Celebrate James and Portest Police violence!
Join family and friends in remembrance of James Rivera, Jr., the 16 year old boy murdered by Stockton Police and County Sherrifs on July 22nd, 2010.
Tuesday, April 10th, 2012. Meet at Stockton Court house, 222 E Weber Ave, with a march to city hall at 5pm.
Buses will be leaving from oakland, at 19 th andTelegraph at 11:30 am and will be returning form Stockton at 6pm, jsut in tiome to make the 6 month Birthday Party of Occupy Oakland at Oscar Grant Plaza that evening!
Donations are requested for a headstone on James’ Grave.
Sponsored by Mothers Cry for Justice, a group of family members, friends, and concerned community members seeking justice for James Tivera, Jr. and all victims of police abuse and violence! We are all Oscar Grant!
Second Stockton PD murder of an unarmed man in less than a week.
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120413/A_NEWS/204130324
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120413/A_NEWS/204130324
Suspect, 57, dies in police custody
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Jordan Guinn
By Jordan Guinn
Record Staff Writer
April 13, 2012 12:00 AM
FRENCH CAMP – A suspect who fought with officers after being pulled over for speeding died at San Joaquin County Hospital early Thursday, according to the Stockton Police Department.
Police identified him as James Cooke, 57, of Stockton. He had three outstanding warrants for his arrest, according to authorities. Specifics of the warrants were unavailable Thursday.
Cooke is the third man to die after a confrontation with the Stockton Police Department in 2012. A countywide protocol investigation into the death is under way, police said, which is standard procedure.
Cooke, who is listed as 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighing 220 pounds, had been stopped at West Lane and Bianchi Road shortly before 2 a.m. and, once pulled over, ran from his vehicle, police said. He resisted officers, who struck him with batons after he refused verbal commands and physical force, police said.
A Safe Wrap, a device that immobilizes a person’s legs and hips, was used in addition to handcuffs to restrain Cooke before he was put into a police car, said Officer Pete Smith, a spokesman for the Stockton Police Department.
“He was agitated and continued to struggle after being cuffed,” Smith said.
He was carried to the car by officers, placed in the back seat and driven to the hospital, Smith said.
“His legs were laid across the seat, and his back was against the car door and window,” he said.
Although the man had no visible signs of trauma and made no complaints of pain, standard procedure requires officers to take suspects to the hospital for observation after they have had force used against them during an arrest, Smith said. It also is standard procedure for the officers to ignore the suspect in the back seat, the belief being the suspect will soon tire of yelling at officers who don’t respond, and officers, by ignoring suspects, do not antagonize people in custody.
“When you’ve had a physical altercation, you don’t engage them on the ride back,” Smith said. “You don’t turn, and you don’t engage, because you don’t want to reignite the situation.”
At some point during the seven- to 10-minute car ride to the hospital, Cooke grew quiet, Smith said, but the prolonged silence didn’t alarm the two officers taking him to the hospital.
Upon arrival, police discovered Cooke to be unresponsive, and emergency room workers were unable to revive him, Smith said.
Cooke’s official cause of death will be determined several weeks from now, after an autopsy report is completed.
Police identified the five officers involved in the incident as Jeremy Edens, Kevin Hess, Gabriel Guerrero, James Manor and Irshad Mohammed. Authorities did not disclose which two drove Cooke to the hospital, and all five have been placed on a standard three-day administrative leave.
Cooke’s death comes two days after a four-hour protest in downtown Stockton against police brutality. The rally focused largely on Luther Brown Jr., 32, who was shot and killed a week ago after he ran from officers during a traffic stop in the 2700 block of Burlington Place. Police said Brown also assaulted them. Brown and Cooke are black.
The other man to die as a result of a confrontation with Stockton police this year, Chomrean Meas, 19, was fatally shot March 22 on Cody Way after shooting a Stockton police officer in the stomach.
The same gun had been used in the mid-March homicide of Stanley Jones, 42, police said. The wounded officer, Keith Berry, was recently discharged from the hospital.
The deaths of Meas, Brown and Cooke are being reviewed through separate protocol investigations, a process involving multiple law enforcement agencies tasked with determining whether officers’ use of force was justified.
There is no timetable for when the investigations will be completed.
Contact reporter Jordan Guinn at (209) 546-8279 or jguinn@recordnet.com. Visit his blog at recordnet.com/crimeblog.
I believe this is a JOKE!!!! Why protest in Stockton. What you are protesting “police violence” does not happen in Stockton. Those men and women in law enforcement work thief butts off everyday and are put in danger everyday by all the criminals and gangsters on the streets of Stockton. They are injured by criminals, exposed to HIV and hepatitis, yet still go to work everyday in an attempt to protect the city. To have people such as your group protest them is a slap in the face. I really hope one day soon your group is being attacked, robbed or abused and when you need them the most, I hope and pray law enforcement won’t be there for any of you. Then maybe you will appreciate them and all they do. The police have every right to defend themselves.