Officers defend use of taser on fallen Rushing

Civil rights trial continues with more testimony in federal court
by Dave Waddell | Posted October 10, 2024

photo courtesy of Rushing family

Tyler Rushing

SACRAMENTO – Jurors on Wednesday (Oct. 9) viewed video clips from Chico police officers’ body-worn cameras that captured the last instants of Tyler Rushing’s life.

A dominant color in the scene was the bright red of Rushing’s blood framing his semi-prone body. After bleeding out for the better part of an hour following a serious gunshot wound to his chest from a private security guard, Rushing was shot twice more by a Chico police sergeant and lay on the floor of a title company’s women’s restroom.

Rushing’s buttocks were exposed, his shorts apparently having been pulled down by a biting police dog during a slippery, chaotic struggle with several officers. read more

Desmond’s killers told inconsistent stories

DA's interview dubbed incompetent by cop expert
by Dave Waddell | Posted September 22, 2021

Desmond Phillips was killed by police on March 17, 2017.

Editor: This is part 3 in a three-part series based on newly released documents and video.

Two young Chico police officers, on the night in 2017 they gunned Desmond Phillips down, told conflicting stories to investigators about what Phillips was doing in the seconds before he was slain.

Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey, apparently uncomfortable with those discrepancies, brought Desmond’s killers together nearly three weeks later for a group re-interview that “no competent investigator” would have conducted, says Seth Stoughton, a former detective and nationally recognized expert on police practices. read more