Video Shows San Mateo Cops Stalk Chinedu Okobi & Then Tase, Beat & Smother Black Man to Death to En-force Jaywalking Law: White Prosecutor Declines to File Charges

From [HERE] A San Mateo County sheriff’s sergeant and four deputies will not face criminal prosecution for killing an unarmed African-American man in Millbrae on Oct. 3.

District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe [racist suspect in photo] announced the findings of an investigation Friday into the death of 36-year-old Chinedu Okobi, nearly five months after the fatal encounter.

"It is a sad, tragic event," Wagstaffe said at a press conference.

Okobi’s family received the report on Thursday.

"This is an example of a person who is dead, who should not be, based upon the seemingly over-aggressiveness on the part of police officers," said the family's attorney, John Burris.

"Police initiated this conversation, the contact, used force, used their billy clubs, pepper spray and they used a Taser a number of times — all of which contributed to his death."

Police claimed Okobi, a resident of Redwood City, was “running in and out of traffic” on a busy street around 1 p.m., according to an Oct. 3 press release from the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, when a deputy tried to make contact with him. The press release stated that Okobi “immediately assaulted the deputy,” who then called for backup. More law enforcement officers arrived as the struggle with Okobi continued. After Okobi was arrested, he was taken to the hospital where he was later declared dead.

The district attorney’s investigation determined that during the struggle, Deputy Joshua Wang fired his taser seven times and struck Okobi three times.

Contrary to police reports and media accounts the video speaks for itself and clearly contradicts the police accounts. The district attorney's office posted the footage of Chinedu Okobi’s arrest on the county website. Wagstaffe said that footage is the same as what Okobi’s family saw in November, but arranged in chronological order. The black man was not running in and out of traffic and did not immediately assault any cops. On the video a car passes him and he safely crosses the street. There appears to be no traffic on the 4 lane street. He then stops on the median and waits for vehicles going the other direction to pass before he crosses the street.

EVEN THE POLICE VIDEO CONTAINS NARRATIVE BASED ON LIES. HERE THE CAPTION SAYS HE NARROWLY MISSES ONCOMING TRAFFIC. YET HE IS NOT EVEN VISIBLE IN THE SHOT [see above]. He crosses after the car has passed him - he is one lane away. see pic below.

On the video he is seen calmly walking on the sidewalk when he is approached by an officer in a police cruiser. On the entire video he is never seen “running in and out of traffic.” When the cop initially approaches him he says something inaudible and calmly walks away from the cop and crosses the street.

While he is walking down the sidewalk cops approach him from both directions. Cops rushed out of their vehicles and began lunging at him. A white cop attempts to grab him [under arrest for what? jaywalking] and then another white cop pushes him into a sign while he has his hands up. Cops start yelling “stop resisting” as he moves away from them to get away. Cops yell “get on the ground” and then tase him. The 330-pound man then dropped to the ground screaming.

Other sheriff’s deputies arrived and a chaotic scene ensued, with deputies shouting at Okobi to turn over on his stomach, while Okobi cried, "What did I do? Someone please help me!"

After writhing on the ground Okobi then attempts to flee as cops give a slow trot chase. After the Black man punches an Asian cop in the face the cops then believe they have justification to use deadly force and begin to do so - as all 5 punch, pounce and smother him in the street.

"All of the original coverage was that my brother was running wildly through the street, he was darting in and out of traffic," Okobi’s sister, Ebele, said in a recent interview. "But what we saw is my brother walking on the sidewalk."

Ebele says the footage also refutes the description of her brother’s behavior during the arrest.

"When he was stopped, there was no assault at all, and when they tase him there's no assault," she said.

"The whole thing seems strange to me. Why you would tase someone who didn't represent a physical threat and wasn't doing anything?"

"They were so afraid of an unarmed bystander that they had to use the kind of force that turned out to be lethal. But they expect the person who's being attacked to be completely calm and understand," Ebele said.

Civil rights attorney John Burris said he intends to file a civil lawsuit on behalf of the Okobi family in federal court in the near future.

"The most significant thing to me is that Okobi was a very healthy man at the time, he was not under any influence of any drugs, legal or otherwise," Burris said. "And there's some real questions about the basis for the initial stop, related to why they were using force when they were."

Okobi’s family also takes issue with the sheriff’s office's accounting of when he died. The press release reported that the suspect was taken into custody, sent to the hospital and later declared dead.

The county coroner recorded the time of death as 2:17 p.m. based on hospital records. But Ebele believes the video footage actually captured the moment of her brother’s death.

"They’re on top of him and he's on the ground and they're saying 'Stay on him! Stay on him! Stay on him! Stay on him!'" Ebele said. "Then all of a sudden, 'It's a crime scene.' And then you can hear them say, 'OK, we need crime scene tape.'"

Ebele said they propped up her brother with his head hanging forward.

"Nobody tried to revive him. There was no CPR, nothing," she said. "They treated him like a dog."

Okobi’s family initially thought he may have been in psychological distress at the time of his arrest, but after viewing the video footage compilation, Ebele said there’s not evidence of that.

"His mental illness had actually absolutely nothing to do with why he was stopped," Ebele said. "All you saw was a man walking down the street. The only difference is that he happened to be black."

Okobi graduated with a degree in business administration from Atlanta's Morehouse College. His family said he began to experience mental illness in 2009, but held a series of jobs, including working as a truck driver for Home Depot until January 2018. [an assumption here from statist, racist suspect media is that running from cops who are trying to kill you is crazy.]

The other officers involved in Okobi’s arrest are John DeMartini, Alyssa Lorenzatti, Bryan Watt and Sgt. David Weidner. They are all back at work, according to Public Information Officer Rosemerry Blankswade.

San Mateo County sheriff's officers do not wear body cameras, but their vehicles are equipped with dashboard cameras. The district attorney's office collected that footage, along with cell phone video taken by witnesses and security camera footage from businesses. As part of the investigation, staff also interviewed the five officers who were involved in Okobi’s arrest and all of the civilian witnesses.

District Attorney Wagstaffe also consulted a use of force expert, John Martin, a former San Jose police sergeant and taser trainer. Martin concluded that Wang's attempt to detain Okobi and the firing of his taser "was consistent with that of a trained and reasonable officer facing similar circumstances."

"Okobi continued to struggle, including thrust kicking his leg at Deputy DeMartini, attempting to remove the probes, continuing to ignore commands and warnings, and returning to his feet. Mr. Okobi had clearly defeated and/or overpowered the deputies’ collective and individual efforts to use low- and intermediate-level force options," the [silly] report stated.