Since we brought you this story, the Christopher Dorner manhunt has enraptured all of our attention, but especially those of us at CopWatch IE. We will be putting something out shortly. For now, we want to bring you this update on the last story we filed here, about Ly. Gonzalez getting special treatment from his coworkers after getting caught driving drunk in a department vehicle. The sheriff's department put out a press release about it, apparently undermining RPD's story that driving DUI suspects home is a "common practice."
Officers from the Jurupa Valley PD are reporting that they shot and injured a seventeen-year-old they are accusing of driving a stolen vehicle. The brother is expected to live. Here are some links:
While the public has a right to know what the agencies that enforce the law in their name are doing, the agencies themselves often don't respect laws supposedly guaranteeing that transparency. Here, P-E reporter Brian Rokos discusses his personal battle as a journalist to wrest information from the clutches of Sheriff Stan Sniff. He links to a pdf of the letter Sniff sent him in which he attempts to justify withholding the information:
This is some pretty big news in the police accountability world. Riverside County is one of the largest counties in California, if not the United States, which, coupled with the large number of municipalities that contract out to the sheriff and the large rural areas, gives the sheriff jurisdiction over a huge expanse. This step toward secrecy is unfortunate, if not unexpected. Expect something more about this.
Moreno Valley: Police pursuit suspect still on the loose
By City News Service, on December 31, 2012, at 1:23 pm
An armed suspect who led Riverside County sheriff’s deputies on a chase through Moreno Valley, culminating in gunfire, remained at large today.
Riverside county sheriff's deputies in Moreno Valley are saying they chased this brother down and handcuffed him. Then, inexplicably, they shot and killed him. (They claim he had a gun.) Another young brother gone way too young. Let's see if the coverage helps paint a clearer picture:
