Carl Edwards was on his own front porch, working on a fence, minding his own business, when Vallejo Police Officer Spencer Muniz-Bottomley attacked him . Two other officers and a sergeant joined in, choking and beating Carl for several minutes. Officers were looking for someone else who did not fit…
San Francisco Chronicle/Otis R. Taylor, Jr. Handyman Carl Edwards was welding the fence at the side of his Tennessee Street building when a Vallejo police officer approached him. Seconds later, Edwards was bleeding — tackled to the ground, choked and punched repeatedly in the head. Blood gushed from his busted…
We helped our two clients, the children of Humberto (“Beto”) Martinez, settle their claims for their father’s wrongful chokehold death for $7.3 million plus police reforms. This local case involved Pittsburg police officers’ use of a carotid hold and choke hold, and other highly injurious force, on video, while Beto…
This local case involved Pittsburg police officers’ use of a carotid hold and choke hold, and other highly injurious force, on video, while Beto Martinez can be heard saying, “I can’t breathe!” much like the more publicized cases of George Floyd and Eric Garner. On the afternoon of July 26,…
San Jose Mercury News/Nate Gartell PITTSBURG — The city has agreed to pay $7.3 million to settle a lawsuit by the family of a man who was killed after an officer placed him in a carotid hold for 50 seconds, using a controversial technique that has since been widely banned…
Los Angeles Times/Richard Winton The family of a San Quentin inmate who contracted the coronavirus has filed the first death claim against the California correctional system related to the pandemic, citing the botched transfer of infected prisoners as the cause of his death. Daniel Ruiz, 61, is one of 27…
The City of Vallejo agreed to pay $5.7 million to avoid trial against the children and parents of Ronell Foster, who was shot and killed by Vallejo Officer Ryan McMahon in 2018. Officer McMahon was stopping Ronell for a bicycle infraction, and says he only intended to give him a…
San Francisco Chronicle/Otis R. Taylor, Jr. Last week, the city of Vallejo agreed to pay $5.7 million to the family of Ronell Foster. According to the city attorney’s office, the settlement is the largest for a civil rights violation in the city’s history, but Paula McGowan, Foster’s mother, isn’t in the…
San Francisco Chronicle/Bob Egelko A federal appeals court on Thursday allowed the family of a Pittsburg man to sue the city and its police over a fatal struggle in which an officer choked the man and two officers knelt on his back until he lost consciousness. … [In July, 2016, officers…
Fresno Bee/Robert Rodriguez The family of Gerald Johnson, a 55-year-old Fresno man shot and killed by police in March, has filed a wrongful death claim against the City of Fresno. The claim, filed on Monday, alleges police used excessive force when trying to convince Johnson to get out of a broken-down…