Search Results for: Desmond Phillips siege

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

Chico PD to get pilot mobile crisis counselors Mental health workers to aid cops 10 hours a day

Dorian Kittrell

by Dave Waddell

A pilot project is in the works that will provide the Chico Police Department – criticized for its lack of crisis intervention efforts in the past – with two mobile mental health counselors to work alongside police officers 10 hours a day.

The program is described in a Nov. 27 memorandum, written by Butte County Department of Behavioral Health Director Dorian Kittrell to the county Board of Supervisors and obtained by ChicoSol.

Kittrell said his department is working on a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Chico PD to assign two full-time mental health workers to the pilot mobile crisis response team, which will operate seven days a week from about 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. read more

Speakers call for outside investigator in police shooting review 21 minutes from medical call to killing

Phillips family photo Desmond Phillips

Phillips family photo

Desmond Phillips

by Dave Waddell

Just 21 minutes elapsed between the time medical aid was first summoned to help Desmond Phillips and the moment when he was gunned down in a hail of Chico police bullets.

Authorities disclosed details this week about the shooting of Phillips, a 25-year-old mentally disturbed black man, who was killed by police in his father’s living room.

Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey told an April 3 meeting of the Human Relations Network of Butte County (HRN) that two young officers, fearing for their safety, fired 16 rounds at Phillips, hitting him 10 times. Phillips died shortly after being rushed to Enloe Medical Center, he said. read more