San Francisco (October 22, 2004) – Surviving family members of those killed by law enforcement gathered for a well attended press conference to mark the ninth annual “National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression & the Criminalization of a Generation.” Victims of police brutality also added their voices and spoke of their own treatment at the hands of the police.

Representatives of community organizations dedicated to bringing outlaw police officers to justice and turning the tide of repression in this country took turns addressing the gathering. Groups represented included: October 22 Coalition, CopWatch, Police Watch, Amnesty International, Radical Woman, American Muslim Voice, Not in Our Name, and the SF Day Labor Program.

Corina and Regina Cardenas described how undercover cops shot and killed their father Rudy Cardenas in San Jose early this year on February 17 while they were looking for another man. The February 20, 2004 edition of the San Jose Mercury News printed this account by an eyewitness:

Dorothy Duckett, a 78-year-old resident of Shires Memorial Center, looked out her fifth floor window after hearing a gunshot and, she said, saw Cardenas pleading for his life. "I watched him running with his hands in the air. He kept saying, 'Don't shoot. Don't shoot,' " Duckett said. "He had absolutely nothing in his hands."