Oakland Police Dept: A Criminal Cesspool of Thugs

UPDATED 10/22/2009:
The family of Mr. Gary King, Jr., who was murdered in cold blood by Oakland Police thug Pat Gonzales back in 2007 (see below) settled a federal lawsuit against the city for $1.5 million last month. Also, Charles Davis, Jr., who was shot in the back and left paraplegic by Oakland Police thug Hector Chavez that same year, settled his federal lawsuit against the city for $1.2 million two weeks ago.

UPDATED 6/3/2009:
As the posthumous slandering of Lovelle Mixon continues in Euro-American media, we have now found the inevitable truth about two more of these dead cops Mixon killed. The late Oakland cop John Hege was listed in a 1995 Citizens Police Review Board complaint that involved breaking down a door less than 10 blocks from where Mixon was killed, and assaulting a resident who was kneeling on the ground, leaving him with a detached retina, broken ribs, a concussion, and missing teeth. Thug Ervin Romans is among those named in a pending lawsuit (docket #C 00-004197 MJJ) for assault, battery, civil rights violations, and conspiracy.

UPDATED 3/30/2009 12:00am PST

On July 3, 2007, 15-year-old, UNARMED Lorante Studesville, was shot in the back by Oakland cop Alan Leal. Mr. Studesville survived the attack, while Leal was recently named in a federal lawsuit, alleging he falsified information to obtain illegal search warrants. Should anyone be surprised? Watch the video by Lorante's father, Reverend Sanders, who documented his son's recovery in the hospital.

UPDATED 3/27/2009 12:08pm PST
Thanks to citizen journalism and message boards, more dirt about the four dead cops and the one who survived is coming to light. Pat Gonzales, the cop who survived the shooting, shot and killed 20-year-old Gary W. King (who, of course, is "black") back in September 2007. Mr. King was shot twice in the back. Oakland Police maintain King was reaching for a gun, however several witnesses said otherwise; that King was unarmed. Sadly, Gonzales will likely survive the karma that almost came his way.

Protester marched for Gary King Jr., 20, who was murdered by Oakland police thug Pat Gonzales in 2007.

UPDATED 3/25/2009 7:39 pm PST

According to the San Francisco Bay View newspaper, one of the four cops Lovelle Mixon killed, Mark Dunakin, frequently harassed residents of North Oakland for no apparent reason. Here is a screenshot:

by Brian A. Wilkins

3/25/2009

Euro-American media, especially the Gannett newspaper San Francisco Chronicle (and the New York Times), have been seeking answers as to why Lovelle Mixon, the Oakland resident who shot and killed four cops Saturday, would do such a terrible thing. Euro-American media coverage has mostly centered around Mixon being a "parolee," him serving six years in prison, and now apparently being linked to a rape case in searching for a motive. They continue, writing that Mixon was a special education student who dropped out of school in 10th grade. Euro-American media have somehow gotten amnesia when it comes to the gross corruption and blatantly malicious treatment of Oakland residents by Oakland Police, which obviously was a contributing factor in Mixon killing the four cops.

The "Oakland Riders" - a group of police rogues who terrorized Oakland residents for at least three years earlier this decade - and the subsequent criminal probe, was covered extensively by that aforementioned SF Chronicle, but forgotten about now. Four Oakland Police thugs - Matthew Hornung, Clarence "Chuck" Mabanag, and Jude Siapno - all went on trial, on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment, conspiracy, and filing false police reports, in connection with their terrorizing of Oakland residents. All of them allegedly said they carried out their malicious acts with the blessing of former Oakland Police chief Richard Word.

Former Oakland Police thugs Jude Siapno (L)
and Matthew Hornung (R)

The ringleader of the Riders police gang, Francisco "Choker" Vasquez, has been a fugitive since charges were filed against the gangsters in 2000. He's believed to be in his native Mexico.

Source: FBI.gov

Of course, all of them were either acquitted of all charges or escaped conviction with hung juries, as all criminal police do. The most disturbing part of this story is the fact the thugs actually tried to get their jobs back with the Oakland Police Department once they were acquitted.

The City of Oakland ultimately paid a $10.5 million settlement to 119 victims who filed a federal class-action lawsuit, saying the police rogues maliciously prosecuted, kidnapped, assaulted and/or jailed them. The city paid another $195,000 in a separate lawsuit filed by another victim of the gangsters, and there are others either still pending or settled confidentially.

In January of this year, 11 more Oakland cops, including Officer Karla Rush, were fired for falsifying sworn affidavits they would give to judges in hopes of securing search warrants targeting residents of East Oakland, the same area Lovelle Mixon killed the four cops. Many of the false affidavits said the police thugs bought or found drugs from suspects, but the substances were never tested to prove they were illegal narcotics, which is police policy. The 11 cops also lied to internal affairs investigators, in trying to cover their malicious acts. Since the investigation began, at least 12 Oakland citizens previously charged and jailed for crimes by the thugs have gotten all charges dropped and several more cases are still in question. Mr. Reginald Oliver, one of the Oakland residents who were cleared of all charges, has also filed a federal civil class-action lawsuit after his home was searched based on a false affidavit.

Former Oakland Police Chief Wayne Tucker called all the involved officers' conduct "inexcusable." Tucker was in charge of the department when all the crimes took place. He had many other problems as well before being forced to resign from the department. His final day on the job was February 28.

Former Oakland Police Chief Wayne Tucker Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey

Tucker is largely the person held responsible for the August 2, 2007 murder of journalist Chauncey Bailey - the former Oakland Post editor and Oakland Tribune reporter - at the hands of the Your Black Muslim Bakery. After a 16 month investigation by the Chauncey Bailey Project, a website devoted to reporting on Oakland Police corruption, Tucker ultimately admitted he made mistakes that may have cost Bailey his life. He also initially lied to the public about his handling of the case. The Oakland Police Department planned a raid on the Black Muslim Bakery on August 1, 2007, but delayed it 48 hours so Tucker could accommodate the vacation schedules of two SWAT team commanders who wanted to take part.

Mr. Bailey was working on a story about the Black Muslim Bakery. From the 1960s through the 1990s, the latter was a 150 store chain that specialized in [paraphrasing] "food suitable for not only Muslims, but Afrakan Americans as a whole." It slowly turned into a mob-style crime organization, complete with rape trials, several murders, and the backing of some local political heavyweights. Some within the Black Muslim Bakery were not fans of Bailey because of stories he had written about the company.

The murders and corruption were well known about the company, but Chief Tucker felt it would be fine to delay a necessary raid on an organization that clearly was no longer the community-oriented business it previous had been in the 1960s. It turned out that Yusef Bay IV, the final CEO of the bakery before it went bankrupt in 2006, coerced his subordinate employee into confessing to the killing of Bailey. Oakland cop Derwyn Longmire, who was the lead detective in the bakery case, has also been indicated as a possible accomplice, and friend of Yusef Bay IV, who is believed by some to be the actual murderer.

Many of chief Tucker's appointees to command positions in the department have problems as well. His assistant chief, Howard Jordan, who is the current interim chief of the department, was in charge of the investigations unit during the botched Bailey case. Deputy Chief Jeff Loman was named in a November 2008 sexual harassment complaint by a female officer in the department. Another female officer, Janeith Glenn Davis, won a $550,000 settlement in a March 5, 2007 federal lawsuit, saying she was passed over for a promotion to captain because she was a mother and pregnant at the time. And Captain Edward I. Poulson is currently being investigated by the FBI for the beating of an Oakland citizen, who later died.

Remember, all the foregoing happened in the last 8 years. It would be overkill to continue listing more criminal behavior by this municipal department that is somehow still called "police." Lovelle Mixon is certainly no angel and the city of Oakland definitely isn't Mayberry. And the band of thugs that call themselves "Oakland Police" are no better than janjaweeds of Sudan killing people in Darfur. Oakland Police have zero credibility because they continually scapegoat the pawns (low level officers) and let the commanders slide (until another civil suit arises). The pervading indifference in Oakland towards the four dead cops is because of the thousands of Oakland citizens who were maliciously and unjustly manipulated, assaulted, incarcerated or murdered by Oakland police thugs over the years.

The Oakland Police Department needs to be demolished and started from scratch. There is no reason any U.S. city, with the resources Oakland has for law enforcement, should have crime levels like the East Bay city does. But like police department, like its citizens. Police, at least when I was a kid, were held to a higher standard; expected to be leaders, protectors, and community servants...like local soldiers. The Oakland PD is a gang. And people get killed in gang violence all the time. Whether Lovelle Mixon "retaliated" against the Oakland PD or not isn't the issue. Violence breeds violence; and Oakland has an endless cycle of it from its cops and some of its citizens.

Though Mr. Oscar Grant was not murdered by Oakland Police, he WAS murdered IN the Oakland area by some sort of cop. The Euro-American media can continue its demonization of Lovelle Mixon while fluffing the criminal behavior of the Oakland Police. This is the USA and we all expect that from Euro-American media. We also expect more civil suits, FBI investigations, and indictments against the Oakland Police. Lovelle Mixon and the four cops are dead. If not another murder happens in Oakland for the rest of the year, their lives weren't taken in vain. But that would require major overhauls in the Oakland PD, which will never happen.

The recent violence in New Orleans is due to a natural disaster that our government didn't feel like fixing. The recent violence in Oakland is a man-made disaster that our government doesn't feel like fixing. At least they are consistent.