Keep Paying Through the Nose, Eureka

You can demand equal enforcement of the law where the guilty are sanctioned equally or you can grant privileged impunity to the criminal where everyone "pays through the nose" equally. It's your choice. You can pay in more innocent lives or you can pay in money.

Case in point is what the Times-Standard printed in today's paper (Saturday 21, 2015) about the Eureka Police killing of Tommy McClain by Will Houston:  McClain’s parents to file suit against Eureka, police after fatal shooting. 

The family of the 22-year-old Eureka man fatally shot by a Eureka police officer last year is planning to file a $10 million claim for a wrongful death lawsuit next week in federal court against the city of Eureka and involved police officers.

Thomas McClain was shot three times by Officer Stephen Linfoot in the front yard of his residence on the 1600 block of Allard Avenue during the early morning hours of Sept. 17. The incident began after a passing police officer saw McClain pull out what was later determined to be a black Walther PPQ replica BB gun from his waistband, cycle the cylinder, and place it back in his waistband, Eureka Police Chief Andrew Mills said during an October press conference.

When EPD Sgt. Brian Stephens told McClain he knew he had a gun and stated he would shoot him if he reached for it, McClain dropped his hands and grabbed for the gun “for unknown reasons,” Mills said at the press conference. Officer Linfoot fired seven shots, with three bullets striking McClain in the head, buttocks, and once in the arm, also piercing through his chest. McClain was taken to St. Joseph Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The replica BB handgun was found to be unloaded at the time of McClain’s death. Following a two-month investigation by the multi-agency Humboldt County Critical Incident Response Team, the shooting was deemed a justified homicide by the county District Attorney’s Office in November, with no charges being filed against the officers.

“We only charge criminal cases if there is evidence that leads us to believe that a crime was committed,” then-District Attorney Paul Gallegos said on Nov. 21. “There was evidence of a terrible loss to this family, but not that a crime was committed — not every loss is a crime.”

McClain’s family has been open about their mistrust of the county’s investigation, and hired Woodland Hills attorney Dale Galipo to file a lawsuit. The suit is being filed against the city of Eureka, Linfoot, Stephens and other unnamed officers, according to a press release from Galipo’s office.

“I think the family, based on the information they have, they feel that this shooting was unjustified, but they are also concerned about the national problem we have now with police officers using destructive force,” Galipo said. “It’s very important for them that they get justice for their son. They don’t want to see this happen to someone else’s son. That’s their main motivation going forward with this lawsuit. They’re hoping that there will be some accountability for the officer or officers.”

Mills said he had no comment and that he had not been notified that any lawsuit had been filed as of Friday afternoon. Eureka City Attorney Cyndy Day-Wilson was out of the office on Friday and was unavailable for comment.

A press release issued by Galipo’s office states the lawsuit filed by McClain’s parents, Jeanne Barragan and Lance McClain, seeks $10 million dollars in monetary damages.

“Although witnesses claim that more than one officer may have fired during the incident, at this time this office can only confirm that Officer Linfoot discharged his weapon,” the release states. “At the time of the shooting, Thomas McClain had his hands up and did not pose an immediate risk of death or serious bodily injury to any person.”

A six-member Community Shooting Review Board that was created by Mills to determine whether Eureka police officers had acted within the police department’s policies in the fatal have determined unanimously that the officers had acted within the department’s policies, Mills said during a Eureka City Council meeting this Tuesday. The board included 4th Ward Councilwoman Melinda Ciarabellini, 2nd Ward Councilwoman Linda Atkins, the now retired Humboldt County Coroner Dave Parris, Police Officers Association President Josh Siipola, attorney Elan Firpo and EPD Cpt. Steve Watson.

Galipo has a history in Eureka, being one of two attorneys who helped the family of 26-year-old Martin Frederick Cotton II win a more than $4.5 million civil jury verdict in a wrongful death case against the city of Eureka in 2011.

Cotton died on Aug. 9, 2007, of a subdural hematoma just hours after being involved in several altercations at the Eureka Rescue Mission, the last of which involved EPD officers. Cotton died after he was found breathing shallowly in a holding cell in the Humboldt County jail.

Galipo said his office plans to file a claim this coming Monday, with the city and the officers being given 45 days to either accept or reject the claims. Should they reject the claims or not respond to them within 45 days, Galipo said they can file a federal lawsuit.

“As soon as they reject the claim, we can file the federal lawsuit,” he said. “... 99.9 percent of the time, they reject the claim.”

Will Houston can be reached at 707-441-0504.  [Emphasis mine.]

 It is worth noting that what EPD Sgt. Brian Stephens said he told McClain, "he knew he had a gun" was NOT true. He did not have a gun, he had a toy. So, Stephens did not know or see a gun at the time he says he made the statement. It is, therefore, reasonable to conclude Stephen's statement, "for unknown reasons he dropped his hands and grabbed for the gun," is a lie. Dropping one's hands is not the same thing as "reaching" for grabbing for something that is not there. He couldn't grab for a gun. He did not have one. Whatever those cops "thought" was meaningless to reality. Dropping one's hands for a non-existent weapon is NOT a threat to anyone. Pulling a toy from his waistband and actually pointing it at someone as if to shoot them is as different matter. Killing someone, shooting them, for doing what you are told, to take the gun out of your waistband and place it on the ground, is murder.

Additionally, it should be noted from previous Times-Standard reporting, Linfoot was not present when Stephens says he made his threat to Tommy McClain. Moreover, it was NOT Brian Stephens that shot Tommy McClain, therefore, his statement about the "gun" is irrelevant regarding the justification of the shooting. Chief Andrew Mill's ever-changing accounts of what ostensibly took place flat doesn't hold up under objective scrutiny.

The REAL crime, however, is the one the District Attorney Paul Gallegos committed when he grant the Eureka Police Department blanket impunity for murder. Brian Stephens and Stephen Linfoot et. al.'s crimes were, more pointedly, committed against the Tommy McClain family. Paul Gallego's crime is most pointedly committed against the people that live and work in Eureka. He has effectively imposed a regime of wanton impunity that grants license to mob rule.

There is additional information on Facebook's Justice for Tommy McClain.

--Joe

Welcome to the Hunger Games, Eureka

[UPDATE Below - Posted specially for the people of Eureka]
[UPDATE II - No accountability and blanket impunity - police granted de facto legal right to kill at will - A law unto themselves. The Grand Jury is NOT a Court of Law.]
N.Y. cop not indicted in chokehold death
New York grand jury declines to indict in the death of man who died after police officer put him in a chokehold.

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For want of something better, Eureka could easily be a city in District Seven.

The land Panem, or it's Capitol District where the Elite .01% live in unimaginable opulent luxury, dominating over their pandering, servile subjects, is where the people are all mostly gutless cowards - not unlike the United States of today. They give their children away for the State to play their deadly games, practice summary executions, torture and murder them at will without so much as a whimper from anyone of repute. Look no further than the number of children shot down and imprisoned - look no further than your neighbor.

The children - more importantly the young people (10 to 30 years), have no idea how their parents and grandparents have looted their rightful inheritance; betrayed them to a life of abject worthless beings, lawless corruption and wanton anarchy. They, the older generation, have taken from them all the resources they need to grow to become strong, prosperous individuals; someone of legitimate value; morally, ethically, physically and spiritually. For young people the Capitol system dominated by the Point Zero Nine Percent is permanently broken. The Law is whatever some insane lying lunatic chooses to personally impose at the time. Impunity for the elite criminal is codified by establishing "the need to only look forward, never back." This same principle was established locally when District Attorney Paul Gallegos decided not to enforce the law regarding the police murder of Tommy McClain. Now the people of Eureka, no thanks to E.P.D. Chief Andrew Mills determination, can suffer the in-your-face insult and deprivation every time they have to deal with or interact with Stephen Linfoot and Brian Stephens. In particular, know that Linfoot is motivated by his psychosis and fear that ravages his every thought. Know that you to can be shot dead for whatever he thinks or believes you are. To him and his otherwise trained compatriots their fear induced nightmares are as real as night and day - the imaginary movie scenario playing out within their crazed minds.

Rather than hold these murderers to the most menial of an accounting, the local police authorities rewarded them for their crimes.  And all with complicit acquiescence from the Eureka community.

acquiescence  noun
1. the act or condition of acquiescing or giving tacit assent; agreement or consent by silence or without objection
2. Law. such neglect to take legal proceedings for such a long time as to imply the abandonment of a right. [Emphasis mine.]

While the police murder of Tommy McClain never achieved the national recognition of the negro boy in Ferguson, MO the issues are the same. The problem or issue is not about justice for black people versus white people. Nor is it really about the poor underclass or I should say, other class versus the Elite wealthy upper class. As far as I know, Tommy McClain was white, but judged and executed the same as a black person. The real issue is he had the temerity to stand up for himself and to enforce the most meaningless, menial self-defense of one's personal self as a human being in his own home - something thugs and bullies cannot tolerate and still justify their existence. That is why he was killed. He exposed them for who and what they are. They judged themselves by extrajudicially murdering him. That lawless murder directly indicts every person living and working in Eureka. Either they enforce the law and accountability, eliminate the impunity or they all become complicit in the crime.

The wanton deaths of Tommy McClain and Michael Brown and so many more children are a living indictment, not only of their killers, but of everyone that votes and supports the lawlessness they call a "nation of laws," the same system that sanctifies and justifies the sanctioned anarchy and murder.

Welcome to the Hunger Games, Eureka Version 2.0 - they are not about the future, they are about NOW.

--Joe

PS. Don't make the mistake of answering or going to the door with a Black and Decker 3.6 Volt Lithium Ion Screwdriver in your hand, if it's a Eureka Police Officer, he or she will shoot you down like a rabid dog in a heartbeat. If you should be outside working, be doubly cautious because an antagonistic neighbor could call and report you flashing a gun around in public and that's a death sentence. 

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[UPDATE - Sunday, November 30, 2014]
If you have any doubts about my meaning Eureka, read this article. Considering I've only found one or two other local blogs and one letter to the North Coast Journal about the murder of Tommy McClain, essentially nothing, says more than any street demonstration could ever hope to say. This excerpt really speaks to Eureka's delegitimization as a law abiding community of any substantive worth. No universal outrage, no moral indignation and absolutely nothing about enforcing the law.

Welcome to the Sixteenth Century

"As bad as this is, the worst part is that there are millions of people who aren’t elites, who aren’t rich enough to financially survive a lost job or a divorce or a sick kid, but who think this is just fine. Those people vote for the system not just in elections, but by their hatred for their neighbors. Who could have predicted so many citizens would enjoy watching their neighbors thrown out of their houses rather than figure out some way to help? Who would have thought so many citizens would be thrilled to see families broken up and deported? Who would have thought so many citizens would be happy to drink oil instead of water for any reason? Who would have thought that so many citizens would prefer not just to let corporations pay so little to their neighbors, but also to support cutting off all government benefits to those workers? Who would have thought so many citizens would be happy to have some government agent collecting their phones and email and internet search histories?"

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It seems to me that this nation is infected by a nameless, faceless dread, a fear of something awful just beyond our ability to grasp. The media, right-wing politicians and demagogues, acting on behalf of their filthy rich patrons, actively exploit that fear to get what they want: a divided nation at war with itself.

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But really, a few immigrants are the problem?

It’s a mirror image of the US. The “Other” is the problem. It isn’t the unjust distribution of wealth, it isn’t the exploitation of the worker by the filthy rich, it isn’t unequal schools, it isn’t poverty or any other structural condition. It’s witches. It’s demons. It’s unholiness. It’s impurity. It’s smoke.

It isn’t fixable. The most you can hope for is bottling up that rage and fear in fewer and fewer people. Instead the media stokes those fires. Self-ordained ministers tell people that it’s sin that cause fires and floods and earthquakes and eclipses. Rage freaks like O’Reilly and Limbaugh and the incomparably stupid Hannity tell their listeners that the end times are coming. Politicians like Lindsey Graham shriek that terrorists are coming to kill them while they sleep. These pre-moderns are now in control of both the House and Senate, and the Supreme Court.

I’m thinking about being a bit fearful myself. [Emphasis mine.]

 When he gets done being fearful and he will, he will start acting in harmony with what he knows to be true, what he just wrote. He will stop cooperating with the fear, the fear mongers and deal with the threat, whether it be a hateful neighbor or thug cops.