“This violence that I’ve seen is disgusting,” LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said in a press conference about the anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles this weekend. I’d agree with him, except that he was talking about violence coming from the protesters, not his own officers. The protesters, he said, were throwing fireworks at the police, adding that they could be fatal.
There have been a whole lot of videos of these protests so far and while it’s entirely possible that this has been happening, somehow all of the videos I keep seeing are of the LAPD enacting horrific acts of violence on not just protestors, but on journalists covering the protests. (Though be aware, even if there is video, police in this country have a history of planting agents provocateurs to incite violent in order to shut down protests and turn public support to their side, so … grain of salt.)
In this video, a police officer shoots a rubber bullet directly at Australian reporter Lauren Tomasi, hitting her in the leg.
In the clip, Tomasi is standing alone on the street with no one in between her and the officer, who physically turns away from where the other officers were pointing their guns and shoots directly at her.
Now, it’s possible that the officer didn’t mean to hit Tomasi and instead meant to hit some terribly violent protester we cannot see, even when the camera spins around, but if that’s the case, that officer needs to be taken off the streets before they make a mistake like that with a real gun. This is not a person with good aim! I have never fired a gun in my life, and yet I am somehow confident that, in the same position, my aim would not be that bad — largely because I have eyes and because I would not point the gun directly at an Australian reporter.
Tomasi wasn’t the only journalist hit, either. British photojournalist Nick Stern was shot in the thigh with a “sponge bullet.” What is that, you ask? Is it like what comes out of a Nerf gun? It is not! It is another kind of “non-lethal” bullet, like a rubber bullet, that could actually be quite lethal depending on where it hits you and how hard. In Stern’s case, the bullet tore right into his thigh — though, luckily, not in the femoral artery, in which case he would be dead now.
"There was something hard sticking out of the back of my leg and my leg was getting wet from blood," Stern told the BBC. The wound was bad enough that he had to have actual surgery afterwards.
What a joke the LAPD are in shooting at Aussie outlet Nine News’ Lauren Tomasi and British photojournalist Nick Stern.
Los Angeles: Activists arrested in solidarity with immigrants
Eight people were arrested April 17 in front of the Los Angeles “Hall of Justice,” where the county sheriff’s office is located, protesting Sheriff Jim McDonnell’s anti-immigrant policies. Those arrested were part of a rally organized by the Caravan Against Fear, which held actions to highlight the attack against the immigrant communities by President Donald Trump and to support SB 54, legislation calling for a “sanctuary state” in California. That legislation prohibits state and local enforcement agencies from enforcing immigration laws and limits cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
The International Action Center in Los Angeles endorsed the caravan and participated in the civil disobedience. Maggie Vascassenno and John Parker of the IAC, who are also members of Workers World Party, were arrested, along with six members of NDLON and SEIU-USWW, for blocking the street in front of the sheriff’s office.
Said Vascassenno: “Trump is trying to destroy our solidarity. So his racist, fascist war agenda must be opposed. And on May 1 there will be millions out in the streets telling both Democrats and Republicans alike that we will fight Trump and any policies that push cutbacks, war and racism.”
Los Angeles: Eight activists were arrested protesting Sheriff McDonnell's green light to ICE attacks on undocumented workers on April 17, 2017. As of now, everyone has been released.
“As the Caravan Against Fear arrives in southern California, will you JOIN US to protest the LA Sheriff McDonnell for siding with the politics of fear and hate? We'll be welcoming the many immigrant workers traveling with the Caravan to challenge the politics of hate and defend our values of inclusion and equality for all. Our message to the sheriff: Get on the right side of history!”
Caravan Against Fear makes a stop in downtown Los Angeles
L.A. Sheriff Lobbies White House to Protect $132M from Sanctuary City Ban
L.A. Sheriff Lobbies White House to Protect $132M from Sanctuary City Ban
Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell has been lobbying the Trump administration in an attempt to keep funding that the region stands to lose over its sanctuary city policies. McDonnell has made multiple trips to Washington, D.C. to ask the government not to withhold federal funds, according to the Los Angeles Daily News. The Sheriff complained to the outlet that loss of the federal grant…
(FEBRUARY 28, 2017) Steve Owen. Jose “Gil” Vega. Lesley Zerebny. Keith Boyer.
Four law enforcement officers protecting Southern California – all murdered by convicted felons that benefited from the leniency of Assembly Bill 109.
“The system is now set up so it is very difficult to get sent back to (state) prison for anything,“ said Eric Leonard, an investigative reporter with KFI radio in Los Angeles.
In a sane world, felons violating parole would be sent back to Pelican Bay, San Quentin, or one of the other 33 state prisons constructed to hold such overt threats to society.
But in Jerry Brown’s California, politicians have created a climate where outlaws game the system, official data is meaningless, and cops end up dead.
(Jerry Brown at a 2010 rally in Oakland, CA. Photo: Steve Rhodes/creative commons)
AB109 is a way for Governor Brown to fudge numbers.
The State Legislature passed the law in 2011 without any Republican votes.
Democrats in Sacramento call it “realignment,” but in reality, AB 109 is a shell game that lets Brown dump state inmates into the county system. That way, the governor gets to tell people he’s reducing the state’s prison population.
“He’s playing Russian roulette with the public,” Tuolumne County Sheriff Jim Mele foreshadowed soon after AB 109 took effect.
Los Angeles Times, February 21, 2017:
“We’re putting people back on the street that aren’t ready to be back on the street,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell said. He said the county jail system he runs, the largest in the nation, has become a “default state prison.”
Brown’s realignment racket might be a good way for him to manipulate statistics, but law enforcement agrees it’s bad for public safety.
For years, police organizations warned that the bill would result in high-risk offenders roaming free - just like the three gangbangers who killed four California cops in the past five months.
Trenton Trevon Lovell, 27, shot Los Angeles County sheriff’s Sgt. Steve Owen in the face, then stood over his body and unloaded four more rounds – described as an “execution-style” death by the DA’s office.
A gang member with a long rap sheet, Lovell racked up 11 arrests and spent two stints in the state pen for felony convictions.
Associated Press, October 14, 2016:
Lovell has been on parole since 2014, when he was freed from prison after serving roughly five years of a six-year sentence for robbing a university community safety officer at gunpoint.
Prior to realignment (AB 109), Lovell could have gone back to (state) prison as a parole violator. (In 2015) he pleaded no contest to driving under the influence and a county judge sentenced him to 13 days in jail and three years’ probation.
Since the passage of AB109, parole violators are no longer returned to state prison.
“It curtailed the power of parole agents (paid by the state) to monitor and punish parolees,” wrote Eric Siddall, Vice President of the Association of Los Angeles District Attorneys.
That means ex-convicts like Lovell can now receive lighter supervision, like probation, for violating parole rules.
“Guess who pays for probation? The county. Guess who has next to no expertise in dealing with harden criminals? Probation,” Siddall continued.
Palm Springs Police Officers Jose “Gil” Vega and Lesley Zerebny were ambushed and killed by John Hernandez Felix, 26, during a 12-hour standoff last fall.
Felix, who has been described by local media as “a known member of the Varrio Las Palmas gang,” allegedly expressed a desire to kill police before firing armor-piercing bullets at the officers with an AR-15.
Desert Sun, October 14, 2016:
In September 2009, police say Felix and another man attempted to kill a member of a rival gang in a drive-by shooting.
Felix was charged with attempted murder but pleaded down to assault with a firearm, ultimately serving 18 months of a four-year prison term.
But before being discharged from parole in May 2015, Felix was placed on probation by the county, twice, and pled guilty to another infraction.
The Press-Enterprise, October 9, 2016:
(Felix) got in trouble again in December 2012 when he was accused of possession of an opium pipe. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 76 days in jail, fined $570 and required to not use illegal drugs among the terms of his probation, which expired this August.
And in 2014 he pleaded guilty to driving under the influence, the court records show. He was sentenced to 35 days in custody and 34 days in a work-release program, and was ordered to pay a fine of $1,730 and complete a DUI first-offender program, but court records say he failed to appear for the work-release and DUI programs. He remains on probation in that case.
The California Justice Legal Foundation, whose Board of Trustees includes former Gov. Pete Wilson, notes that Felix “would have been eligible for more time in prison or jail” before AB 109.
Michael Christopher Mejia, 26, is a member of the Winter Gardens street gang and he’s got tattoos on his face to prove it.
Thanks to AB 109, the two-time felon was never on parole after leaving state prison last April.
Orange County Register, February 22, 2017:
(Mejia) was on county probation under Assembly Bill 109 when he allegedly shot and killed (Whittier PD Officer) Boyer…and had been arrested multiple times in recent months for violating his probation.
If Mejia had been returned to state prison for violating parole rather getting slapped on the wrist for breaching probation, he might not have been in a position to kill Officer Boyer on February 20.
“It is irresponsible to ignore the fact that the state has, over the last decade, wiped its hands of its public safety obligations and shifted the burden of monitoring harden criminals to probation - an organization not equipped to deal with the Mejia’s of the world,” Siddall wrote.
In a statement to KCAL news, Boyer’s cousin called out Gov. Brown.
Boyer’s family invited Brown to accompany them to the funeral later this week to witness the ramifications of his prison reform policies.
Memorial Services will take place on Friday, March 3rd, at 10:00 AM at the Calvary Chapel in Downey. There will also be a public viewing on Thursday, March 2nd, from 6:30pm-9pm at Whittier Area Community Church.
