police brutality

In many instances, the second pre-trial hearing for Johannes Mehserle could be seen as a victorious day for the family and supporters of Oscar Grant, who was fatally shot by Mehserle as he lay unarmed on a platform in Oakland on New Year’s Day 2009.

After weeks of nervous speculation, presiding Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Robert Perry rejected motions put forth by Mehserle’s legal team to reduce his bail amount and remove the Alameda County district attorney from the case.

While Perry acknowledged that prosecutors employed some questionable and perhaps unconstitutional tactics during their investigation, those acts failed to substantiate the extreme requests of defense attorney Michael Rains.

Victory also extended to outside of the courtroom as scores of activists and supporters braved the early morning chill to hold signs, recite chants, and talk to onlookers — all in the name of making the often-apathetic L.A. populace aware of one of the most significant court cases in state history.

To Eureka Police Chief Garr Nielsen,
Eureka City Council members,
Eureka Mayor Virginia Bass
Eureka City Attorney Sheryl Schaffner:

We, of Redwood Curtain CopWatch, receive report after report of unprovoked, vicious behavior by Sergeant Michael Quigley toward houseless people. With this letter we intend, once again, to alert you to Quigley's regular practice of abusing his authority and abusing people whom he apparently perceives to have little to no political power. As exhibited by his indecent and cruel behavior, Quigley believes he has absolute impunity to blatantly and repeatedly violate peoples' human and constitutional rights. This open letter goes out to hundreds of individuals and groups to call attention to Quigley's ongoing unacceptable behavior and to publicly call on you to correct it immediately and prevent any such misconduct and abuse in the future.