The Justice Committee of the Santa Clara County Human Relations Commission reported back to the Commission on Tuesday evening, October 26th. Indybay photographer Peter Maiden reports that the Committtee is looking into better methods of handling officer-involved shootings and is seeking a fair outcome to the recent shooting of Zaim Bojcic, a Bosnian immigrant, outside of a Starbucks in San Jose. Report from 10/26 | Photos from the Justice Review Committee's 10/21 meeting
Corina Cardenas is a daughter of Rudy Cardenas, a man who was shot in the back and killed in downtown San Jose this year when he was mistaken for a fugitive earlier this year. She said, “I wish I wasn’t here tonight. I wish my dad was here with us... Now my eyes have been opened to the way the system works.” Representatives of the Coalition for Justice and Accountability, which has been helping the Commission deal with police violence, providing information and a compelling point of view on various cases, also spoke.
Sheila Stevens of the Commission said, “I am concerned with how our police deal with refugees, foreigners, and people who are upset or have mental health issues,” referring in part to Cau Tran and Zaim Bojcic, who, it is said, were both suffering from mental illness. Since the killing of Cau Tran, the SJPD has been armed with tasers, which are electric shock devices. These were supposed to lower the number of officer-involved shootings. Activist David Taylor showed a graph to the Commission that indicated shootings had actually gone up since the introduction of the tasers. The Commission agreed for the Justice Committee to continue to meet and gather more information and perspective, and then to give a report to the Commission when a decision for a recommendation to action can be made.
The next Justice Committee meeting will be November 18 at 5:30 in the Basement of 70 W. Hedding St. in San Jose, in the Heritage Room.
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