La Mesa Body Cam Video Released

Police-word body camera footage from last Wednesday's arrest of Amaurie Johnson in La Mesa was released by officials yesterday. A different video of the arrest taken by a bystander went viral on social media last week. The incident was part of what led the weekend’s protest against police brutality to be centered in La Mesa. Johnson is black and the officer who arrested him is white. The body camera footage from the main officer involved starts without audio, and doesn’t turn on until the officer walks up to Johnson. But what it shows is not much different from the bystander video that went viral. The two argue and then Johnson stands up and the officer grabs him by the shirt and arm then pushes him back down to the bench. More officers come and eventually Johnson is arrested. Johnson was later told on the video that he was being arrested on suspicion of assaulting an officer. Police Chief Walt Vasquez said a third-party will investigate the incident and declined to provide further comment. Six videos of body-worn camera footage from different vantage points was released.You can see all of it on KPBS’ YouTube channel. *** San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore on Wednesday said his department will immediately stop using carotid (kuh-ra-ded) restraints. That comes after Gore initially pushed back when the San Diego Police Department announced on Monday a ban on the use of the controversial technique. In a carotid (kuh-ra-ded) restraint, an officer compresses a person’s arteries on either side of the neck, causing a person to lose consciousness. In a written statement, Gore said the decision came after consultations with many elected officials throughout the county. *** For a sixth straight day, protesters calling for an end to police brutality demonstrated across San Diego County, from Poway to Ocean Beach. Rallies are taking place across the United States following the in-custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on Memorial Day. In Escondido, a group met at city hall to protest the death of George Floyd. The protesters kneeled as bells chimed nine times. One bell for each minute that Floyd was held on the ground by police. Latoya Emanual was in the crowd. She was inspired to come out after she watched the video of Floyd’s death that’s been viewed by millions across the globe. "I actually saw it on facebook. And I've cried since. Like I'm still waking up out of my sleep crying about it. And, it just shouldn't have happened." Escondido Police Chief Ed Varso was there at the protest and kneeled with the rest of the crowd. *** Emergency curfew orders have been extended through Monday, June 8 in La Mesa. People are being asked to stay in their homes from 7 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. La Mesa resident Antonio Gonzlez was planning a candlelight vigil for this Saturday evening on the corner of La Mesa Boulevard and Palm Avenue… But with the curfew extension, he took to Facebook to announce that he’s moving the event up to 4 p.m. So, we’re gonna make 4 p.m. happen…. People traveling to and from work and experiencing homelessness are exempt from the curfew. *** From KPBS, I’m Kinsee Morlan and you’re listening to San Diego News Matters, a podcast powered by our news reporters, producers and editors. It’s Thursday, June 4. Stay with me for more of the local news you need. 124 more people tested positive for COVID-19 and an additional 7 died. But officials said Wednesday San Diego County isn't seeing a surge as more businesses open up. KPBS Health Reporter Tarryn Mento says public health officials are tracking certain metrics to stay ahead of any possible surge. The county is monitoring hospital supplies of personal protective equipment, ICU bed capacity, community outbreaks and 10 other metrics or triggers. If these numbers cross a certain threshold that would cause the county to put some restrictive orders back in place. San Diego County Public Health Officer Dr. Wilma Wooten says signs are good now but they're looking out for changes tied to recent demonstrations or facility reopenings. (:13) "Asking people about if they have attended worship services or restaurants and if we see any patterns, then we can go back and interview individuals." She says there were no known local spikes in cases tied to last month's protests over stay-home orders. *** San Diego’s most at risk neighborhoods saw an improvement in air quality when the COVID 19 shutdowns began, but pollution levels are already climbing back up. KPBS Environment Reporter Erik Anderson says neighborhoods near the border and industrial areas face a persistent pollution-related health risk. Sandy Naranjo noticed the difference right away. 00:00:40 – 00:00:48 “Freeways open. We don’t see traffic. The Barrio Logan mom says the COVID 19 shutdown had an immediate impact on her neighborhood. Her observations are borne out by state transportation numbers. which found the stay-at-home orders cut freeway traffic in half in March and early April. 00:04:04 “We don’t see traffic. But what you do see is still goods coming through.” Goods coming through means truck traffic, typically the more polluting diesel engines. But the change is welcome for a woman who has suffered with severe asthma since she was three. 00:01:21 – 00:01:27 “I have noticed that the air has been cleaner generally speaking.” San Diego air pollution was down 31 percent during the first five weeks of the COVID 19 shutdown. A California based firm recorded significant drops in levels of ozone, carbon monoxide, fine particular matter, and nitrogen dioxide. 00:01:04 – 00:01:20 “No surprise given that we’ve been seeing that around the state.” Melissa Lunden is the chief scientist for the pollution monitoring firm Aclima. She says a rainy spring contributed to the cleaner air, but that wasn’t the only driver. 00:04:36 – 00:04:51 “I think we expected nitrogen dioxide to decrease and carbon monoxide, NOx, CO because those are pollutants that directly reflect combustion sources for the most part.” Simply stated, there were fewer cars on the road because of the pandemic. Her company drove hybrid vehicles carrying mobile monitors on every street in San Diego’s downtown and industrial waterfront since 2019. The firm also measures air pollution in San Ysidro and Escondido. 00:09:49 –00:10:06 “We drive every street in that area multiple times over different times of day and days of the week to get a sort of average concentration of the air pollution on that street, outside your house, outside your school over the time period we’re driving.” The state pays Aclima to track air quality in California’s most polluted neighborhoods. Barrio Logan, west National City, and San Ysidro are among them. Lunden says commercial traffic at the port’s 10th Avenue terminal and the international border crossings still put large amounts of black carbon into the air. 00:10:02 – 00:10:31 “those communities in particular, didn’t get that much of a break.” David Flores works with the National City based Environmental Health Coalition. The group fights to clean the air in these predominantly Hispanic communities. 00:10:10 “We know that that research is pointing to the fact that these communities have already been impacted by poor air quality, are a higher risk factor for something like a COVID pandemic.” So those neighborhoods don’t get the benefit of cleaner air linked to COVID 19 shutdowns, because their long term exposure to air pollution means they are at higher risk for complications from COVID 19 infections. Flores says that’s why local officials need to act. He sees a mixed palette of effort. 00:14:08 -- 00:14:38 “We’re really excited and glad that the air pollution control district and the Port of san Diego are starting to look for solutions. And we’re working very collaboratively to find them. But we’re not seeing as much advancement for cross-border issues. You know there’s a cross-border issue and taking it seriously would help. And so that’s a concern. Flores says cross-border commercial traffic hit record levels last year, and it hasn’t fallen off a lot during the COVID pandemic. That means pollution from big rigs continues to impact at-risk neighborhoods, like Barrio Logan. That’s where Sandy Naranjo is raising two kids. 00:03:19 – 00:03: 37 “You can see in my neighborhood it’s still ranked within the top 15 percent most polluted neighborhood in California, so that means my kids have a good chance of being diagnosed with asthma or any other disease that’s linked to pollution.” Clean air advocates want local officials to give the air pollution problem the same attention they give to COVID 19. Because, they say, years of exposure to dirty air makes pandemics like the coronavirus even more dangerous in San Diego’s urban neighborhoods. That’s KPBS environment Erik anderson. *** The black immigrant community in San Diego has been under intense stress over these last few weeks. As protests continue over the abuse of black people by police, the down economy has led the White House to propose even further restrictions on immigration. KPBS reporter Max Rivlin-Nadler hosted a virtual roundtable with three black men from immigrant communities, to hear their thoughts on a trying time. Ambi: George Floyd, say his name. We connected through Zoom. Sedrick Murhula, Refugee Advocate and Community Organizer Ahmad Mahmuod / Student Activist
 Mohammed Abdi, Program coordinator of United Women of East Africa I asked these three about what was different or not different about the video of George Floyd's death from other acts of police brutality, and why it led to such widespread protests. Sedrick Murhula / Refugee Advocate and Community Organizer 3:10 For me, it felt like a public execution. It's really dehumanizing in a way that it shows how much you're nothing. You are less, you can do nothing. Ahmad Mahmuod / Student Activist
 5:28 I think black folks in the United States are tired of being told how to go about dismantling their own oppression, and I think this is their way of letting America know enough is enough. Mohamed Abdi / United Women of East Africa 7:12 The officer's demeanor when he had that knee on the gentleman's neck. It was like he didn't care. It was so nonchalant. He had his hands in his pockets. It sent a message that this man's life doesn't even matter. We asked about the demands of protesters this week. Ahmad Mahmuod / Student Activist
 12:05 We want to see the defunding of police department. It's ridiculous that during this climate of our country, mayors like kevin faulconer are asking the City Council to increase their budget by $20+plus million dollars. It's ridiculous we're spending more money on police than anything else in our communities. Mohamed Abdi / United Women of East Africa 14:55 We have law enforcement always come into our communities and they want to build connection, they want to build bridges. But how? We asked about the duality of being both black in America and an immigrant. Sedrick Murhula / Refugee Advocate and Community Organizer 18:50 This is the issue of skin color. Before even a police officer hears my accent, or knows where I'm from, he sees my color. And once he sees my color, I'm profiled. Once he sees my color, I'm targeted. That's the problem of today's struggles of African immigrants living in this country. This is a level of paranoia and scared and hopelessness. Ahmad Mahmuod / Student Activist
 21:18 My mom said it best, when she was living in Somalia, she didn't have to worry about her brothers or her cousins leaving the house and have to think about their death or them possibly dying, even though they were living during a time when people were senselessly murdered for whatever reason. Today, every day we leave the house, we have to say we love each other, we have to say, this could be our last goodbye. We asked about how white people can support immigrant and black communities. Mohamed Abdi / United Women of East Africa 33:25 This entire time all we've been having is dialogue with no action behind it. People actually need to come and confront these biases and confront racism. Ahmad Mahmuod / Student Activist
 30:50 They should be on the front lines. They should be putting their arms up and protecting black and other POC protestors that are there. /cut/ If you can't attend a protest, that's fine, if you can't attend a protest, that's fine, but what you can do for the moment is read a book. Read an article. You can have discussions with your family members. And I asked them about the work they're doing in their community. Mohamed Abdi / United Women of East Africa 43:00 We have a place where people can come, we provide peer-to-peer support, drop-in support, where they can build community.It's one thing that black students are being expelled at much higher rates, but they're also the victims they're being gagged. They can't talk about their oppression, they can't voice the harms that are being done to them. They can't express any of that without the threat of being removed from the educational setting. That was Mohamed Abdi, program coordinator of United Women of East Africa. I also spoke with Sedrick Murhula, a refugee advocate and community organizer, and student activist Ahmad Mahmuod. To learn more about the organizations these young men work with, you can visit KPBS.org *** And now for some voices of the people out protesting. Carmela Prudencio and Andy Coronado have been out attending the marches against police brutality. They called in to explain why. Hello, my name is Carmella prudencio. And I live in North Park. I've been out protesting and fighting the Injustice recently because I recognize the privilege that I have as long as an American and being out on the front line means protecting our black friends from police violence, and we are able to offer resources and supplies down on the ground for folks that are right on the front lines. Thanks. Hi, this is Andy Coronado calling. The thing it's says the process so as far as why we're out there protesting. I think that's a matter of holding the police accountable for all the actions of cause not just this year, but in throughout history the whole purpose of the police system in general, I think obviously that wage also taking into account the murder of George Floyd and then not just that Injustice. But then just as that happens the same week with Omari Johnson and a Mesa PD. I think it's obvious that there's a need to hold the police accountable for what they do for the extrajudicial murders of the people in across the whole country. And it's a it's a slap to the Face the People to hear that that not only that happening but they will increase police funding to further the the violence. I think the fact that you have a whole team dedicated to protect and serve when odd it seemed to be the case. When if you go to the streets, you see people tear gas and hate with rubber bullets and shot with paintballs and be back shotguns over just kneeling and peacefully protesting and further escalate the situation and then conflating it with rooting with a looting and riots. I think it's just another form of gaslighting for people and I think people are just tired of it it home and got to this point in a long time and I think that this kind of anger and this kind of action is long long do and from what I can tell it won't stop until the police come to terms with with what the demands are from the people as far as my own experience some we've been I've been shown now that I've been tear gas and all that still pales in comparison to all the lives lost. So if there's anything that people should do at this point is a listen to the Black voices that have been calling for this kind of actions four years wage. Years, so I think it's just a matter of making change happen and making it happen now. Thank you. Ok, that’s all for today. Thanks for listening.