By Demian Bulwa
The San Francisco Chronicle
OAKLAND, Calif. — NAACP leaders came to Oakland on Thursday to demand that police agencies everywhere do more to stop what are often referred to as waistband shootings, when an officer opens fire on a suspect in the mistaken belief the person is reaching for a weapon.
In most cases, the dead person is an African American man, said the leaders, who included NAACP President Benjamin Jealous.
The four-hour hearing at the Jack London Aquatic Center was held in the wake of the Nov. 8 fatal shooting of Derrick Jones, a 37-year-old African American hair-salon owner, by two Oakland officers who said they thought Jones reached into his waistband for a gun after a foot pursuit.
Jones was unarmed, police said, but was carrying a small scale and marijuana. Under community pressure, Police Chief Anthony Batts asked the FBI to open a civil rights investigation into the shooting - a probe that began Wednesday.
Mayor-elect Jean Quan said during the hearing that the city had asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley not only to decide whether charges were warranted, but also to recommend “what we can do to make sure incidents like this don’t happen again.”
Alice Huffman, president of the NAACP’s California chapter, said she is willing to call such shootings accidental but added, “It just doesn’t happen to white people.”
The NAACP presented statistics from Oakland authorities on 45 officer-involved shootings from 2004 to 2008, one-third of which were fatal. Of the people shot, 37 were black and none was white. Although weapons were not found in 40 percent of cases, no officers were charged.
Batts, who has been Oakland’s chief for a little more than a year, said he is committed to improving his force and instilling a “reverence for life” in officers. If members of the community believe the department is faltering, he said, “then we need to change.”
Batts said officers face intense stress during street encounters. But he also said that because they carry deadly weapons and hold great power, they should be held to high standards.
He spoke on a panel that also included O’Malley and BART Police Chief Kenton Rainey, who was hired six months ago in the aftermath of the fatal shooting by then-BART Officer Johannes Mehserle of unarmed train rider Oscar Grant. Mehserle was convicted in July of involuntary manslaughter.
Investigations by Oakland police and the district attorney’s office into the Jones shooting are under way, officials said Thursday.
Jones was killed near his store in East Oakland. Two officers, identified by sources as Eriberto Perez-Angeles and Omar Daza-Quiroz, had been dispatched to a 911 call from a woman who said Jones, a parolee, had choked and beaten her.
Jones ran when the officers arrived. When they caught up, police said, Jones reached for his waistband and the two shot him numerous times in the chest.
Jones’ family believes he acted in fear that his parole would be revoked. They say the woman who called 911 was not a victim, but had harassed Jones after he spurned her romantically.
Many who spoke at the hearing - including John Burris, an attorney representing both the Jones and Grant families - said officers needed more training on how to keep racial stereotypes from skewing judgment.
Burris also said the community “has to come to grips with the fact that young men are carrying guns and using guns in a way that causes fear.”
“Batts said officers face intense stress during street encounters. But he also said that because they carry deadly weapons and hold great power, they should be held to high standards.”
Copyright 2010 San Francisco Chronicle