PASCO, Wash. (AP) — The rallying cry in Ferguson, Missouri, was “Hands up, don’t shoot!” In New York, it was “I can’t breathe!” In Pasco these days, the protest signs say things like “It was just a rock!!!”
In a case with unmistakable echoes of Ferguson and New York, demonstrators have gathered every day during the past week in front of City Hall to demand answers in the deadly police shooting of Antonio Zambrano-Montes, a 35-year-old Mexican immigrant and former orchard worker who authorities say was throwing rocks at officers.
The Feb. 10 killing — captured on cellphone video by an onlooker — was the fourth by law enforcement officers in Pasco in less than a year. It has sparked calls for a federal investigation and roiled this fast-growing agricultural city of 68,000, where more than half the residents are Hispanic but few are members of the police force or the power structure.
Protesters and police officials alike say they want to avoid the violence and acrimony that happened in Ferguson last year when officers shot and killed an unarmed black 18-year-old.
“We will continue to be calm, until they give us a reason not to,” said protester Hector Alamillo, 62, of Pasco. “We are not a Ferguson. We will not burn things down.”
But Alamillo said Hispanics are “very distrustful right now” and are wondering why officers did not use non-lethal force to subdue Zambrano-Montes.
In the cellphone video, Zambrano-Montes is seen running across a busy street, pursued by three officers. As he stops and turns around, gunshots ring out and he falls dead.
While the shooting is under investigation by a regional task force — and being watched by the FBI — police have said that Zambrano-Montes had hit two officers with rocks and had refused to put down other stones. They also said a stun gun failed to subdue him.
The case has cast a spotlight on the ethnic makeup of working-class Pasco, an apple-, grape- and potato-growing center about 220 miles from Seattle that has more than doubled in size since 2000.
The city is more than 55 percent Hispanic; many members of the community flocked here from Mexico to work in the fields and at food-processing plants. Starting in the 1960s and ’70s, many of those migrant workers settled down here. Pasco’s modest downtown is now lined with Mexican restaurants, bakeries and clothing stores, and city business is conducted in English and Spanish.
The police force of 71 uniformed officers has just 15 Hispanics, and only one person on the seven-member City Council is Hispanic.
Once a hotbed of gang- and drug-related violence, the city has seen crime plummet in the past 20 years, in large part because the Hispanic community worked with police to drive out the bad guys, said police Capt. Ken Roske. But there are worries that future cooperation will be jeopardized if the investigation clears the officers.
“We are asking for more training for our officers,” said protester Lorian Reavely, 39, of Pasco, who stood in front of a sign reading “Stop Police Brutality. It was just a rock!!!”
Police said officers felt threatened by Zambrano-Montes. He had been arrested by Pasco police early last year for assault after throwing objects at officers and trying to grab an officer’s pistol, court records show.
Police have said Zambrano-Montes was not armed with either a gun or a knife. Whether he had a rock in his hand when he was shot is still under investigation, said Kennewick police Sgt. Ken Lattin, spokesman for the regional investigative unit. All three officers — two whites and one Hispanic — opened fire; the number of shots has not been disclosed.
Zambrano-Montes had recently spent time in a homeless shelter after his home burned. But investigators have been unable to interview anyone who saw him in the two weeks leading up to his death, Lattin said. Officers want to know if he had mental problems.
“His actions were not normal,” Lattin said at a news conference. “None of you would stand out there at 10th and Lewis Street and throw rocks at cars. And when the police show up, throw rocks at them and then run.”
Investigators’ findings will be turned over to prosecutors, who will decide whether to bring charges. The county coroner has also ordered a public inquest in hopes of calming “some of the fears and outrage of the community.”
In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, Felix Vargas, chairman of Consejo Latino, a local Hispanic group, said the investigation by the regional unit will have “no credibility whatsoever.” He noted that the unit exonerated officers in three other recent fatal shootings in Pasco.
“The eyes of the world are on Pasco,” Vargas said. “We fully expect charges to be brought.”
Last month, a Pasco officer was cleared in the deadly shooting of a suspected car thief who pulled a pellet gun. In December, an investigation concluded that a sheriff’s deputy was justified in killing an intoxicated man who fired more than 60 rounds at officers. In November, a prosecutor cleared two Pasco officers who shot and killed a knife-wielding man.
Zambrano-Montes’ widow and two daughters have filed a $25 million claim with the city in the first step toward a lawsuit. And a makeshift memorial to Zambrano-Montes has taken shape outside Vinny’s Bakery, a Mexican business near the spot where he was gunned down.
“The gentleman was being disruptive, but he was not violent enough to warrant guns,” said Ben Patrick, who said he witnessed the shooting. “It was wrong.”
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Here’s a link to the video:
I have to say that this is not a clear-cut situation. The angle and quality of the video make it difficult to see exactly how the victim’s movements could be perceived by officers. But what I notice is that in the very moment before they shoot him, he lowers both hands to one side of his hip, which is a motion consistent with what one might see if someone was attempting to draw a gun. Then, he projects both hands forward in a movement which could be confused again with someone raising and aiming a gun. It is in that exact moment as he raises his hands forward in that motion where the officers start firing.
I’m not taking sides. We don’t know exactly what preceded all of this that would justify officers already having their guns drawn. We don’t know what was said by the suspect and officers prior. It may very well be that the officers mishandled the situation. But it may also very well be that in the moment of the shooting, the officers responded appropriately given the prior interactions of the suspect and the manner in which he turned to face them in the split second before they fired.
I’d have to agree. This guy was throwing large rocks (not pebbles) at cars in busy intersection for starters, then throwing rocks at the cops, then takes off. Plus on the video he clearly is making a move toward his waist, yes.
From there, it’s impossible to judge if there were excessive shots since every video I have seen stops before the shooting. So that still needs to be evaluated for sure, and if these guys kept shooting when there was no danger, that’s a TOTALLY different issue. But when a guy is running from you, then stops and reaches for his midsection, that’s usually a sign he’s going for a gun. And you don’t wait until he pulls it out.
The real question is how many white guys/youths/kids are shot by police under similar circumstances, meaning this guy who may have been armed with a large rock, the 12 year old black kid in Cleveland who played with or brandished the toy or pellet gun, the guy who argued with police and may have resisted arrest on Staten Island, and on, and on?
The value of life should be the same regardless of color of skin.
It would have been better had they learned from the experience with Michael Brown that certain elements in the media will use any and all means to excuse away the act. There’s ample enough room for those who have no expectation of proportional response by a trained, armed professional law enforcement officer to justify these police shootings in their minds. Don’t give them more fodder to justify the view that he deserved it.
I can hear Hannity now: “What’s next? It was just an axe handle? It was just a knife? It was just a 9mm? He just shot him in the leg?” If they’re even paying attention, they’re gonna ride this one hard.
The cops aren’t saying that he had a gun or went for a gun so why is anyone speculating that based on a blurry video? The cops aren’t even going for that lie.
3 frickin cops and not one of them could tell the difference of a rock, which is the weapon the guy had and a gun that he didn’t have. And its always shoot to kill and worry about the impropriety possibly never because dead men don’t talk.
The typical defenders are already defending the cops because it hasn’t hit home for them. A dead family member changes everything.