Sam Levin Profile picture
Jul 1, 2020 19 tweets 8 min read Read on X
NEW: I spent time with families of those killed by Los Angeles sheriff deputies. They want the department defunded + dismantled. They want DA Jackie Lacey out. They want officers fired + prosecuted.

Listen to their words here (thread / videos) ⬇️

theguardian.com/us-news/2020/j…
Julie Martinez, grandmother of Paul Rea, 18, killed by LASD during a traffic stop after allegedly driving thru a stop sign: “The sheriffs for decades have been operating like illegal thugs and gang members under the color of authority. They are never held accountable.”
More from Julie Martinez, Paul’s grandmother: “They utilize their badges as a form of protection. They are allowed unfettered access to criminal activity. There’s zero trust. It’s at the point where people fear the sheriffs more than they actually fear crime.”
David Diaz, Paul’s great uncle: “The goal of sheriffs is to arrest as many people as they can and worry about it later. By arbitrarily arresting people and giving them records when they don’t deserve it, it has a negative impact on young people’s ability to succeed.”
David Diaz, Paul’s great uncle, said the men of his family have been arrested by East LA sheriffs for generations and that LASD is irredeemable. “The reforms are not going to happen in Congress, in the state legislature, in the city council. It’s going to happen in the streets.”
Tommy Twyman, mother of 24-year-old Ryan Twynan, shot 34 times by LA sheriffs deputies while he was unarmed in his car: “I just want these officers to take accountability for my son. They murdered my son. There’s a million ways they could’ve got him out of the car.”
“The fight is getting stronger and bigger. They’re arresting officers in other states, they need to do it here. The sheriffs need to remember what you’re out here doing. You’re supposed to be protecting and serving. You’re not protecting anybody.” - Tommy, mother of Ryan Twyman
Tommy Twyman on what it’s like to watch national protests and hear people say her son’s name one year after his killing by LASD: “It’s bittersweet. I turn on the news and I hear my son’s name being called but it also breaks my heart every day. But I still love it.” #RyanTwyman
Chiquita Twyman, Ryan’s older sister, telling a crowd of families of LA police victims to vote out the district attorney. Loud applause:

“We have to vote Jackie Lacey out of office. She’s the reason why we’re not getting justice for all our families.”
“They run from you not because they are guilty, but because they are afraid”- Leah Garcia, mother of Paul, 18, killed by LA sheriff deputy last year as he fled. The father of Leah's youngest son was also killed by LA sheriff's deputies. Paul grew up terrified of police, she said. Image
Leah Garcia said she has one memory of getting stopped by deputies with Paul when he was around seven years old: “He screamed, ‘Please don’t take my mom.’”

Leah told me she has been pulled over twice by LASD in recent months and forced to sit in their car before they let her go. Image
Jaylene Rea, Paul’s 22-year-old sister, said she once aspired to join the police, imagining herself as the “officer all the kids know.”

“I literally thought I could be a good cop for the community. But after learning everything they do, there’s no hope.” Image
Jaylene Rea says she supports calls to defund LASD and that she has no hope the department could be fixed at this point. She said LASD has repeatedly harassed and intimidated her family, especially after they started speaking out.

Photos by Damon Casarez. Image
Here’s Evelia Granados, sister of Cesar Rodriguez, killed by Long Beach Police Dept in altercation on train platform after he was accused of not paying his fare. She says DA Jackie Lacey has “blood on her hands.”
She says the family wants the officer off the streets before he kills again. A local story on her case here: presstelegram.com/2020/04/01/wro…
Marina Vergara, sister of Daniel Hernandez, 38, killed by LAPD in April.

“We have to abolish the system and we have to create something new.”
“In South Central LA, they’re a military force. They criminalize Brown and Latino lives. They are constantly stopped and searched. They don’t do this in affluent communities. We criminalize poor people” - Marina, sister of Daniel Hernandez, killed by LAPD in April
For more on the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, the largest county police agency in the US, and it's long (and continuing) legacy of abuse, violence, killings, deputy gangs + secret societies and racist day to day policing, here's my latest piece:

theguardian.com/us-news/2020/j…
Also do not miss my brilliant colleague @VivianHo's piece #RobertFuller and Antelope Valley, where white supremacists + LA Sheriff violence and brutality continue to terrorize Black communities theguardian.com/us-news/2020/j…

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More from @SamTLevin

May 24
An extraordinary case of police "psychological torture" in Fontana, CA: When Thomas Perez reported his elderly father missing, cops brought him in for a 17-hour interrogation + coerced him to falsely confess killing his dad.

His dad was alive.

🧵
theguardian.com/us-news/articl…
Thomas Perez's dad abruptly left their house Aug 7 2018 + didn't return. The next day, he reported his dad missing to Fontana PD. The cop who spoke to him deemed him "suspicious" + “distracted + unconcerned with his father’s disappearance.” The police asked him in for questioning
As they questioned Perez, police got warrants to go through their house. Police claimed they found "bloodstains" and that a police dog smelled the scent of a corpse. Jerry Steering, Perez’s lawyer, said there was no blood and shared w/ me this photo police provided of a "stain." a photo of carpeted staircase with a small indecipherable stain circled in black
Read 17 tweets
Apr 11
NEW INVESTIGATION: a California prison sergeant sexually abused an incarcerated woman for months, then harassed/stalked her for yrs after her release, records show.

🧵on Nilda Palacios' long fight to be believed + how Sgt Tony Ormonde evaded consequences: theguardian.com/us-news/ng-int…
(content warning for this thread: prison abuse, sexual assault, stalking)
Nilda’s ordeal began 2016 at CCWF, CA's largest women's prison. Then 33, she'd spent nearly half her life inside + was nearing a parole hearing, her 1st opportunity to plead for freedom. Her cellmate had become abusive/violent. She was desperate for a bed move + to avoid trouble. Nilda Palacios poses for a portrait. Photo by Andrea Arevalo.
Read 20 tweets
Apr 1
NEW: Video reveals San Bernardino sheriffs fatally shot Savannah Graziano, 15, a reported kidnapping victim, while she was unarmed + following deputies instructions to move to them.

They continued shooting even after one officer said "Stop shooting her"

theguardian.com/us-news/2024/a…
screenshot of aerial surveillance footage showing six San Bernardino sheriff's cars by a white pickup truck on the side of a freeway
San Bernardino has refused to release video of the killing of the teenage girl since 2022, but @joeyneverjoe filed records requests + pushed for their release + shared the footage with @guardian

The video + audio evidence shows how the sheriff initially spread misleading claims.
@joeyneverjoe @guardian CJ Wyatt, Savannah’s uncle, told me: “There needs to be better training so that unarmed people aren’t killed. Hopefully this video can be used for training – something has to be done differently. She didn’t have to die.” photo of Savannah Graziano, smiling
Read 14 tweets
Mar 11
A San Bernardino sheriff fatally shot Ryan Gainer, 15, who was holding a garden tool.

Ryan ran cross-country team, wanted to be engineer + had autism, family lawyer told me.

The dept released edited video but refused to share footage of actual shooting theguardian.com/us-news/2024/m…
“There are great questions as to whether it was appropriate to use deadly force against a 15-yr-old autistic kid having an episode. We need to see the video and the moment of the shooting … but it doesn’t seem like anyone was in imminent danger of death or great bodily injury.”
a photo of Ryan Gainer sitting with three family members smiling near a sign that says Puente Barranca Honda. Photograph from family, courtesyof Burris, Nisenbaum, Curry & Lacy law firm
a smiling photo of Ryan Gainer with another family member. Photograph from family, courtesyof Burris, Nisenbaum, Curry & Lacy law firm
The family called 911 while Ryan was in crisis, reporting he'd attacked a family member + was breaking things. The woman told dispatcher: "He said he’s going to run away and then he came back to the house.” She reported that he had a piece of glass but didn't mention any weapons.
Read 13 tweets
Mar 4
NEW: LAPD has repeatedly shot people holding harmless objects - most recently, Jason Maccani who held a plastic fork.

LAPD also shot ppl holding phones, lighters, a bike part, a car part + a wooden board.

🧵on the cases + families fighting for justice:
theguardian.com/us-news/2024/m…
There's a clear pattern: Cops instantly escalate an encounter w/ person in mental distress, fail to communicate, rush to shoot + then continue to blame the victim after learning they were unarmed.

Jason Maccani had a fork, but LAPD first reported it as man “armed with a stick.”
image of white plastic fork that LAPD shared as evidence after killing Jason Maccani
photo of Jason Maccani smiling at an event.
Jason Maccani's brother Mike told me: “LAPD's story keeps changing, and the details get more frustrating and sad, but it doesn’t change the end result. That’s what hurts the most. Jason was experiencing a mental health crisis and he was killed in his moment of greatest need.” photo of Jason Maccani (left) and Mike Maccani (right) at a family wedding.
Read 18 tweets
Feb 22
NEW: There's been a 300% surge in deaths of unhoused people in Los Angeles amid worsening fentanyl + housing crises.

@craftworksxyz + I obtained 10 yrs of autopsy data, revealing 2,000+ deaths last yr. Hear from folks on the street about the rising toll➡️theguardian.com/us-news/2024/f…
@craftworksxyz From 2014-2023, 11,573 unhoused people died in LA County, with steadily rising death tolls every yr, according to medical examiner autopsies. It's a significant undercount as the ME does not track all deaths. Health officials estimate there are 20% more deaths not captured by ME.
@craftworksxyz Last yr, 2,033 unhoused people died in LA, a staggering 291% jump from the 519 cases the medical examiner recorded in 2014 + an 8% increase from the 1,883 fatalities in 2022.

The data suggests the crisis is so severe that roughly six unhoused people die every day in Los Angeles.
Read 9 tweets

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