring and vetting requirements for sheriff deputies.

[pinto]

9. Locking, duplicate.

See - http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014638008

Thanks.