mental health Archives - ChicoSol News

Desmond attorney: Judge erred Quick reversal to be sought in Chico police killing suit

photo courtesy of Phillips family

Desmond Phillips

by Dave Waddell

SACRAMENTO – When a conservative federal judge this week blocked claims for damages sought by Desmond Phillips’ family, Chico Police Chief Mike O’Brien quickly spun out a press release saying the judge had justified Phillips’ controversial police killing.

However, Ben Nisenbaum, an attorney for the family, told ChicoSol in a Wednesday phone interview that Judge John Mendez erred in his rulings in court Tuesday. Once Mendez’s words are sorted out, Nisenbaum believes Phillips’ survivors will get the jury trial they are seeking. read more

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Sheriff’s captain blasts Chico police crisis training Duch quits training role after 'deceptive' claims

Captain Andy Duch — photo courtesy of Andy Duch

Duch instructing a “Tac Com” class

by Dave Waddell

A Butte County sheriff’s captain is so bothered by the Chico Police Department’s “overstated and deceptive … propaganda” following the shooting death of Desmond Phillips that he has quit the crisis intervention training academy he led for seven years.

Phillips, a 25-year-old mentally disturbed black man, was gunned down March 17 in his father’s West Fourth Avenue living room, just 21 minutes after medical aid was first called to help him. Together, Chico officers Alex Fliehr and Jeremy Gagnebin fired 16 rounds. A report on the shooting is expected next week from an investigative team headed by Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey. (See our story index in the column at right and click to read backstories.) read more

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Failure to address mental health proves costly Cabral Reflects on Mental Illness

by Leslie Layton

Five months after his arrest in connection with the choking of his girlfriend, an Orland man said that psychosis drove him to ram his head into the wall of a Glenn County Jail cell.

Reynaldo “Reny” Cabral, 23, described himself as disoriented and desperate when he rammed his head in his isolation cell Jan. 8, breaking his neck and becoming paralyzed from the chest down. He is now a quadriplegic, and both Glenn County and MediCal have been billed hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical costs. read more

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What is ChicoSol?

ChicoSol is an independent, reader-supported online journal that runs on donations and occasional fellowships as it works to provide cross-cultural feature writing and bold investigative reporting. Our stories usually reflect national issues but focus on the Chico area of the Northern Sacramento Valley. We’re journalists who believe that fact-based reporting sustains healthy, participatory democracy. We post comments from readers on stories when commenters identify themselves by name. To learn more read here.

Officer-involved fatal shootings in Butte County, 2017-21, and agency involved

March 17, 2017 Desmond Phillips, 25 (Chico PD)

July 23, 2017 Tyler Rushing, 34 (Chico PD)

Aug. 17, 2017 Mark Jensen, 56 (Butte County Sheriff's Office)

April 7, 2018 Larry Siordia, 33 (Butte County Sheriff's Office)

April 26, 2018 Myra Micalizio, 56 (Butte County Sheriff's Office)

Nov. 15, 2018 GD Hendrix, 48 (Butte County Sheriff's Office)

Jan. 28, 2019 Richard Moulton, 52 (Butte County Sheriff's Office)

Oct. 14, 2020 Stephen Vest, 30 (Chico PD)

ChicoSol wins top 2020 honors

For the second consecutive year, ChicoSol was recognized for outstanding work by judges for the California News Publishers Association (CNPA.)

ChicoSol won awards in four categories in the 2020 Journalism Awards contest run by CNPA. Our stories were recognized in the investigative reporting, health reporting, election coverage, and public service journalism categories for digital publications.

Dave Waddell’s story, “Conflict of interest in Stephen Vest killing probe?” placed fifth in investigative reporting.

Leslie Layton’s reporting that began with the story, “Butte County Latinos hit hardest by the pandemic” placed third in two separate categories — coverage of the pandemic (health reporting) and public service journalism.

“The public service effect of Ms. Layton’s July article is impossible to miss in the subsequent two entries, and I applaud ChicoSol on its efforts to highlight a disparity and follow that reporting through…”, wrote a CNPA judge. “This is classic and clean public service journalism.”

Finally, Layton’s story, “An election ends Gridley’s ‘political slumber‘” placed fifth in the category for local coverage of the 2020 election.

Thank you readers and supporters!

Were callers to dispatch warning that Stephen Vest was in trouble?

The Chico Police Department media log suggests Stephen Vest was likely on East 20th Street as of 6 p.m. — and possibly much earlier.

9:09 a.m.: Caller says a man is on East 20^th Street jumping in front of cars. He’s described as a thin white man 5-feet-9-inches tall wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and backpack. Police arrive almost 26 minutes later and report him “gone on arrival.”

5:59 p.m.: A man on East 20th Street behind Petco is “trying to cross and then running in the road.” Log states: “Appears very confused or 11550” referring to the under-the-influence Health & Safety code section. Police arrive quickly and report him “gone on arrival.”

Sometime around 7 p.m., Vest was seen at that location in a hooded sweatshirt by an acquaintance who worried that he might get hit, says Lisa Currier. Sometime around 7:30 p.m., Vest had an encounter with a security guard in the area of Community Park, says Butte County DA Mike Ramsey.