(enlarge photo) Posted on 06/17/2005 6:24:09 AM PDT by ken21
Hundreds push for answers in shooting death; Knee hears calls to quit Police chief, city leaders meet with East Austin residents.
Ralph Barrera/AMERICAN-STATESMAN
(enlarge photo)
Bobby Taylor, the Rocha family's lawyer, asked the crowd to be patient and let the Police Department finish their presentation at the meeting.
* Photo gallery: Police shooting victim memorial, 06.11.05 * Police fatally shoot man in drug sting, 06.10.05 * Austin Police Department release on officer-involved shooting (PDF) * Get Acrobat Reader
* Special report: Unequal force
In a typical weekend scene, this one in the early morning of Oct. 4, Austin mounted officers keep an eye on Sixth Street revelers. Sixth and Trinity streets, where police have a weekend command post, is the site generating the most use of force reports. http://www.statesman.com/specialreports/content/specialreports/useofforce/index.html
By Tony Plohetski
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, June 17, 2005
Austin Assistant Police Chief Rudy Landeros could barely complete an opening statement about what happened the night an officer shot and killed an 18-year-old.
"Murderer!" one person shouted from the audience.
"Justice!" screamed another.
"You executed him!" yelled a third.
During a lengthy town hall meeting Thursday night to discuss the June 9 shooting of Daniel Rocha, many in the East Austin community where he lived demanded answers from city and police leaders and called for the resignation of police Chief Stan Knee.
Hundreds of people spent hours listening to questions, which included why Officer Julie Schroeder shot Rocha in the back, why video cameras failed to capture the shooting and whether Schroeder would be allowed to return to work.
The crowd, gathered in a gymnasium at the Dove Springs Recreation Center, was made up of teenagers who knew Rocha, concerned neighborhood residents and the slain teenager's family.
The questions in the tension-filled session ranged from angry shouts to calm, reasoned queries.
The mother of Sophia King, a mentally ill woman who was shot and killed by police in 2002, also was in the audience, as was Barbara Shorts, whose son, Jesse Lee Owens, was shot and killed by an officer in 2003.
About 45 minutes into the meeting, Shorts delivered an impassioned speech in which she expressed support for Daniel Rocha's mother, Daniela Rocha, and discussed the sadness that she said she lives with daily.
Sitting in the front row only a few feet from Knee, she said, "I have to question your ability to lead, Chief Knee." Her statement was met by a round of applause from the audience.
"I've tried very hard for two years to be patient," Shorts said. "I question whether you can honestly regain the trust of the community. If you cannot lead the police department, I'm begging you, begging you, to put someone in there who can."
Later, King's mother, Brenda Elendu, said, "How could you justify taking someone's loved one? We're a part of society just like West Lake Hills, Bee Cave and 360. Why can't our kids get the same treatment, instead of being gunned down like dogs."
Knee and other city leaders, including City Manager Toby Futrell and City Council members Raul Alvarez and Danny Thomas sat grim-faced through much of the meeting. Knee and Landeros fielded question after question from the crowd as Futrell sat silently by.
Knee defended the work of Schroeder, saying that she has had no sustained allegations of misconduct during her career. He said that the investigation about whether her fatal shot was a mistake will be reviewed by the department, a Travis County grand jury and federal investigators.
Rafael Wells, 19, a friend of Rocha's, stepped to a podium where participants were asking questions. "Y'all got pepper spray. Y'all got mace. Why didn't y'all use one of those?"
Landeros answered by saying that Schroeder feared for her safety.
Several participants said after they left the meeting that they felt little to no closure.
Krystal Gomez, 23, said, "I came here with a lot of questions and concerns, and I got the answers I assumed I would get — basically vague."
http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/metro/stories/06/11shooting.html
You physically and violently resist arrest and you deserve whatever you get. And you don't get to choose the weapon of choice to subdue you.
End of story, as far as I'm concerned.
Obviously you haven't heard the other side of the story or you don't care..it's totally different...this thing smells from what I have read...
now lulac is calling for stan knee's resignation.
Figures. I'm calling for LULAC's entire org. to resign then.
this thing smells from what I have read...
Yes, it most definitely does smell. It smells like the folks in East Austin don't want to suffer any consequences for their actions.
some of these "community activists" in austin are similar to those in los angeles and around the country: they're fronts for communism.
take a look at the newspaper's series "unequal force".
that's an insult to the austin police department and to reason.
why would street thugs have "equal force"? why would any reasonable community want the law breakers to have "equal force".
this term is akin to the democrat's promotion of the "nuclear option". they use terms like this to coopt public opinion from the beginning.
I haven't picked up today's edition, but plan to on the way home. I agree that they and all Austin media continue promoting the cops bad/criminals good canard, especially in times like this. I'm waiting for the black panthers to show up with their m-16's and march around town as they did several years ago (I think it was when James Byrd was kiled by the NeoNazis in East Tx. and, naturally, then-Gov. George W. Bush was at fault).
I'd like to know the whole story too, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that 1. A crime was committed; 2. Suspect fought/threatened police instead of obeying commands.
the series "unequal force" is part of a series on the newspaper's internet site. the picture of the austin cops on horses is from that series.
klbj and sheriff sam discussed this extensively several months ago. young people gather on 6th street, a lot of them are drunk, but what the community demands is that the austin police give up the horses and riot gear, and wear less threatening uniforms.
but, as sheriff sam pointed out, when a fight starts on 6th street, it rapidly escalates with dozens or even hundreds of watchers. then they are a potential riot.
the police do not have the time to go back to their stations and change gear.
"unequal force" i like that. so people are now calling for cops to not have guns on top of law-abiding citizens?
i'm sorry, but i'm of the opinion that if an officer is being violently attacked, then use of force is authorized. this whole situation is exactly why we have so much crime. for th emost part cops are completely disarmed. they have such strict requirements to meet before they can even unholster, more still before shooting, and then they get investigated no matter what.
example. a friend of mine who works for the sheriff's dept got a call of a fleeing suspect, who was armed and suspected of double murder. the suspect goes into a restaraunt and starts shooting, tries to take a hostage, and ends up dropping her. my friend put a bullet in him.
his gun was confiscated for a couple days, he was taken off work and a full investigation was conducted.
when you know there is little chance of a cop shooting, you become more emboldened, and commit more crimes.
you're correct.
um...i guess no one at this point knows the truth, and the full truth may never be known.
for legal reasons, the austin police is holding what they know tightly.
the "community activist" organizations are several in number. and like in many large cities across the u.s., the communists are behind these fronts. (communist groups were behind the los angeles riots of the early 1990s).
their goal is to create chaos. and then to take advantage of the results.
that's right. the examples are legion.
you could begin with the vietnam war where the communists demanded in paris, and the americans complied, to place restrictions on our military.
circa 1990 the los angeles city council prevented los angeles police from detaining illegals.
make no mistake about it--there may be "innocent" cannon fodder like people in the community and university students--but the forces behind groups like lulac are informed and organized.
What are you smoking dude?
The original post is 100% the other side, inflammatorily so.
And I do care. About the cops. Read my entire response.
Gheeeez!
Well dude, I'm not smoking anything, and I have an open mind about who is telling the truth....I've seen too many female cops get in over their heads and panic to accept her story without looking at other possibilities. On the other side of that coin, anyone that starts a fight with armed police officers could get justifiably killed, but did he really start a fight or just try and flee? If a perp was laying on top of or over my partner,(which was it?) I wouldn't take a chance on shooting him and injuring or killing my partner unless my partner was in immediate danger of serious injury or death, but I sure as heck would smack him upside the head or kick him in the groin. Were other police officers at the scene or enroute? If the kid had the taser in his hand then she could shoot him, did she jump the gun? Too many questiions IMO to decide that its a slam dunk.
Here is another side of the story:
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
An Austin police officer told internal affairs investigators that she fatally shot a teenager during a scuffle because she feared that he had taken her Taser stun gun and was about to use it against her or her sergeant, a source close to the investigation said Monday.
Officer Julie Schroeder said she had been trying to subdue Daniel Rocha, 18, seconds before he turned his back to her and began fighting with Sgt. Don Doyle, said the source, who asked not to be identified because of proximity to the case. Rocha was either crouching over Doyle or lying on top of him when Schroeder fired one shot into Rocha's back below his left shoulder blade, the source said.
"Her fear was that he was about to disable the sergeant and that since the two of them hadn't been able to control him, that she wasn't going to be able to do it alone," the source said. "At that point, she really believed that Don Doyle was about to be Tased and disabled and that a weapon either could be used on her or him or both."
Schroeder's Taser was found on the ground after the shooting along with several other items, including the officer's badge. An autopsy report obtained Monday said police also found a baggy with a leafy green substance on the ground by the passenger door of the vehicle.
According to the source close to the investigation, here's how Schroeder described the incident:
Officers in unmarked patrol cars had been watching a known drug house and saw a Chevrolet Suburban in which Rocha was a passenger leaving the scene. Doyle followed the SUV.
The driver of the Suburban stopped — apparently after either spotting Doyle or after Doyle turned on his flashing police lights. Schroeder and another officer pulled up to the SUV in a separate vehicle; the front of their patrol car was at a 45-degree angle to the Suburban's front left side.
One of the officers shined a light into the Suburban and recognized Rocha, who had an outstanding warrant on a felony theft charge.
The officer working with Schroeder walked to the driver's door and began questioning a man. A passenger in the back seat had opened the right passenger's side door and fled.
Schroeder, who had run over to the opened passenger door, tried to get Rocha to stay inside the Suburban.
Schroeder told investigators that she yelled commands such as "stay where you are" and "don't run." Instead, he lunged at her, knocking her to her knees.
The two continued their struggle when Doyle joined the fight.
Schroeder reached for her Taser to try to subdue Rocha and realized that it was missing. Her badge and a knife she carried on her belt also were gone.
Schroeder reached for her gun and fired once.
Two people who said they witnessed the shooting told the American-Statesman that they did not see a struggle.
"All of a sudden she just grabbed him, put him down there and threw him on the floor," Sonya Lopez said. "I thought they were going to try to put handcuffs on him . . . and all of a sudden, the shot just went off."
Tamara Thomason said, "There was not a struggle. I did not see a struggle."
Mike Sheffield, president of the Austin Police Association, said he believes that only a few witnesses saw the shooting. He said he is concerned that unreliable witnesses may have come forward.
"In reality, they can't give the same statement twice," Sheffield said.
Travis County Medical Examiner Roberto Bayardo said Monday that there were a few scrapes and a bruise he didn't notice on Rocha's body Friday that were noted on the autopsy report by Deputy Medical Examiner Suzanna Dana.
None of the scrapes or the bruises looked like self-defense wounds, Bayardo said.
"These are very minor abrasions, as if he was on the ground or crawling on the ground or falling on the ground," Bayardo said.
Rocha had a scrape on the side of his left arm that looked as if it were caused by gravel, the medical examiner said. He said the teenager also had a bruise on the back of his right arm, a scrape on his forehead, a scrape on his chest and another scrape on his chin.
Rocha could have been lying on the ground or lying on top of someone else when he was shot, Bayardo said.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1422467/posts
I did not know that. But that really wasn't my point. I was just trying to point out the very one-sided reporting of the AAS. They identify these figures who were shot and killed by the police and make it sound like there was absolutely no justification in doing so.
quite frankly their reputation throughout the whole Austin community is pretty bad
Hmmm... Not sure what part of Austin you live in, but the reputation of the rank-and-file police officer up in the Great Hills area is pretty good.
but quite frankly their reputation throughout the whole Austin community is pretty bad
B.S. What do you base that remark upon?
here's a letter to the editor of the newspaper that will "warm your heart". i wonder if he's a college graduate? apparently he doesn't like the austin police:
>promoting public safety
>it would seem to me that if the city of austin were serious about promoting public safety, it would disarm the police and take away the officers' motorcycles.
>george flynn
>georgetown
Well, you are aware the area middle schools are out for the summer? :-) Also, did you hear that the ACLU (predicatably) is now involved? Gee, I wonder who's position they'll support (without facts, as usual).
Hundreds of agitators, professional race baiters and mopes, that is.
sorry, i didn't see your response earlier today.
over the weekend kenny rahmeyer played parts of the tape of the 6 hour meeting between chief knee et al and the community activists. WHEW! i would not have wanted to have been at that meeting. raw emotions. 6 hours of extreme verbal abuse by the community against chief knee.
one woman accused the chief and austin police of being the kkk.
totally off the wall! another woman sounded either like a mental patient or a participant in antonin artaud's radical communist theater of paris.
see next post for klbj update.
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