Protest in Modesto Against Police Murder of Man

*Note, this event is not being organized by the DAAA Collective, but we will be supporting it.*

When: Saturday Jan 15th
Time: 10am
Where: Graceada Park, Needham Street
What: Rally against police brutality and shootings in Modesto. March to protest the Modesto Police Department

Since 2000, 8 people have died at the hands of the Modesto Police Department. All but one have been a white person, (a shoot out with a jewel thief, in which the only partial injuries to police happened), and have all taken part in Modesto's poorer areas.

The most recent victim of the Modesto Police Department has been Sammy Galvan, who was shoot to death in August 2004. Police responded to a domestic disturbance call in which Sammy and his girlfriend had been fighting, and Sammy according to police came out with a small Swiss Army knife. According to the two police officers, he attacked them, (although no officers were hurt), and Sammy was then shot in the chest, and then died.

But neighbors tell a very different story, according to a Modesto Bee article in August 26th, 2004. "They came out of the car. They saw him there. He just sat there, and all of a sudden they shoot him," Tony Martinez said. Galvan was holding a small Buck pocketknife, Martinez said, but made no threatening moves at all: "This guy was standing there in one spot." According to Tony, about 15-10 people watched the event happen, although police claim there were hardly any onlookers.

This isn't the first time police in Modesto have murdered. In 2001 they shot a 11 year old boy in a house that was suspected of producing meth, (but was later found to have none), by a officer that had left the Stockton Police after shooting a person in a raid, who had "already committed suicide". This officer is still working on the force.

In April of 2003, two officers killed Eustolio Aguilar after the 22-year-old Modesto man was stopped by police and reached for his cell phone, and was then shot to death. After the police searched the body, they "found" a gun on his person.

This is not counting of course the continued harassment of homeless people, anarchists and other activists, and youth in the downtown area of Modesto.

8 dead since 2000 is enough! End the brutality, end the harrassment, end the murder! Protest and march against the Modesto Police Department!

DAAA Collective - Modesto CA