So I read this article tonight, and I myself am starting to think they are passing officers through too quickly.
The full story by SF Gate Below:
The full story by SF Gate Below:
Oakland officer hit with second wrongful-death lawsuit
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, September 15, 2008
09-15) 18:39 PDT OAKLAND --
The family of an unarmed man who was shot and killed by two Oakland police officers on New Year's Eve 2007 filed a $10 million federal civil rights lawsuit against the city Monday.
Officers Hector Jimenez, who shot another unarmed man to death this past July, and Jessica Borello killed 20-year-old Andrew Moppin-Buckskin at 47th Avenue and International Boulevard after he ran from his car following a traffic stop, police said. Moppin-Buckskin was not armed, but the officers believed he had been reaching for his waistband, police have said.
The officers shot him numerous times "while he was unarmed and was not posing and threat of deadly force or serious bodily harm," said the wrongful-death suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco and names the city of Oakland, Jimenez and Borello as defendants.
"This was a case of shoot first and ask questions later," said attorney John Burris, who filed suit on behalf of Moppin-Buckskin's two children and his parents, Sonja and Michael Moppin.
Alex Katz, spokesman for City Attorney John Russo, said city officials had not seen the suit and could not comment.
This past July 25, Jimenez shot and killed Mack "Jody" Woodfox III, 27. Jimenez said he believed Woodfox, a drunken-driving suspect, had been reaching into his waistband for a gun when he jumped from his car and ran after a chase that ended at East 17th Street and Fruitvale Avenue in the Fruitvale district.
Woodfox , who was shot in the back, turned out not to have a gun. Burris filed a $10 million wrongful-death suit in federal court against the city on behalf of his family earlier this month.
Jimenez graduated from the police academy in February 2007, and Borello in June 2006.
The two shootings involving Jimenez raise questions "about whether officers are properly trained or placed in situations that they're not prepared for," Burris said.
He said there seemed to be a "correlation between the number of rookie officers with minimal time on the department and the number of fatal shootings."
Oakland police officials have denied that assertion. Assistant Police Chief Howard Jordan has said the number of times officers fire their weapons is relatively small compared with the number of contacts they have with suspects and the number of guns they seize.
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