Tag: police killing

Rubio on his back when killed by Gridley police

Body cameras recorded shooting of timid man in mental crisis
by Dave Waddell | Posted January 2, 2024

photo by Dave Waddell
At least one police bullet went into Tanabe Dermatology on Magnolia Street along the alley where Rubio died.

GRIDLEY — A year ago today, in the dawn of a new year, was it necessary for Gridley police to kill Baltazar Rubio, a smallish, timid man in acute mental crisis?

Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey, 365 days later, still hasn’t answered that question, though he issued a statement the day after the shooting giving the officers’ version of the deadly event. The three shooting officers – Sgt. Eva Smith and officers Anthony Lara and Garrett Mauldin — were soon returned to duty by the Gridley Police Department.

Body-worn camera videos of the killing of Rubio – recently released after denials and delays by the City of Gridley – raise questions about the tragedy. One critical question is how much danger police were in when, after pausing their gunfire, officers pulled their triggers a few final times. read more

Is Tyler Rushing case finally headed to trial?

Judge denies Chico’s latest moves to thwart police-violence lawsuit
by Dave Waddell | Posted July 26, 2023

photo courtesy of Rushing family

Tyler Rushing

Editor’s note: An emailed statement from Police Chief Billy Aldridge was added to this story the morning of July 28. Because of an email glitch, his statement was unfortunately missed at the time of the story’s posting.

The City of Chico’s efforts to avoid a civil trial over the tasering of an incapacitated Tyler Rushing -– legal moves Rushing’s father calls “bullying” -– seem now at an end with a recent ruling by a federal judge.

“It looks like we’re going to get our day in court now -– or week, or whatever it takes,” said Scott Rushing, speaking by phone while visiting Sunday, with his wife Paula, the Ventura cemetery where their only son’s ashes are interred. July 23 was the sixth anniversary of Tyler’s slaying by a private security guard and Chico police. Tyler, who operated a window-washing business, would be 40 years old had he not been killed. read more

Chico PD sued over ‘Gabe’ Sanchez slaying

ChicoSol’s coverage raised doubts about his killer’s story
by Dave Waddell | Posted October 3, 2022
Gabriel Sanchez with his grandfather, Eddie, at the July memorial in Chico.

The father of Eddie Gabriel “Gabe” Sanchez, an armed robbery suspect shot to death by police officer Mark Bass in 2015, has sued Bass and the City of Chico on behalf of Sanchez’s teen-age son.

The wrongful death complaint was recently filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in Sacramento by civil rights attorneys Stanley Goff of San Francisco and Fulvio Cajina of Oakland. In seeking unspecified damages, the complaint asserts violations of Sanchez’s son’s Fourth Amendment rights due to excessive police violence and of his 14th Amendment rights because of loss of the companionship of his father.

In a press release announcing the legal action, the Sanchez family noted that new details were disclosed about the killing in a ChicoSol investigative report published earlier this year. The family’s press statement asserts that “forensic evidence analysis” contradicts the story Bass told investigators. read more

Expert: Wounds contradict cop’s killing claim

Chico PD discloses records on Mark Bass’ slaying of ‘Gabe’ Sanchez
by Dave Waddell | Posted May 11, 2022

screenshot from Chico PD’s 3D video showing where Gabe Sanchez was struck by police bullets.

A top expert on police use of force says a newly disclosed investigative video seems to contradict key claims made by Chico police officer Mark Bass about his killing of Eddie Gabriel “Gabe” Sanchez in 2015.

The video, a three-dimensional depiction of Sanchez’s fatal wounds, was released by the Chico Police Department in response to a California Public Records Act (PRA) request submitted by this reporter in November 2020.

Sanchez, 34, grew up in Paradise. He was shot to death by Bass while fleeing along Pomona Avenue in west Chico. The killing garnered little media attention, let alone scrutiny, compared with the several Chico police shootings that have followed.

Seth Stoughton, a nationally recognized expert on police practices who was a witness for the prosecution at the trial of George Floyd’s murderer, looked at the 3D video, which shows that Sanchez was shot twice in his left cheek. One bullet exited through the right side of Sanchez’s neck; the other lodged near his right eye. A third Bass shot missed Sanchez and sailed through a nearby residence that was unoccupied at the time, according to investigative reports. read more

Desmond’s killers told inconsistent stories

DA's interview dubbed incompetent by cop expert
by Dave Waddell | Posted September 22, 2021

Desmond Phillips was killed by police on March 17, 2017.

Editor: This is part 3 in a three-part series based on newly released documents and video.

Two young Chico police officers, on the night in 2017 they gunned Desmond Phillips down, told conflicting stories to investigators about what Phillips was doing in the seconds before he was slain.

Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey, apparently uncomfortable with those discrepancies, brought Desmond’s killers together nearly three weeks later for a group re-interview that “no competent investigator” would have conducted, says Seth Stoughton, a former detective and nationally recognized expert on police practices.

“Separating witnesses is such a basic component of an investigation that it has been referred to as ‘Investigations 101,’” said Stoughton, an associate professor of law at the University of South Carolina, in an email reply. “The only reason to interview witnesses together is to get one coherent, consistent story. But that’s not what an investigation is supposed to do.” read more

Reformers want outside probe into police killing

Stephen Vest slipped through the cracks, observers say
by Dave Waddell and Leslie Layton | Posted October 29, 2020

photo courtesy of Lisa Currier
Stephen Vest as a youngster in Paradise.

Chico police reform advocates are questioning the independence of the investigation underway into the killing of Stephen Vest, who was shot Oct. 14 by an officer and his sergeant after Vest’s behavior frightened motorists and passersby.

Reform advocates want a state investigation into the killing outside the local Petco store. Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey insists his system for investigating police shootings ensures impartiality and falls within the purview of his position.

Vest, 30, a Camp Fire survivor who grew up in Paradise, was described by friends as a sweet man who struggled with mental illness and by Ramsey as someone in need of drug rehabilitation. Vest was shot dead while advancing on several Chico officers with a knife in the Petco parking lot on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway. read more