Last Sunday Kevin Gosztola wrote about the police shootings in Anaheim, CA and pointed to the reports from local network news reporters that the Anaheim police were trying to buy up cell phone videos residents might have of events. Now a video has surfaced which shows us why the Anaheim PD is so afraid of witness videos.
The video here, shot last Saturday, shows the immediate aftermath of the shooting of Manuel Diaz. As the OC Weekly describes it:
The most harrowing part of the video, however, is the fact that Diaz was alive–and police stood there for over three minutes and did nothing. Instead, they seem more concerned with pushing witnesses away from the scene, the better to diminish the video quality of the footage, when they weren’t actively trying to block the source from recording Diaz is visibly twitching at the very beginning of the video. It’s not until about 3:13 into the video that police finally turn over Diaz, whose head is bloodied beyond belief.
As noted by the OC Weekly, you can hear witnesses yelling to the police that “He’s Still Alive” and asking them to do something to help Diaz.
Since last weekend, protesters have been out every day demanding an end to police shootings and brutality but the situation is not at all new:
This Anaheim neighborhood has been organizing for years in an effort to stop the police from murdering their family members and to get police-controlled information on how their loved ones were killed by the police.
They tried weekly marches in front of the Anaheim Police Station, which were first organized by Theresa Smith after her son was killed by the police in 2009. The killing continues.
Take a look for example at this video from the 2012 Mother’s Day rally at which women who have lost family members to police shootings speak out.
Protests and efforts to stop these police crimes continued until finally:
in June 2012, the people were able to get the City Council to support an independent review of “major police incidents.” Yet, there is no timetable for the review, and the only outcome will be that the findings will be shared at a “public workshop” with the City Council. A month following that announcement, the Anaheim police murdered Manuel Diaz. The killing continues.