Thread: Event to memorialize slain Latino men

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Event to memorialize slain Latino men


Views differ on progress 1 year after 3 shootings
By Elena Gaona
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
July 29, 2006

VISTA – Maria Melchor can't escape the image of her brother's last breaths of life, when she saw his eyes flicker open and shut.

“I saw his face, I saw his eyes stay open after he died,” said Melchor. “I can't sleep. I have nightmares. I see him everywhere I go.”

It was a year ago that a sheriff's deputy in Vista fatally shot her younger brother, Jesus Eduardo Manzo, 23.

Manzo was one of three Latino men who were shot and killed in a five-day span in separate altercations with Vista sheriff's deputies last summer.

Yesterday marked the first anniversary of the first shooting.

A public memorial for the three men killed will be at 5 p.m. today at Townsite Park, in the predominantly Latino neighborhood of Townsite. Organizers expect a peaceful remembrance of their lives.

District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis issued a report this month determining that deputies were justified in their use of deadly force.

In the months since the deaths, the city of Vista and particularly the Townsite neighborhood have struggled with how to move on from the deaths that sparked community accusations of racial profiling and excessive use of force by police.

Shortly after the shootings, human rights groups formed in the community, and in recent months families of those killed have sued the Sheriff's Department.

An independent review of the Sheriff's Department's policies and procedures, authorized by Sheriff Bill Kolender, is still pending.

A new captain has been assigned to the Vista station, and deputies have implemented programs to try to heal the rift with the Latino community and to decrease crime in Townsite. The programs range from a junior police academy to the formation of a Latino advisory group.
Family members of Sergio Garcia-Vasquez and Jorge Ramirez could not be reached for comment this week.

The district attorney's report described the circumstances of their deaths:

Garcia-Vasquez, 32, was the first man shot by deputies. On July 28, 2005, deputies answered a call from residents on North Citrus Avenue who said their roommate, Garcia-Vasquez, was acting bizarrely. During the confrontation, Garcia-Vasquez began swinging two 10-pound dumbbells and threw one, hitting a deputy. Two deputies fatally shot the man.

The second shooting came the next day, when Deputy Mark Ritchie stopped a car matching the description of a getaway vehicle involved in a convenience store robbery in the Shadowridge area. Two men jumped out and ran, and Ritchie followed Ramirez, the driver.

During the chase, Ramirez, 26, repeatedly reached into his pants waistband. Ritchie fired 22 rounds, hitting Ramirez eight times. Authorities found a folding knife in his pants and a discarded handgun near the Jeep.

This week, Manzo's sisters told a version of their brother's death that varied from the official version.

According to the district attorney's report, deputies went to Manzo's Newport Drive home on Aug. 1, 2005 to question him about a stolen car and to check whether he was on a gang injunction.

Manzo fled when deputies approached. After a search, he was confronted by Deputy Lew Schott. When Manzo reached toward his waistband, Schott shot him once in the chest. Deputies later found that he had a multipurpose tool similar to a Leatherman.

Autopsies showed that all three men had methamphetamine in their systems.

Maria Melchor, 33, is Manzo's older sister. She said this week that she was at a neighbor's house when deputies arrived to question her brother in front of their home. Manzo panicked and ran to her, she said.

More officers arrived and surrounded him while helicopters flew overhead, Melchor said. While her brother ran around the neighbor's house, she went inside to call her sister. She heard a shot outside and ran to the window to see her brother dying, she said.

He was not on the gang injunction, was unarmed and was not a threat, she said.

Melchor and Manzo's other sister, Maria “Nancy” Manzo, described their brother as a handsome man who worked in carpentry, liked to dance, helped his niece with her homework, and joked around with everyone.

According to the district attorney's report, Manzo had been arrested twice for auto theft and once for burglary, conspiracy, possession of stolen property and attempted auto theft.

He hung around with troublemakers, Nancy Manzo said, but had calmed down and was caring for his sick 1-year-old baby the day he was shot.

“The mistakes of my brother are not an excuse for the police to kill him,” Nancy Manzo said.

Capt. Ed Prendergast, who took control of the Vista patrol station in April, said the lawsuits and inflammatory accusations won't help heal divisions in the community over the tragic events.

“Taking a human life is traumatic,” Prendergast said, for all involved.

Though criticism has risen over the number of times one officer shot, 22 times, Prendergast said deputies have discretion to shoot “until the suspect is no longer a threat” to officers or others.

Two of the involved deputies have moved on, and two are still on patrol in Vista, he said. The officers passed psychological tests soon after the shootings and are doing well, he said.

Still, Prendergast acknowledges the shootings have left a deep division between some members of the community and police.

The national immigration debate has bled into already tense relations between Latinos and deputies. After a May 1 peaceful pro-immigrant rally, a few troublemakers caused a riot in Townsite, Prendergast said, with mostly youth hurling bottles and rocks at officers.

Police responded in force with riot gear, and later extra patrols by deputies became associated with the disturbance, he said.

But the reason for the extra patrols, accompanied by immigration officials, was an attempt by Prendergast to reduce crime in Townsite, he said, after he saw the latest regional crime report.

“It's unacceptable,” he said, to allow a neighborhood to be plagued more than others by gangs, drugs and theft.

The latest SANDAG crime report says Vista's violent crime rate for 2005 was 5.6 per 1,000 population, while the region's average was 4.5. And Vista's overall FBI crime index, which includes everything from homicide and rape to car theft, rose from 28 per 1,000 people in 2001 to 37.2 per 1,000 people in 2005, a 33 percent increase.

Prendergast points to numerous programs he hopes will slowly reduce crime, overwhelmingly concentrated in Townsite, at the same time they heal relations.

About half of the approximately 45 patrol officers in Vista are outfitted with taser guns. By the end of August all patrol officers should be outfitted with the non-lethal weapons, which cost $1,000 apiece.

A police academy for youths ages 6 to 13 “to show young people positive role models,” of police, began about two months ago and is full with mostly Latino kids.

The Vista Adult School is offering English-learning adults classes that familiarize students with police procedures and way to deal with domestic violence.

As for the lack of Spanish-speaking officers in Vista, where 41 percent of residents are Latino, Prendergast said there's “not enough.”

He's recruited three more officers for a total of four patrol officers who speak Spanish. Deputies have been given Spanish-language pocket guides to communicate on calls. And soon all patrol officers will attend Spanish-language immersion classes, Prendergast said.

Prendergast said he's assembling a Latino advisory group to reach out to the community.

“I think we're building bridges,” he said.

Townsite resident Jimmy Castillo, 19, doesn't see that bridge. He said he keeps getting stopped by police for no reason just as much as before the shootings. His tattoos, which include a woman with free-flowing hair next to the words “SD,” could be the reason, he said. Watering his lawn before heading to work in maintenance at a hospital this week, he said he's still sad about last year's shootings.

“I knew all of them,” he said. He plans to attend the memorial.

Meanwhile, homemaker Graciela Ramos, 47, said she's glad police are being tough on crime because something has to be done about robberies in Townsite.

“I want to feel safe,” she said softly.

Still, she added about last year's event, “they could have been less heavy-handed.”



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Elena Gaona: (760) 737-7575; elena.gaona@uniontrib.com

The same old story when they are shot, he was turning his life around, yeah right

The reason the investigation is still pending is because they can't find that the cops did anything wrong and they know it.

Originally Posted by Ladydrake

The reason the investigation is still pending is because they can't find that the cops did anything wrong and they know it.

Yup.

Expect George Bush to declare this a Federal Civil Rights violation and send in the feds against the cops.