Feature Archives

On Monday, September 26th at 9:30am, the Superior Court in San Francisco was to review the case of the youths, including Tyrell Taylor, who were brutalized by the SFPD in 2002. Details

On September 10th, The "Peace Zone" event organized by Mattie Scott from the SF Healing circle (Support Group for Families of Victims of Violent Crimes) in front of City Hall had just begun, when one of the participants recieved an shocking phone call, and the news spread like fire through the rally. Tyrell Taylor, an 18 year-old African American young man, had been shot in the back five times by San Francisco police on Friday, September 9th. The Free Tyrell Taylor Task Force has organized to make several demands in support of Tyrell.
The SF Bayview Precinct newsletter said: "Aggravated Assault On Police Officer With A Gun 62 Northridge 10:34 a.m. Bayview Officers were involved in a shooting when a subject attempted to shoot them with a rifle. This is an open investigation involving an officer involved shooting..." No rifle was found at the scene. Read more from the SF Bayview

Taylor had been 14 years old when he was one of 5 youths who were brutalized by the police on Kiska Road in San Francisco's Bayview Hunter's Point during the infamous MLK incident over 3 years ago. On January 21st, 2002, the police held guns to youths' heads, and while they molested the teenage girls and brutally beat the young men, they threatened to shoot their parents and other horrified residents if they dared to interfere. The SF Police Commission will reportedly be reviewing the MLK day case in the near future.

Justice for Tyrell yahoogroup | The Bayview/Hunters Point's endangered community is organizing to do copwatching and prepare for action, "by any peaceful means necessary," to "protect and serve each other." Read more | SF Village Voice Radio Show on Enemy Combatant Radio

The first hearing of the charges of the Office of Citizen Complaints against police officers involved in the killing of Cammerin Boyd has been rescheduled and set for Wednesday, September 21st. A press conference will be held at 5:00pm on the 21st, just before Cammerin Boyd's family and supporters go into the Police Commission meeting to hear the OCC's charges brought against officers O'Malley, Sweeney, Paine, and Dimaposoc, who killed or tried to kill Cammerin Boyd. The Police Commission hearing will start at 5:30pm in SF City Hall, Room 400. The Campaign for Justice for Cammerin Boyd is asking for people to bring signs, attend the hearing, and participate in the public comment period by demanding disciplinary charges against the officers. Cammerin Boyd's mother, Marylon Boyd, says, "We can make a difference. We must continue the Campaign for accountability." Read more

Tranny Talk Video of Marylon Boyd speaking about her son's case | Past Indybay Coverage of Cammerin Boyd's Case

Steven L. Fountain, who was known online as slf, was killed by police in Campbell, California (near San Jose) on Wednesday, September 7th. He was 24 years old, and the father of a young child. A friend of his says, "Steven was a computer systems administrator and programmer. Kind, quirky, and energetic..." He maintained the dreamscape.org web site. Up the River, Steven's blog, includes photos, poetry, and digital art that he created in the last months of his life.
Police had been called to a Motel 6 in Campbell because a man was reportedly standing on the balcony, screaming. When police arrived, they said, they saw Steven Fountain on the balcony, holding a knife. They allegedly told him to drop the knife, but they say that he kept holding it and stepped towards them. They used a TASER on him, and police said that when he continued to advance, he was shot. He was taken to the hospital, where he died. Read more

September 14th Update: Frances Newton was executed today by the state of Texas. KPFT's interview with her attorney
Sept. 13th Update: Wednesday will be the last day on which phone calls can be made to urge the Governor of Texas to give clemency to Frances Newton. Read more

The state of Texas is scheduled to execute Frances Newton on September 14th. She was convicted of the 1988 murder of her husband and two children, allegedly to collect a $100,00 life insurance policy. Newton would be the first African American woman executed by that state since the Civil War. Her December 1st, 2004 execution date had been put on hold last fall for additional testing of evidence. Human Rights Watch letter on Newton's behalf The ACLU of Texas has written a letter asking that she be given clemency. Supporters say the courts should grant Frances Newton another trial based on new evidence.

In a recent interview, Assistant DA Roe Wilson contradicted a key piece of evidence that led to Newton's conviction- there seems to have been a second gun that was never tested in a crime lab. Texas leads the nation in the number of executions performed since the moratorium on capital punishment was lifted in 1974. In Harris County, where Frances Newton is from, the police crime lab is notorious for botching capital cases. Newton's original state-appointed attorney was Ron Mock, who has lost so many capital cases that he is known as "death row Mock." He has never won an acquittal in a capital case. Mock is the attorney who is notorious for having fallen asleep in court while defending the late Shaka Sankofa (formerly Gary Graham). Read more

The International Action Center is asking for people to write letters to Texas Governor Rick Perry, Attorney General Greg Abbott, President Bush, Congressional leaders and Senators and Representatives from Texas and the Texas State Legislature, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, and other authorities, to demand that Frances' execution be stopped. Read more

www.freefrances.org | Texas Moratorium Network | Amnesty International statement

The Unlock the Box conference is scheduled to take place at Cell Space in San Francisco on October 8th, beginning at 9:30am. Organizers say that it is a product of years of struggle to shut down the Security Housing Units in California prisons. The United Front to Abolish the SHU was created as a forum to coordinate the actions of everyone involved in this campaign. This conference is intended to be a step in the process of building more unity with groups all over the country and the world who are engaged in the struggle to end this torture. The goals of Unlock the Box include increasing communication between groups, and coming up with common plans of action.

More about Unlock the Box | More about the United Front to Abolish the SHU | Barrio Defense Committee Website | California Prison Focus | AbolishControlUnits.org

Past Indybay Coverage of SHUs: Info about Jose Luis in the SHU | August 2004 Protest | June 2004 report | Report from March 2004 | November 2002 report | Report from 11/02 Vigil Against SHU's | Report: 1 | 2 | More about SHUs

On September 26th, the first court date in the trial of State Bureau of Narcotics Agent Michael Walker for the murder of Rudy Cardenas was held. After jury selection, the trial will begin on October 19th, and should last some 6 weeks. Walker is accused of manslaughter in the February 17, 2004 shooting of Cardenas, in the back, as he fled from the agent. Cardenas was unarmed. It was thought Cardenas was another man, David Gonzales, who was sought on a parole violation—Cardenas only “fit the description.” The activism of members of the Cardenas family led to an open Grand Jury hearing in the case, which resulted in the manslaughter indictment. The prosecution is confidant a jury will convict Walker, but the police tradition of “shoot first and ask questions later” is a strong one, and police are rarely punished. Indybay reporter Peter Maiden provides background to the upcoming trial, which will be closely watched by police brutality activists and the general public. Read Story
Peter previously wrote a two-part piece on how the San Jose Police deal with the mentally ill.
Read Part One | Read Part Two

On Saturday, August 21st in Oakland, a neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA, a protest was held in front of an Army Recruiting Center. Pittsburgh Police and University of Pittsburgh Police fought with protesters on the sidewalk. It was the second time in a month that protests had shut down the main recruitment station in Pittsburgh. At least six people were arrested; police fired tasers and other weapons at the crowd, including restrained arrestees and bystanders.

During the rally at the station, a freelance Fox News cameraman who was aggressively filming demonstrators' faces was told to leave and started a minor confrontation with protestors. He returned with police officers, who began chasing any masked protestors they could find. They arrested several people and fired weapons at the crowd. Several people were hit with tasers and chemical weapons. Video cameras captured tasers being fired at people who had already been subdued and restrained by police officers.

Police later used dogs to chase away protestors on the sidewalk, and one woman was bitten in the behind by one of the canine officers. After she told police that she wanted to file a complaint, she was told the police would "take her information," but instead she was arrested.

Pittsburgh IMC Story | Taser Photos | Video of woman being tased | Audio | Interview with a released arrestee | More photo and video | A Press conference was held Monday to condemn the police's actions: Audio | Free Speech Radio News from August 23rd | Pittsburgh Organizing Group | CounterRecruiter.net