Posted on 11/13/2005 7:45:29 PM PST by SmithL
The autopsy on a man who died as Oakland police arrested him Thursday found no evidence to support witnesses' allegations that the man was beaten by officers, the police chief said Saturday.
Instead, police said Patrick Gaston swallowed a sandwich bag filled with narcotics and apparently choked to death as he struggled with officers trying to handcuff him. Gaston's exact cause of his death has not yet been determined, but Police Chief Wayne Tucker said there is nothing to suggest that police did anything wrong.
"Mr. Gaston was not traumatized by our staff," the chief said. "We didn't strike him after he was handcuffed. We didn't beat him."
Tucker said witnesses interviewed by investigators thus far corroborate the arresting officers' account of the incident.
But minutes after Tucker's news conference at police headquarters, Gaston's family held their own in the building's lobby to say they believe that he was the victim of police brutality. They said police beat and choked a man who was already handcuffed and lying down.
"I saw them murder him on the ground," said his sobbing mother Gwendolyn Gaston.
Gaston, 34, died near Eighth and Campbell streets after a struggle with four officers who arrested him Thursday night during a stakeout near the Campbell Village housing project in an area known for drug dealing. Tucker said police arrested Gaston minutes after he sold a small package of black tar heroin to an undercover officer.
Police said Gaston was on probation for an earlier drug conviction, a stipulation that allowed police to search him at any time, without cause. Gaston, who was on a bicycle at the time of the bust, resisted arrest, Tucker said, and one officer struck Gaston three times in the torso as officers attempted to handcuff him.
Tucker said Gaston continued to resist
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Darwin award candidate.
I love a happy ending. The serial criminal is dead, the cops are cleared of any wrongdoing. :)
If the past is any indication, this is how this thread will play out. A few people will comment, and then the thread will be forgotten. Within a few days, someone related to the stupid dead criminal will find the thread using Google, or some other search. They will regisiter at FR for the sole purpose of telling us how wrong we are about the dearly departed. And we certainly wouldn't be saying such mean things if we were related to the stupid dead criminal. I may even get hate mail on my personal E-Mail account. And Oakland will still be short one stupid dead criminal.
this clown was soooo clever that he was able to avoid jail, LOL.
"not traumatized by our staff" WTF?
And we will all shout "hooray!" and be labelled as "haters" by the Leftists...the same ones who keep babbling about wanting to assassinate our leaders.
"Instead, police said Patrick Gaston swallowed a sandwich bag filled with narcotics"
Well, if the bag wouldn`t have choked him to death the dope may have killed him anyway.
When your caught your caught, the dope will be found one way or another. And if you swallow it so it isn`t found , you end up in the emergency room fighting for your life. If your lucky they pump your stomach or make you throw it up.
You would think these dope dealers would figure it out, but then we are talking about dope dealers.
Down with dope, up with hope.
Know dope,
no hope.
But..But, He was an honor student and had turned his life around. Everyone liked him. He always gave and helped old ladies cross the street and rescued lost dogs. Blah, Blah, Blah
Once I had a gal choke down a handful of tar heroin as I walker up to her and I had to Heimlich maneuver her sorry butt. What made it down was pumped out (LOL) but she complained about excessive force because I made her pee in her pants. Catch 22.
"My baby didn't hurt NOBODY!!!"
Another dead, dope peddler off the streets.
And he was able to avoid jail! hohoho!
...and he was just about to marry his girlfriend, the mother of his newborn / toddler child...
He was turning his life around and was planning to get his GED. Struck down in the prime of his life.
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