Category: Policing

DA: Chico cops never had cell phone

‘Tackled’ student claimed retaliation for filming
by Dave Waddell | Posted July 2, 2017
photo by Karen LasloButte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey

photo by Karen Laslo

Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey

Chico police never had the cell phone of a Chico State student who says the phone contained video showing excessive police force, Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey told ChicoSol late Friday.

In a telephone voice message left for ChicoSol, Ramsey said he suspects a “transient” had the phone in the days after it left student Madeline Hemphill’s possession as she was arrested last August. Hemphill was filming officer Steve Dyke as he arrested her roommate when she was suddenly ordered to jail by Dyke, “tackled” to the ground by other officers, and accused of resisting arrest.

However, Ramsey never brought any charges against Hemphill and her phone has never been found. read more

Autopsy: Phillips shot 11 times, not 10

Mortal heart wound from sharply downward shot
by Dave Waddell | Posted June 18, 2017
Phillips family photo Desmond Phillips

Phillips family photo

Desmond Phillips

Desmond Phillips, a mentally ill young black man killed by Chico police on March 17, was hit by 11 bullets — not shot 10 times, as Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey has claimed — according to a forensic autopsy report reviewed by ChicoSol.

One of those 11 rounds hit Phillips in the nose and then re-entered his body through his chest, creating a total of 12 gunshot entry wounds, says the autopsy report. That same bullet, which the report says traveled in a downward direction at a “sharp angle,” tore through Phillips’ heart, causing his most grievous wound.

Erica Traverso, a Butte College instructor active in the Justice for Desmond Phillips group, said the autopsy indicates Phillips was in a position akin to kneeling when the deadly shot penetrated his heart. read more

Community celebrates Desmond Phillips’ life

'Justice for Desmond Phillips' group plans Capitol rally
by Dave Waddell | Posted June 5, 2017
photo by Dave Waddell

photo by Dave Waddell

Hundreds of area residents turned out Sunday evening to celebrate the life of Desmond Phillips, a mentally ill black man gunned down March 17 by Chico police.

Money from the barbecue/entertainment fundraiser at 20th Street Park will be used by the Phillips family to seek justice for Phillips, organizers said.

Next up for the group will be a June 9 rally beginning at 3 p.m. at the state Capitol in Sacramento, where demonstrators will march to the California Attorney General’s Office seeking a state probe of the killing.

“It went just wonderful,” said David Phillips, Desmond’s father, of Sunday’s fundraiser. “So many people there, and so much love. People from different walks of life enjoying each other. And that’s Desmond right there.” read more

Scaled-back plans to arm park rangers

Speakers differ on whether guns aid park safety
by Dave Waddell | Posted May 31, 2017
photo by Karen LasloElaina McReynolds

photo by Karen Laslo

Elaina McReynolds

A proposal to turn Bidwell Park’s three rangers into Chico police officers was scaled back Tuesday to arming just two of them as cops and having the third ranger work to bolster park volunteerism.

The so-called “hybrid” plan, outlined by Chris Constantin, assistant city manager, drew mixed reactions from members of the Bidwell Park and Playground Commission, as well as mostly skepticism from citizens who spoke at a public hearing.

In an oddity at such hearings, one speaker, Dan Everhart, was interrupted twice during his brief testimony by commissioners who disagreed with his comments – first, pointedly, by Tom Nickell and a second time by Jeffrey Glatz. Commission Chair Marisa Stoller reminded commissioners that the purpose of the hearing was to receive public comments, and Glatz later apologized. read more

Professor blasts Chico cops in fatal shooting

Police should act as 'peacekeepers,' not 'gunslingers'
by Dave Waddell | Posted May 22, 2017
Diane E. Schmidt
Diane E. Schmidt

In an unusually pointed letter, a veteran professor in Chico State’s criminal justice program has blasted the killing of Desmond Phillips by Chico police as showing “extraordinarily poor training, flawed judgment, and gross ineptitude.”

Phillips, a 25-year-old mentally ill black man, was shot 10 times by two officers in his father’s living room just 21 minutes after medical aid was first called to help him March 17.

In a letter dated May 15 to Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey, Professor Diane E. Schmidt called Phillips’ shooting both a failure of training by Chico PD and of oversight by officials such as Ramsey. The district attorney did not immediately return a call from ChicoSol seeking response to Schmidt’s letter. read more