Month: September 2017

Student activist’s grisly killing still unsolved

Marc Thompson’s dad: Son was ‘destined for greatness’
by ChicoSol staff | Posted September 30, 2017

photos courtesy of Thompson family

We will never be the same because of you,
We will never be the same without you,
You will be remembered.
–From a poem by film director Lee Mun Wah in remembrance of Marc Anthony Thompson

by Dave Waddell

Marc Thompson had a big smile – broad and gap-toothed — and an even bigger personality. He made a mark on people, “like a blazing star across the midnight sky,” in the words of activist Lee Mun Wah, one of Thompson’s mentors. And he had dedicated his young life to fighting against a litany of social injustices.

Then, three years ago this month, he was brutally killed, his body found in his burned-out car in a remote area about 28 miles northeast of Oroville. Thompson’s parents, still devastated and mystified over the murder, continue to question whether the Butte County Sheriff’s Department did enough to apprehend his killer or killers. read more

DA: No crime by shooters in Rushing death

Peaceful Ventura man behaved bizarrely in Chico
by Dave Waddell and Leslie Layton | Posted September 28, 2017
Tyler Rushing

Tyler Rushing, who died during a chaotic confrontation in close quarters with Chico police, most likely succumbed to an earlier “devastating gunshot” wound from a private security guard responding to a burglary.

That’s the conclusion of Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey in a 17-page report made available to ChicoSol and other news media prior to a press briefing by Ramsey this morning.

Ramsey also wrote that a medical examiner was taken aback after multiple toxicology reports turned up a “moderate” amount of marijuana in Rushing’s system but no other drugs.

“The doctor expressed great surprise (Rushing) was able to function as long and violently as he did after the security (guard’s) devastating gunshot,” says Ramsey’s report. “He opined the subject’s extraordinary stamina and strength (were) most likely drug induced.” read more

Parents plead for police restraint

"Bullets are not the answer," says Tyler Rushing's father
by Dave Waddell | Posted September 18, 2017

photo by Dave Waddell

The father of Tyler Rushing, Scott Rushing (center), talks with concerned Chico citizens.

Scott Rushing stood Sunday across Main Street from the title company building in which his son, Tyler, was shot to death July 23 by Chico police.

“I guess you could call it his mausoleum,” said Rushing, before conducting a moment of silence in memory of his only son and other victims of law enforcement killings in Butte County. Rushing said he found it “particularly abhorrent” that his son’s body was Tased and handcuffed after the fatal shooting.

A bit earlier, Rushing, along with his wife Paula, had spoken to a group of about two dozen gathered at the corner of Fourth and Main streets – City Hall serving as a backdrop – and he made a tearful plea for police restraint in dealing with people in mental crisis. (See video at right.) read more

Fewer officers enroll in Butte crisis training

Chico PD, though, ups CIT involvement after shootings
by Dave Waddell | Posted September 17, 2017

photo by Karen Laslo

Chico Police Chief Mike O’Brien

In a year of three deadly officer-involved shootings within five months in Butte County, overall attendance is down markedly among law enforcement personnel in Butte College’s annual Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) academy.

However, the Chico Police Department, involved in two of those fatal shootings, is sending three officers to the CIT academy, after having almost no presence there in recent years.

The academy, which begins Monday at the Chico Fire Training Center, provides instruction in de-escalation techniques and in dealing with the mentally ill. For its first seven years, the 40-hour training was conducted by Andy Duch, a recently retired Butte County sheriff’s captain. Duch quit the CIT post in protest shortly after Chico police shot and killed Desmond Phillips, a 25-year-old mentally ill black man, in his West Fourth Avenue living room on March 17. read more

Shooting of Phillips violated “public trust”

Prof says killing not comparable to other recent deaths
by ChicoSol staff | Posted September 16, 2017
Desmond Phillips

Editor’s Note: ChicoSol asked Diane E. Schmidt, the ranking professor of public administration in the department of political science and criminal justice at Chico State, to comment on the two deadly law enforcement shootings in Butte County that have taken place since the March 17 Chico police shooting of Desmond Phillips, a 25-year-old mentally ill black man. We have elected to run her response as a guest commentary.

by Diane E. Schmidt

I don’t see these situations as being comparable to Desmond Phillips’ killing. Desmond’s killing violated the sanctity of the home — the trust of the family calling for medical help — and instead they had to endure police officers pepper-spraying the dog, breaking in the door, and shooting the very person who most needed medical intervention. Desmond’s killing was a violation of the public trust, not just a tragic overreach of police power. read more