For the second time in four months, a man has been shot dead by Chico police.
An officer fired his weapon at the unidentified white man inside Mid Valley Title and Escrow in the 600 block of Main Street in downtown Chico shortly after 10:30 p.m. Sunday.
According to Chico police Lt. Billy Aldridge, a man had wounded two police officers and a private security guard with an undisclosed weapon. The officers were treated and released at Enloe Medical Center, while the guard received a “significant” wound.
In the Police Department’s initial statement released this morning, the names of the man killed, the security guard and the officers involved were not divulged. Aldridge said that an investigation of the incident that was started by Chico PD had been turned over to the Butte County Officer-Involved Shooting Investigation Team headed up by District Attorney Mike Ramsey.read more
Young cops entered home after 'no de-escalation' measures
By Dave Waddell | Posted July 18, 2017
photo by Dave Waddell
photo of Desmond Phillips
The Chico police sergeant who gave the green light to sending two relatively inexperienced cops after mentally ill Desmond Phillips with their guns drawn was nowhere near the Phillips residence at the time.
According to computer-assisted dispatch reports obtained by David Phillips, Desmond’s father, and made available to ChicoSol, Sgt. Todd Lefkowitz did not get to the scene until 14 minutes after he was first dispatched and eight minutes after Desmond, a 25-year-old black man, was gunned down by police. Lefkowitz arrived at 7:41 p.m. on March 17, or at approximately the same time the mortally wounded Desmond was carted out of his home and taken to Enloe Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead with a grievous heart wound.read more
Art lovers came out in force Thursday evening for the ribbon-cutting opening of Chico’s Museum of Northern California Art (MONCA).
About 270 people attended the hour-long event at the museum, housed in the sprawling, historic Veterans Memorial Hall at 900 Esplanade, said Pat Macias, MONCA president.
“We signed up seven new members and also made many new friends,” Macias said.
Through Aug. 27, MONCA is displaying “paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures and photography from nearly 100 artists in Northern California,” says the museum’s website. Artists whose work is included in the collection include Ann Pierce, Claudia Steel, James Kuiper, Salvatore Casa and Richard Hornaday.read more
Madeline Hemphill points to the bush along the Esplanade where she says she was “tackled” by a Chico police officer.
While ruling out officer involvement in a missing cell phone mystery, Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey also has disclosed details to ChicoSol that bolster a student’s claim of retaliation by Chico police.
Chico State senior Madeline Hemphill has maintained that five minutes or less elapsed between an initial confrontation with officer Steve Dyke and her arrest in front of her nearby residence. Chico Police Chief Mike O’Brien, in contrast, issued a press statement two days after the Aug. 27, 2016, incident indicating a gap of 28 minutes between the two encounters.
At ChicoSol’s request, Ramsey looked into the time discrepancy. The district attorney said dispatch records reveal that Dyke, at 2:07 a.m., drove away from a sobriety check that Hemphill had been filming on the Esplanade with her phone, while Hemphill and her roommate, Nicole Braham, were arrested just three minutes later, at 2:10.read more
Officer Dyke ‘traumatized’ driver with gun in 2011
By Dave Waddell | Posted July 4, 2017
photo courtesy of Madeline Hemphill
If Chico police officer Steve Dyke’s intent last summer was to get Madeline Hemphill to quit filming police with her cell phone, that mission definitely was accomplished.
One reason is practical: Hemphill no longer has her cell phone. Police claim it was lost when they arrested her in the early hours of Aug. 27, 2016, and accused her of resisting arrest. No charges, however, were ever brought against Hemphill by Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey.
In a ChicoSol exclusive, Ramsey said Friday that his 10-month investigation into what became of the phone determined that police never had it. Most likely, Ramsey said, the phone was carried around town by a “transient.” The DA promised more details this week.read more
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
