Sacramento Cops Release Info/Video to Prosecute People Not Cops. Judge Orders Release of Docs/Photos of the Cops who Killed Darell Richards, Withheld 3yrs. Suit Says Cops Shot Black Man w/His Hands Up

From [HERE] The city of Sacramento violated the California Public Records Act when it withheld records about the 2018 fatal police shooting of Darell Richards, a judge has ruled.

After The Bee filed the lawsuit, the city released more than 800 pages of documents to the public. In an Aug. 13 ruling, Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Steven M. Gevercer ruled in The Bee’s favor, and ordered the city to release additional information and photos in the shooting by Sept. 13.

“We’re pleased that the court has ruled in our favor and has held that the city took too long to release the important records of this officer-involved shooting,” said Karl Olson, a San Francisco lawyer who specializes in Public Records Act litigation and is representing The Bee in the lawsuit. “We’re also pleased the judge has held that they improperly withheld certain information from what they did release. We look forward to their compliance with the order.”

The Bee filed a public records request on Sept. 25, 2020 for: “Any and all records from the use-of-force investigation into the actions of officers Todd Edgerton and Patrick Cox, regarding the shooting of Darell Richards in 2018.”

The city withheld the documents for more than seven months. Then in May, after The Bee threatened to sue, the city released a seven-page “administrative review” report. But the city continued to withhold more than 700 pages from a June 2020 report. That report contains statements from witnesses and relatives, officer observations, detective follow-up, forensic diagrams and autopsy findings.

After the Bee filed the lawsuit, the city released the June 2020 report and additional documents, totaling 876 pages, to its police website. It also released hundreds of photos.

The judge ordered the city to, by Sept. 13, release photographs of Richards, his undisclosed medical condition, his alleged prior legal violations and photographs of the two officers who shot Richards. The city redacted those items from the documents.

Prior to the lawsuit, the city had released video and audio of the incident, but no documents, despite a law the California Legislature passed in 2018 that required their release. The law, called SB 1421, the Right to Know Act, requires police agencies to release records related to the investigation and discipline of police officers when officers use force that results in serious injury or death, commit sexual assault on a member of the public, or engage in dishonesty in certain situations.Sacramento police fatally shot Richards, a 19-year-old Black and Hmong man, on Sept. 5, 2018. At around 11:30 p.m., dispatchers received a call about a man wearing a mask and pointing a firearm at people along Broadway near Tower Cafe. “Decedent was not holding a firearm at the time that he was shot to death," the suit states.

According to the complaint:

Sacramento Police Officers watched Darell jump a fence and then enter a backyard outside of their view. At the same time, a California Highway Patrol (hereinafter CHP) aircraft was on scene assisting the search. From the air, CHP Officer Young was able to observe Darell jump the backyard fence, cross through the backyard and disappear under the cover of tree. The CHP aircraft tracks via heat sensing technology from an elevation of approximately 6,000 feet in the air. During the same timeframe, Sacramento Police Department S.W.A.T. team was deployed to the area and set up a one block perimeter with the assistance of a California Highway Patrol (CHP) aircraft. CHP Officer Young assessed the scene from the air and determined that the one-block perimeter was good, because he did not observe Darell leave that block. Sacramento Police Officers were holding positions around the small, approximately 10 parcel block, to ensure that Darell did not leave that one-block area.

Defendant Lieutenant Sood held a briefing to inform officers of their plan to locate Darell. Prior to Lt. Sood’s briefing, Sacramento Police Officers located Darell’s backpack, which he discarded while running from officers. The backpack contained identifying information, a possible suicide note and a receipt from ‘Big 5 Sporting Goods’ which recorded the sale of a Sig Sauer pellet gun purchased earlier the same day.

The Defendant Officers were informed prior to initiating the search that their fellow officers had found Darell’s backpack and the contents included within it, including the receipt for the pellet gun. Officers were informed about Darell’s possible suicidal ideation and his recent police contacts, which revealed potential organic or drug induced mental health issues.

The Defendant Officers made no efforts to contact and/or involve Darell Richards’ family, despite knowing his identity, address and potential for self-harm.

Defendant Lt. Sood intentionally did not summon assistance from other departments or agencies. Indeed, Lt. Sood made no efforts to obtain the 24-hour a day on-call Crisis Intervention Team, or any mental health experts, despite finding documents in Darell Richards’ backpack indicative of a potential suicidal subject and evidence that Darell purchased a pellet gun earlier the same day.

At approximately 3:15 a.m., witnesses saw Officer Yesenia deploy a K-9 unit into the backyard of 2017 1st Avenue, without issuing a warning. The K-9 Officer went into the backyard, urinated and went back to the Officers. Officer Yesenia deployed the K-9 Officer a second time. This time according to witnesses, the K-9 Officer appeared to locate someone under the backyard deck and then returned to the Officers. Nevertheless, Officers entered the yard without announcing themselves or providing Darell an opportunity to surrender.

At this point, Darell had been hiding for approximately three hours. The police had made no attempts, whatsoever to contact him. Inexplicably, none of the officers on scene attempted to make contact with Darell, despite knowing his name and that he wrote a suicide note and was carrying a pellet gun. Moreover, none of the officers on scene attempted to contact Darell’s family, despite knowing that he had recent police contact where the family informed officers they suspected the police contact was due to a mental illness. Furthermore, none of the officers on scene attempted to contact Darell via his cell phone or social media accounts or issue Darell any commands or orders to surrender. Perhaps most egregious, none of the officers on scene identified themselves as police officers or warned Darell that they intended to deploy a police K-9 into the yard.

Immediately thereafter, numerous SWAT Officers, including Defendants Edgerton and Cox, and Officers Yesenia and Tiner entered the backyard in stealth mode and rounded the corner of the home. As they were midway through the yard, Officer Tiner heard a noise and pointed his 1000 lumin rifle light at Darell’s face, ostensibly blinding Darrell, and screamed “show me your hands” while Defendant Cox simultaneously yelled “drop the gun.” The team never assigned specific officers to be the point of contact and deliver commands, which resulted in both officers providing contradictory commands at the same time, after failing to identify themselves as police officers.

Within seconds, Sgt. Todd Edgerton and Officer Patrick Cox opened fire, striking Decedent multiple times in the head and body. Mr. Richards died as a result of his injuries.

None of the officers’ body worn camera show what Darell was doing at the time of the shooting. Defendant Edgerton’s body worn camera would have shown what Darell was doing when he was shot, but he conspicuously failed to activate it during the course of this incident.

Darell Richards had a gunshot entry wound in the palm of his right hand, indicating that he had one or more hands raised during the shooting.

None of the officers on scene ever announced themselves or identified themselves as police officers at any time in the three hours prior to shooting and killing Darell Richards. In fact, no one from the Sacramento Police Department ever notified Darell Richards of the heavy police presence prior to sneaking up on him and shooting him.

Neither of the Defendant Officers identified themselves as police officers or warned Darell Richards of their intent to use deadly force, prior to shooting and killing him.

To date, there has been no disciplinary decisions made regarding this incident and the statute of limitations for employee discipline has passed.

The department said Richards pointed the gun at the officers, but the video footage does not show it. The lawsuit is still pending.[MORE]