**Update**
Today we spoke with lawyer John Burris about this latest shooting on Hard Knock Radio. He gives us some keen insight-Peep the interview here: http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/65266
We also found out that Derricks family has deep ties into oakland and have long stood up to the police for egregious behavior. A few years ago their activism led to two officers being fired. Was this one of the reasons derrick ran and was ultimately shot? Check Yahho group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Justice4DerricJones
***There will be a March today Thurs 11 2010 starting at 3pm ****
March begins on Bancroft and Seminary near Derrick Jones’ Barbershop and will end at the Fruitvale BART station.
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/11/10/18663891.php
So after a thousand police in full riot gear mass arrest 150 people in a Oakland neighborhood because someone ‘threw a rock’ prompting them to declared the entire block a crime scene, the police went and shot an unarmed man… Read the accounts below.. Also for up to date info on Oscar Grant as well as this case check out IndyBay.org
Another Unarmed Black Brother, Derrick Jones, 37, a loved Oakland barbershop owner and father of an infant girl,
met a violent death on Monday night, Nov.8, 2010, shot and killed by OPD (2 white officers involved), while “fleeing”, after they “thought” they saw a metallic object in his hand.
R.I.P. BROTHER DERRICK JONES. AGAIN.by mesha Monge-Irizarry, Idriss Stelley FoundationNov 9th 2010
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/11/09/18663755.php
Popular barbershop ownerand father 36 year old Derrick Jones was gunned down by Oakland police who thought he had a weapon..
Another Unarmed Black Brother, Derrick Jones, 37, a loved Oakland barbershop owner and father of an infant girl, met a violent death on Monday night, Nov.8, 2010, shot and killed by OPD (2 white officers involved), while “fleeing”, after they “thought” they saw a metallic object in his hand.
This OPD homicide occured only THREE days after Judge Perry sentenced the killer of Oscar Grant III, Johannes Mehserle, to 2 yrs in jail (less double credit for 146 days of time served = 292 days for “good behavior”), for “Unvoluntary Manslaughter”.
This is the third OPD officers involved Homicide of People of Color in 2010.
Derrick Jones’ grieving family has retained the services of John Burris, Oscar Grant’s Family attorney.
“THIS INCIDENT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE CASE OF OSCAR GRANT” (?!?)
Today Tuesday, I caught the end of a Channel 7 talk show,
during which an complacent African American conservative anchor contends:
“By the way, it is my belief that Oscar Grant shooting was ACCIDENTAL”, and interviews a former OPD white officer and current prosecutor who exhorts the public not to jump to racially biased policing conclusion:
“This incident has nothing to do with the case of Oscar Grant. Grant’s killing was unvoluntary, while yesterday shooting was voluntary. You must understand that officers have to make split-second decisions when they have a reasonable belief that a suspect is armed and dangerous, and constitutes a life and death threat against themselves or others. Please you have to understand that it is the scariest scenario in an officer’s life”.
THE DAY AFTER THE SHOOTING, OPD’s OFFICIAL VERSION OF THE KILLING KEEPS CHANGING.
The Corporate press trickles cautious tidbits of information throughout the day.
At first, the race of the dead Brother and of the shooting officers is hidden from the public.
OPD spokesperson reluctantly admits that Jones was UNARMED, and that a “confrontation” occurred.
…Note the constrained terminology ?
Police initial communiques usually emphasize:
“Suspect lunged at the officers who feared for their lives”
or “Suspect pulled out a gun, knife” etc.,
or “Suspect turned around and repeatedly screamed C’mon-M…-F…rs -Go-Ahead- ‘n-Kill-me”
or “Suspect made a sudden furtive move”.
Apparently there has been no physical confrontation in Jones’ case.
Throughout Tuesday, the official party line keeps changing, from “confrontation”,
to “appeared to reach for his waist band”…
to “officer thought they saw a metallic object in the suspect’s hand”.
THE HITLIST ON OAKTOWN’ CONTEMPORARY PLANTATION CONTINUES TO RAGE ON.
Remember young Brother Laronte Sturdville, 15, shot by OPD in 2007 while fleeing and attempting to pull up his sagging pants?
Luckily, the child survived after 2 weeks in intensive care, scarred for life, shot in the back of his neck while running, the bullet came out of his chin.
Or, Brother Mac Jodie Fox Woodfox, shot in the back and killed in 2008 while “fleeing” ?
all by OPD, and the hitlist on Oakland’ contemporary Plantation, the land of the-Proud-and-the-Free-OPD is endless amd continues to rage on.
(in one year, 2 months and 2 weeks, killer-cop Meherle is “eligible for release”….).
“HE IS PORTRAYED AS A MONSTER, AND HE WASN’T, THIS IS ALL SO SENSELESS”.
FAMILY SAYS MAN SHOT BY OAKLAND POLICE WAS UNARMED
“Derrick Jones was unarmed and was not reaching toward his waistband when police opened fire”
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CA_OAKLAND_POLICE_SHOOTING_CAOL-?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
(exerpts)
“Family says man shot by Oakland police was unarmed,
Loved owner of a barber shop and killed by officers during a foot chase disputed police’s account Tuesday that he appeared to be reaching toward his waistband for a weapon”…
“Family and friends of Derrick Jones, 37, called Monday’s shooting unjustified and said witnesses did not see the Oakland man make such a move. They also said Jones was unarmed and that police used excessive force”.
“My cousin is not the type of person to harm anybody,” said Charles Jones…”It’s outrageous for somebody to just kill him like that.”
Police have declined to say how many times Derrick Jones was shot or whether a weapon was found on him, citing the ongoing investigation”…
“When officers arrived, Derrick Jones fled on foot, apparently to escape arrest for assaulting the woman Israel said”…
“But family and friends said Tuesday that Derrick Jones is being wrongly depicted as a ‘monster’ and was only trying to fend off an ex-girlfriend who came to his barbershop causing trouble”…
“the two officers repeatedly told Derrick Jones to stop and tried unsuccessfully to use a stun gun on him. He said the officers also saw Derrick Jones refuse to put up his hands, and he reached toward his waistband several times”….
“one of the officers saw a metal object in Jones’ hand, Israel said”….
“An attorney representing Jones’ family, John Burris, said Tuesday that witnesses he has spoken to said Derrick Jones was unarmed and was not reaching toward his waistband when police opened fire”
“Any time a human life is lost, the surviving family suffers the grief of that loss, so I offer my sympathies to the family of the man who lost his life last night,” Oakland Mayor Dellums said.
“Family and friends said Jones is the father of an infant girl, has been a barber for more than 20 years and has owned his barbershop for the past eight years”…
“Scott Riley, 40, another childhood friend, said Jones served about a year behind bars for carrying a gun to protect himself after he was robbed at his barbershop”…
“He’s being portrayed as a monster, and he wasn’t,” Riley said outside police headquarters. “This is all so senseless.”
WHAT PART OF KILLED_UNARMED_BLACK_MAN = MURDER
DOESN’T OPD UNDERSTAND ?
TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE, ENOUGH !!!!
Is the Mesherle verdict ensuring OPD’s license to Kill in all impunity ?
No correlation between the Murders of Derrick Jones and Oscar Grant III ?
Apparently, Civil Rights Attorney John Burris does not think so.
Neither do we….
or the 152 Oakland protesters arrested on November 5th after the public release of the Meherle’ sentence.
Mayor Ron Dellum, today, slapped together hasty damage control “condolences” to Brother Derrick Jones’ Grieving Family.
TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE, ENOUGH !!!!
PS.. while folks are reading this lets not forget this monster Johannes Mehserle who’s father is running around predicting he’ll be home by Thanksgiving
…injustice just does not fucking stop…
What the hell! This is barbaric. They just won’t stop hunting season. (SMH)
R.I.P. Derrick Jones
Sooo it appears I didn’t have to wait long for the same old shit to happen again. I wrote not 4days ago that this shit would be happening again real soon.Goddam I wish I had been wrong. Now I’m waiting to see all the BIBLE THUMBING,praying,scared NIGLETS to start talking the usual jesus shit about being peaceful and all the tired bullshit we hear from people with no clue of what to do aboout their destruction.
The fix started the next morning with the lead in statement about “NOT HAVING FOUND THE VICTIMS WEAPON AND HIS PASSED POLICE RECORD”. Yesterday we were told”NONE OF THE OFFICERS WERE WHITE.” Ladies and Gentlemen, do ya get the feeling of being fucked without grease again?
I know Oakland at times can be a dangerous city. I am a commuter who has lived here for three years during the week and am fortunate enough to have a home in the foothills. The police are hired to serve and protect all citizens, even the ones some people may not like too well. The reality for African Americans in this city is that the police use the excuse that they “felt their life was in danger” as an excuse to shoot first and make the story fit later (“saw a shiney object”). If they are so afraid they should be working some place else and not on the police force. This shooting of an unarmed man was an unlawful killing by poorly trained police and on a larger scale (is there a larger scale than killing someone?) a civil rights issue of racism. If you must catagorize my by color than I am white.
The reality is that this racism won’t stop until the community demands accountabilty from city officals beginning with Dellems. A federal civil rights lawsuit and complaint must be filed right away to get the fed (yeah, the FBI) involved right away. What about this new police chief, Batts, is he going to hid behind the thin blue line or is he going to take responsiblity for his officers actions and call them out for this senseless killing. We all need to stop taking the attitude that life is cheap in Oakland. Life is precious not cheap.
um, pretty bad timing for OPD. they could have at least waited a week.
Police who are constantly afraid need to find a new line of work.
Fight The Power!!!!
Like the blog content. Have a good knowledge more, Thank you.
It kills me to hear this.. I’ve known DD (derrick jones) for the majority of my life. He was one of my first Barbers and a very good friend of my father. This sucks. He was a good dude. he was cool as hell and hella funny. Ima miss him RIP..
sorry to hear that, why he killed?
One solution: REVOLUTION! Execute the executioners!
could the shiny metallic object on his waist be his belt buckle?
Does anyone know if activities will still be going on around 5:30 at Fruitvale? I can’t make it until then because of work but if the protest will still be active then I definitely want to attend when I get out.
The same thing has happened in Dallas over the last two week. Two unarmed men of color have been killed by Policeman of DPD. One was shot by 5 police 25 times. Must be a mandate to get them fools in line passed across the country,
“The reality is that this racism won’t stop until the community demands accountabilty from city officals beginning with Dellems.”
Or hey, maybe the reality is the racism will end when all you people stop acting like racial stereotypes and the community demands accountability from the people that CREATED the situation in the first place.
Johannes Mehserle was a dick. I’m not going to defend him just because he has the same skin color as me. Once, just once, I would like to hear something like that from an Oscar Grant / Lovelle Mixon zombie.
So the cops were called into this situation because Derrick Jones was beating on a female, right? Does anyone want to argue that point?
And then Derrick Jones resisted arrest, right? Does anyone want to argue that point?
It looks like Derrick Jones was a pretty decent guy. He was a father and a small business owner, I can respect that and I want to like him.
But get into a physical confrontation with a female and then run once the cops come?
C’mon man. You live in Oakland and you’re 37 years old.
What the fuck did you expect to happen?
What did we expect to happen? for derrick Jones a father and business owner who was unarmed to be treated like the man who drove across the bridge yesterday morning held his daughter hostage and told everyone he had a bomb in his car and was ready to blow everything up.. When traffic came to a stand stiill for hours, bomb squad, Homeland security and everyone else came to fight the war on terror, this man who had his own domestic problems was not shot.. even after he scared everyone to death with a weapon that in theory could’ve been catastrophic..
Un armed Derrick Jones was shot 6-8 times after he went for his waistband according to police… the bridge bomber was kept alive even after he refused to leave his vehicle after making terrorist threats..
Wow…shooting an unarmed man. Almost like Oscar. One in the back.
“But family and friends said Tuesday that Derrick Jones is being wrongly depicted as a ‘monster’ and was only trying to fend off an ex-girlfriend who came to his barbershop causing trouble”…
Is that your story?
OK .Then. Why don’t you stand behind it and then go protest outside the home of said ex-girlfriend who came to his barbershop causing trouble?
What the fuck does the fruitvale BART have to do with this fact pattern?
Why not have some, at least a fraction, of accountability for the people that actually CREATED this situation that you have for the janitors that have to come in and clean up your people’s messes
What the fuck happened to personal accountability?
do you think the same thing would have happened if he would have cooperated? I had just finished beating up a female, therefore it had shown that he was violent.. second, he ran and maybe he was just holding his pants up, but again he did not listen when he was told to stop.. what would you have done? let him go.. and than get crap because you as a cop did nothing.. or jus let him continue reaching for his waist band and pray you are not the one dead.. Most young residents of Oakland do not respect authority. Come on people.. how many deaths have there been in Oakland this year? where is the people protesting the violence to other humans.. there are only protests when cops defend their lives.. YES there are many cops that abuse their power and I have beedn beaten up by afew, but in this case like in the Grant one.. Things would not gotten this far if people cooperated.. Come on people lets take responsability.
Peace in the da O, save your bullshit for your fellow officers,its plan that you are one of them.
Hawk as in chicken hawk,your weak attempts at tryna play like you understand racism fall on deaf ears. Its interesting that the only time you had anything postive to say was the comment about Derrick being a business man.This speaks volumes to your racistness and total lack of compassion or understanding whats happening in the Afrikan community.Save your talking out of the side of your neck racist bullshit for your aryan nation bros.punk. As to you combining Oscar/Maxon,we see just how deeply ingrained your racist nature is.Your just another captiolist tool/fool move on ya BUSTER!
“Its interesting that the only time you had anything postive to say was the comment about Derrick being a business man.”
Is that what I said? Let’s go reread that –
“It looks like Derrick Jones was a pretty decent guy. He was a father and a small business owner, I can respect that and I want to like him.”
Father and a business owner. Yeah. I can respect that and knowing you people someone in the group would find a way to take offense at that.
If it turns out he was beating on a female that respect goes down the toilet, but since those allegations are in dispute right now I’m willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt.
“As to you combining Oscar/Maxon,we see just how deeply ingrained your racist nature is.”
Um, actually it’s YOU people that are combining the Grant / Mixon issue. Look, you people are even putting them together on the same shirt.
http://sfist.com/2010/11/06/protesters_arrested_in_oakland_afte.php?gallery0Pic=13#gallery
What the fuck?
Imagine it was your 12 year old daughter that Lovelle Mixon raped and then you saw his face on a shirt with the bullshit slogan “No justice, no peace”
I saw that Davey even wrote a lengthy article sympathetic to Lovelle Mixon without a single mention of the girls he raped. Now you’re putting him on t-shirts and holding him up as your martyr.
What the fuck is wrong with you people?
Two things hawk.. refer to folks as ‘you people’ again and your ghost and i never wrote an article sympathetic to Mixon.. Like it or not many projected their feelings on those cops bc of what’s been going on.. If we really wanna keep it real.. explain the 3000 people who cheered when it was announced at SXSW.. who was ‘you people’ then? There’s a video of the first announcement with dead prez and there’s another one at Austin Music Hall where the 3000 cheered and yelled fuck the police.. Thats something u and the folks on the force will have to deal with..
Isn’t a police officer suppose to be in “eminent danger” before firing their gun? How can an officer ever be in fear of his life from a person with their back turned, running away? I only learned of this story from Facebook. I bet that if a police officer of any color shot a white man in the back, it would be on all the news stations. But don’t hold your breath, cuz it doesn’t happen.
And Hawk, you fail to acknowledge the fundamental difference between how minorities are treated by police as opposed to whites. You can examine case after case through your non-peripheral lens all day, but if you choose to put that lens down and take a step back, you can see the bigger picture ~ racism. When a black man can EXPECT to get shot in the back for running, that is a 400 year old problem in America, dude.
“How can an officer ever be in fear of his life from a person with their back turned, running away?”
Answer : Lovelle Mixon
I’ve heard folks around here blast the Tea Party for not distancing themselves from the racists that are attracted to their crowds.
OK. If we want to apply those same standards applied across the board I would like to see the Oscar grant crowd distance and denounce themselves from the hero worship of child rapist Lovelle Mixon. As long as anyone is wearing a shirt with his image in your march your entire message now becomes suspect.
And you’re right Davey. The pro-Lovelle Mixon article that was posted on your site was written by Krea Gomez. That was my mistake. I apologize.