April 17, 2019
Page 5
CAREERS Special Edition
Shootings Bring Response
C ontinueD from f ront
too many unanswered questions
regarding the facts and circum-
stances surrounding each of the
shootings and we eagerly await
completion and publication of the
investigative reports,” said the
leaders.
Some of the requests made to
Clark County Prosecutor Tony
Golik includes reports on officer
training, where officers work and
past complaints against officers.
The county’s three police agen-
cies: Clark County Sheriff, Battle
Ground Police, and Vancouver
Police, were also sent letters for
detailed information.
There have been five officer
involved shootings that have oc-
curred within a four month span
since late November. The three
most recent—which occurred
within just a three week span--
were fatal.
That includes the death of Car-
los Hunter, 43, a person of color
who was fatally shot by two Van-
couver Police detectives during
a traffic stop on March 7. Hunter
was said to have reached for a gun
just before the shooting during
what was reported to be a drug
dealing investigation, according
to an investigation by the Region-
al Major Crimes Team; the shoot-
ing by Vancouver police of Mi-
chael Pierce, 29, a white man who
was homeless and known to suffer
from schizophrenia, after he was
reportedly pointing gun replicas
to passersby and to his own head
on Feb. 28; and the shooting by
Vancouver police Cpl. Roger Ev-
ans of Clayton Joseph, 16, a male
of Pacific Island decent who was
said to be brandishing a knife and
refusing to drop it before he was
shot on Feb. 19.
“Notwithstanding the question
of whether a shooting can be le-
gally justified, our concern is also
whether a culture exists within the
police departments within Clark
County that influences premature,
inappropriate and overly aggres-
siveness actions through use of
deadly force in situations involv-
ing minorities and underprivi-
leged citizens,” the activists said.
Marzette and Hinojosa also
want answers to questions about
whether there is sufficient anti-bi-
as and de-escalation training of
police officers. Specific questions
about the three aforementioned
shootings include asking how far
away the officers were when they
took shots, and whether they tried
any non-deadly force options—
like rubber bullets, tasers, etc.-
-before resorting to the use of a
gun.
Both Hinojosa and Marzette,
who is also a member of the Van-
couver Police Chief’s Diversity
Advisory Team, stressed that they
hold no animosity toward local
police, but just want more infor-
mation for clarity and transparen-
cy.
“We’re not suggesting that
Clark County has any mal-in-
tended officers out there acting
with evil intent,” said Hinojosa,
who once opened his home to
one of the victims, Pierce, and his
then-pregnant girlfriend during a
winter when they were homeless
a few years ago.
Hinojosa and Marzette agreed
that there are improved commu-
nity relationships that are ongo-
ing, compared to just a few years
ago--both from Clark County
Sheriff and Vancouver Police De-
partment--such as being able to
ask face-to-face questions to law
enforcement about their concerns.
A signal that Vancouver Police
Department is taking a step in the
right direction in regard to com-
munity relations is Police Chief
James McElvain’s stated willing-
ness late last month to seriously
consider mandatory body cameras
for officers, something that had
previously not been considered,
Marzette said.
And Hinojosa notes that a joint
statement put out back in August
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by Golik and Clark County Sheriff
Chuck Atkins condemning white
supremacy and hate crimes was
“definitely well received,” though
they’ll be working toward making
sure that declaration is properly
implemented.
“I think the bottom line …when
we read or hear about something
in our community [related to hate
crimes], we wanted the assurance
that we, along with the law en-
forcement community, were taking
the position that we were not going
to allow that to spread and increase
in our area,” Marzette said.
Marzette and Hinojosa have
also expressed optimism over the
recent passage of a statewide law
in Washington, Initiative 940, last
fall, which makes it easier to bring
criminal charges against officers
believed to have wrongfully used
deadly force, when before a bar-
rier in state law made that almost
impossible.
No longer do prosecutors have
to prove “evil intent” of offi-
cers in situations where they’ve
killed someone when considering
whether to file criminal charges,
such as manslaughter. Instead, the
burden of proof is whether a rea-
sonable officer would have acted
the same way under the same cir-
cumstances. In addition, the law
requires any incident involving
deadly force to be independently
investigated; requires de-escala-
tion and mental health training
for officers; and requires police to
give first aid to a victim of deadly
force.
“These are all good things as
we progress forward,” Hinojosa
said.
As to whether a recent basket-
ball
tournament-turned-school
disturbance on March 15 at Gaiser
Middle School in Vancouver, in
which 27 students were suspend-
ed and nine were arrested, was
reflective of community-police
tensions, Marzette said they don’t
have enough information on the
matter to make that claim. It was
reported that racial slurs were
used in the incident that started as
an apparent altercation between
students and ended with 33 police
officers being called to the scene,
according to Clark County Sher-
iff’s Office. Hinojosa added the
incident was “very concerning.”
Hinojosa said that if the com-
munity can come together with
police officers to have serious and
difficult conversations, it could re-
sult in positive change in how the
various law enforcement depart-
ments interact with the public.
“We’re definitely concerned
and we’re upset and all that. But
we’re having conversations now.
And let’s move those forward. I
think we’ll be in better shape in a
year.”
NAACP Vancouver and LU-
LAC Southwest Washington’s
joint letter can be viewed in its
entirety at portlandobserver.com.
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