In a file photo, Theresa Smith walks along Harbor Blvd. in Anaheim in front of the Anaheim Police headquarters protesting the officer-involved shooting death of her son Caesar Cruz in 2009. (File, Kevin Sullivan, The Orange County Register)
Theresa Smith gets a hug from a protester in front of the Anaheim Police Department Sunday. Smith sparked a movement against police while protesting each Sunday for more than two years, ever since her son Caesar Cruz was killed by Anaheim Police in 2009. She now says she's ready to move on. ["A movement against police," indeed. The OCR caption writer screwed up, and got it right.][See my two VDARE reports on Anaheim from the past 10 days:
“Report from Occupied America: Thanks to Immigration (and the MSM), Not Walt Disney’s Anaheim”; and
“‘Strategic Deportation’ Would Stop Reconquistas, Leftists Re-Running THE CIVIL RIGHTS SHOW and Seizing Power in Anaheim.”]
Mom to stop marching in weekly Anaheim police protests
Theresa Smith says she appreciates support from peaceful protesters in recent weeks, and she wants to ‘do positive things.'
By Eric Carpenter
August 5, 2012; updated at8:21 p.m.
The Orange County Register
ANAHEIM – About 50 protesters rallying against what they say is excessive police force marched from the Anaheim Police Department to the front entrance of Disneyland on Sunday, carrying signs and chanting, "Stop killer cops."
The protesters were followed by about 20 police officers on horseback, and patrol officers looked on from a distance.
But there was no clash with police, and no arrests were reported – a stark contrast to a week earlier when more than 200 protesters clashed with police, resulting in 10 arrests – three of those arrested from Anaheim.
Among Sunday's protesters, some of whom aligned themselves with groups such as Anonymous, the Occupy movement, Kelly's Army and the Mexica Movement, were family members of people whose loved ones were killed in officer-involved shootings.
Theresa Smith, a 65-year-old mother whose son Caesar Cruz was shot and killed in 2009, was there – just as she has been nearly every Sunday for more than two years. Smith was the one who began the weekly police protests in spring 2010.
But Smith didn't join the other protesters Sunday once they decided to march toward Disneyland.
And, she said, it was likely her last Sunday marching in front of the police station.
"I've been protesting long enough. I've made my point," Smith said. "There will be an (independent) investigation now, and we need to let that process play out. I understand that takes time."
Anaheim officials have said they will hire the Office of Independent Review, based in Los Angeles, to look into "major police incidents," including officer-involved shootings. And the U.S. Attorney's Office will review two July police shootings that left two Latino men dead and sparked several days of unrest.
Smith said she is working with Anaheim Cruzaders – a group that includes other families who've lost loved ones in police shootings – to start a website to aid other families and to feed the homeless weekly.
She's also started a support group once a week in the garage of her Placentia home to help grieving families.
"I very much appreciate the people who have come out here to support us recently," Smith said, standing in front of Anaheim police headquarters. "And I know others will continue protesting. I just hope they will do it peacefully.
"I want justice, too; I'm angry, too – I lost my son," she said. "But I don't do any of this out of vengeance, only out of love for my son. And in his honor, I want to do positive things."
Jaclyn Conroy, of Anaheim Hills, whose nephew Justin Hertl was shot and killed by police in 2003, said she will continue protesting. She marched with other protesters to Disneyland on Sunday.
"It puts a tear in my eye that people from outside the area have come to support us," she said. "They've helped bring a national spotlight and that allows us here locally to talk to people about the problems we're having with police."
Contact the writer: 714-704-3769 or ecarpenter@ocregister.com
[I’m not crazy about the following piece, but it was all I could find about this guy’s death in an OIS.]
[CORRECTED:] Caesar Cruz's Family Mourns--and Seeks Answers from Cops Who Killed Him
By Matt Coker
Mar. 16 2010 at 7:27 a.m.
OC Weekly
CORRECTION: The person in the photograph that originally accompanied this post was incorrectly identified. We regret the error.
How did you spend last Thursday? The Cruz family of Fullerton and their friends spent it in front of Anaheim police headquarters on South Harbor Boulevard, protesting the death of Caesar Ray Cruz, who was shot by cops three months earlier in a Wal-mart parking lot.
Anaheim police were tight-lipped about the shooting just after it happened, and they aren't saying a peep about it now that the Cruz family has filed a claim against the city, the first step on the road to a wrongful-death lawsuit.
As it does with all officer-involved shootings, the Orange County District Attorney's Office is investigating.
Joseph Cruz, Caesar's brother, has a MySpace page where he posts media reports on the police shooting, his questions and comments about the incident, and announcements of gatherings tied to his brother's passing. Thursday's protest was promoted there.
The last event before that was a bake sale--to raise money for the departed's funeral.
Based on the Orange County Register and Los Angeles Times reports reprinted on the memorial page, details remain sketchy to this day about just what the hell happened on Dec. 11, 2009.
Here's what we know, at least according to police:
A team of undercover Anaheim officers in an unmarked car were following a green Chevrolet Suburban around that afternoon. Anaheim Police Sgt. Rick Martinez later said his department had received a report that a parolee was cruising the streets, driving a green Chevy and packing a handgun.
Unable to stop the Suburban, the undercover officers called in a marked patrol car, which joined them by the time they and the Suburban pulled into the Wal-mart parking lot on North Euclid Street near the 5 freeway.
As the Suburban reached the back parking lot, the officers turned on their lights to pull it over. But, according to Martinez, the man behind the wheel failed to yield, so the officers tried to pin him with their vehicles.
As officers got out of their cars, the Suburban took off down a parking aisle. Four or five officers fired shots. Martinez was unsure how many times the man was hit.
Later identified as Cruz, the man was taken to a hospital, where he died an hour later.
A handgun was later found in the Suburban, Martinez said at the time.
But, according to court records, Cruz was not a parolee. The Register reports he was convicted in 2002 of a single count of drug possession with intent to sell, for which he was given 240 days in jail and three years probation, which ended five years ago.
Joseph wonders on his page why an undercover gang unit was tailing his brother.
He wonders how someone being followed is supposed to know an unmarked car and plain-clothed officers are police.
He wonders why the family was told at the scene that Cruz was taken to UCI Medical Center and, after waiting there for two hours and being told nothing, they were then informed his body was taken directly to the county coroner's office.
He wonders why the coroner's office would disclose no information about the man and would not allow a family member to see him.
No one from the family ever identified Cruz, the brother claims.
"There have been no return calls from the Anaheim PD, UCI Medical in Orange or the OC Coroners office after stating they would do so. . . . Why did it take 5 officers to shoot 1 man, while in his vehicle, in a public parking lot?"
The family believes Cruz was shot from behind--and they've said so on the signs they've toted in front of the Anaheim police headquarters.
The Cruz family fears the incident fits a pattern of other officer-involved shootings involving Anaheim police, and the MySpace page is being used to get the word out "to stop/minimize unnecessary killings by local law enforcement agencies."
They would like to be the last family devastated by an incident like this.
1 comment:
Another thing a white homeless man in Fullerton was shot by the police and of course the police were on the losing sided. One of the polic ein the shooting of the homeless man was white and the other police was hispanic. The anti-cops crowd use this to support their views against the police in OC.
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