February 2018 - ChicoSol News

Literary journal holds launch party Califragile.org provides poetry relevant to the "modern world"

Sergeant in assault case logged massive overtime District attorney: Chokehold incident caught on body camera

ChicoSol/Tehama Group Communications graphic

by Dave Waddell

Scott Ruppel, a former police sergeant involved in two fatal shootings and facing an assault charge for an alleged on-duty choking incident, worked many thousands of hours of overtime during his nearly 20 years at Chico PD.

One year, Ruppel logged more than 700 overtime hours, becoming not only the highest-compensated employee in the city’s largest department but among the top five employees in total compensation in all of Chico municipal government.

Ruppel retired Sept. 15 prior to a scheduled internal affairs interview about police body camera footage allegedly showing the sergeant putting a handcuffed, seat-belted suspect into a stranglehold for eight seconds, said Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey. Ruppel, whose annual CalPERS pension is in the six figures, has pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge of assault under “color of authority.” His next Superior Court date is set for Feb. 28. read more

Saturday Peace Vigil targets gun violence After Parkland school shooting, vigil participants protest NRA

photo by Karen Laslo

Members of the Feb. 17 Chico Peace Vigil held every Saturday downtown hold protest signs in the wake of the latest mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla. Former student Nikolas Cruz used a semiautomatic rifle to kill 17 people on Feb. 14.

Rushing’s parents file claim in cop shooting Desmond Phillips’ family sues city in federal court

photo courtesy of Rushing family

Tyler Rushing

by Dave Waddell

The parents of Tyler Rushing, who died after being shot by a private security guard and a Chico police sergeant last summer, have filed a claim against the city for damages in excess of $25,000.

The claim, received by the city Jan. 17, was obtained by ChicoSol through a state Public Records Act request. As of last week, the city had not responded to the claim, said Dani Rogers, deputy city clerk.

Six days after the Rushing filing, on Jan. 23, relatives of Desmond Phillips brought suit against the city in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in Sacramento for unspecified damages. The lawsuit was filed by the office of prominent civil rights attorney John L. Burris of Oakland. Phillips, a 25-year-old black man in mental crisis, was shot 11 times by two officers on March 17, 2017, in his own living room after his father called for medical aid. read more

Chico PD sergeants to wear body cameras Activist wants to see community oversight of videos

by Dave Waddell

Police Chief Mike O’Brien — lauding the use of body-worn cameras by his patrol officers — says cameras will also soon be attached to the blue uniforms of Chico PD’s 13 sergeants.

As first reported here by ChicoSol, Chico Police Department patrol officers began sporting the body cameras last April, a couple of weeks after two policemen shot and killed Desmond Phillips, a young black man in mental crisis.

O’Brien said that after 10½ months of use, he would give the camera experience a “very favorable” evaluation. read more

DA sues DWR over Oroville Dam crisis Ramsey's office seeks damages over Feather River pollution

photo by Karen Laslo

Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey

by Dave Waddell

Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey announced today that he has filed a civil lawsuit against the state Department of Water Resources (DWR) over last year’s Oroville Dam calamity that forced the evacuation of 180,000 residents downstream.

Ramsey’s complaint against DWR was filed in Butte County Superior Court. It seeks damages of between $34 billion and $51 billion, or $10 for each of the between 3.4 billion and 5.1 billion pounds of material that the suit says were discharged into the Feather River during the crisis. read more

What is ChicoSol?

ChicoSol is an independent, reader-supported online magazine that publishes the first week of each month. ChicoSol runs on donations and occasional fellowships as it works to provide cross-cultural feature writing and bold investigative reporting.

Our stories usually reflect national issues but focus on the Chico area of the Northern Sacramento Valley. We’re journalists who believe that fact-based reporting sustains healthy, participatory democracy.

We post comments from readers on stories when commenters identify themselves by name. To learn more read here.

Officer-involved fatal shootings in Butte County, 2017-21, and agency involved

March 17, 2017 Desmond Phillips, 25 (Chico PD)

July 23, 2017 Tyler Rushing, 34 (Chico PD)

Aug. 17, 2017 Mark Jensen, 56 (Butte County Sheriff's Office)

April 7, 2018 Larry Siordia, 33 (Butte County Sheriff's Office)

April 26, 2018 Myra Micalizio, 56 (Butte County Sheriff's Office)

Nov. 15, 2018 GD Hendrix, 48 (Butte County Sheriff's Office)

Jan. 28, 2019 Richard Moulton, 52 (Butte County Sheriff's Office)

Oct. 14, 2020 Stephen Vest, 30 (Chico PD)

Were callers to dispatch warning that Stephen Vest was in trouble?

The Chico Police Department media log suggests Stephen Vest was likely on East 20th Street as of 6 p.m. — and possibly much earlier.

9:09 a.m.: Caller says a man is on East 20^th Street jumping in front of cars. He’s described as a thin white man 5-feet-9-inches tall wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and backpack. Police arrive almost 26 minutes later and report him “gone on arrival.”

5:59 p.m.: A man on East 20th Street behind Petco is “trying to cross and then running in the road.” Log states: “Appears very confused or 11550” referring to the under-the-influence Health & Safety code section. Police arrive quickly and report him “gone on arrival.”

Sometime around 7 p.m., Vest was seen at that location in a hooded sweatshirt by an acquaintance who worried that he might get hit, says Lisa Currier. Sometime around 7:30 p.m., Vest had an encounter with a security guard in the area of Community Park, says Butte County DA Mike Ramsey.

ChicoSol wins top 2020 honors

For the second consecutive year, ChicoSol was recognized for outstanding work by judges for the California News Publishers Association (CNPA.)

ChicoSol won awards in four categories in the 2020 Journalism Awards contest run by CNPA. Our stories were recognized in the investigative reporting, health reporting, election coverage, and public service journalism categories for digital publications.

Dave Waddell’s story, “Conflict of interest in Stephen Vest killing probe?” placed fifth in investigative reporting.

Leslie Layton’s reporting that began with the story, “Butte County Latinos hit hardest by the pandemic” placed third in two separate categories — coverage of the pandemic (health reporting) and public service journalism.

“The public service effect of Ms. Layton’s July article is impossible to miss in the subsequent two entries, and I applaud ChicoSol on its efforts to highlight a disparity and follow that reporting through…”, wrote a CNPA judge. “This is classic and clean public service journalism.”

Finally, Layton’s story, “An election ends Gridley’s ‘political slumber‘” placed fifth in the category for local coverage of the 2020 election.

Thank you readers and supporters!