Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, Nov 26, 2014

• Weekend Weather
• Holiday Shopping
• Angelo's Raise
• County Voting
• Courthouse Presentation
• Felon Amnesty
• Carl's Safety Tips
• Stoen-Richie
• Catch of the Day
• Tagging Teams
• Desert Cowboy
• Ferguson Testimony
• Oil Lobby

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK for Northwest California — Traveling may be difficult this Friday through Monday due to a series of storm systems bringing widespread rain to the region. Precipitation has the potential to be heavy at times. This may cause rockslides and localized flooding in low lying areas. Snow levels may fall to as low as 4000 to 5000 feet early next week. -- National Weather Service, Eureka CA (4:50am, Tue, Nov 25, 2014)

COUNTY CEO CARMEL ANGELO’s big raise was made official at the November 11 Board of Supervisors meeting.

Agenda Item Title: Approval of Agreement with CEO Angelo in the Amount of $180,000 Annually. (It had been $150,000 annually.)

Supervisor John Pinches: “This is the salary that our predecessor to Carmel Angelo actually had before he resigned and we are just now, after how many years with our CEO, we are finally bringing Carmel’s salary up to that amount which was achieved by her predecessor several years ago. Because of the resignation of our assistant CEO we are running extremely under budget for this position.”

Supervisor Carre Brown: “It's a five-year period starting in November.”

District Attorney David Eyster: “This is the right move. The CEO’s office has been very supportive and very proactive in addressing problems in the District Attorney's Office which we've had to deal with making sure that the necessary resources were there and making tough decisions including putting the county back on some stable footing. So I agree with the board and I appreciate you taking care of this.”

Supervisor John McCowen: “I agree that CEO Angelo has done an outstanding job over the last five years. It is a somewhat significant increase, as the chair notes, but it really brings her up to the compensation level that her predecessor received five years ago. I'm confident that if we were to go out to recruit not only do I think we would not be able to attract someone with Carmel Angelo's quality with the proven record that she has, I'm not sure we’d be able to attract someone of lesser quality without going to at least this level of compensation for this position. So I wholeheartedly support it.”

Supervisor Brown: “Historically, and at least in the last decade, we have had a swinging door of CEOs and that's not good for the county. With Ms. Angelo’s acceptance and our approval of this contract she will be, I want to say the second, but maybe it's the third, because of Al Beltrami and Mike Scannell may have sat longer than you, but I'm very appreciative of the fact that the CEO has accepted the offer and that's why it's on the agenda today and I will look forward to working with her in the future. I think it's the right move for this county.”

(Reminds me of the agreement between me and my cat: I give her food and in return she eats it.)

The $30,000 a year (20%) raise was approved unanimously.

* * *

NOT TO BE TOO CHURLISH about it, and Ms. Angelo is surely an improvement over the “swinging door” CEOs of the past few years — which isn’t saying much. But CEO Angelo’s primary accomplishment has been firing people to meet a rather arbitrary budget and keeping a lid on hiring to build up the county’s reserves. This is fine in a narrow sense, but hardly worthy of the kind of raise and praise the Supes just thanked her for accepting. The County is still very poorly managed — no routine departmental reports, a woefully understaffed Sheriff’s department, an ill-informed Board of Supervisors, no questions about giving an extra $200k to a tourism industry that doesn’t need it at all, and, perhaps worst of all, giving the CEO a 20% raise while offering the remaining competent line workers a rather paltry one time payment of $1200 but not restoring any part of their 10% cut in salaries is not exactly the kind of morale boosting message the Board should be sending. (Mark Scaramella)

CEO ANGELO then told the Board in her CEO’s report on that same November 11 meeting (one week after the recent elections) that County Clerk-Recorder Susan Ranochak “has put out a press release every year saying the vote will be determined within 28 days. I think this is something that has caught the attention of many people within our community and particularly some of the electeds [sic], is the fact that there lists so many votes that are outstanding in the different districts. I received calls and I'm sure you received calls. This press release is out and as Ms. Ranochak says we will have to wait 28 days to see the final count.”

Supervisor Dan Gjerde: “Everybody wants the election count to be as accurate as possible. I think the question that keeps coming up to me and other people on the coast is they look at election night they see that Humboldt County which has 50% more people reporting on election night and I assume they still have a few provisional ballots. But if you look at the provisional ballot count in Mendocino County I think it's fewer than 500 that are outstanding. And it’s something like half of the ballots not yet been counted in Mendocino County whereas in Humboldt County I think it was 100% except for maybe the provisionals. So I guess the question for the Elections Office is, What are they doing in Humboldt that's different than what's happening here?”

Pinches: “Good point.”

Supervisor McCowen: “It's important to have an accurate count but also a timely count. I think with the shift to the mail-in precincts we see every election that we have a situation very similar to this one except in this case we have considerably more ballots still to be counted than those that were actually counted on election night. It's probably time to revisit the issue of what would be the real cost to restore more physical polling places so that people have the option because I believe there is a lot of voters who have had their polling place taken away who still hold their ballot to the last minute and then of course they don't get counted. There would be some additional cost for additional poll workers but there would be, to me, and the board should appropriate sufficient funds if the election official and the board were to choose to go in that direction. I think there would be a real value to being able to have a more timely count. I invite Supervisor Gjerde to sponsor an agenda item to that effect with me.”

Gjerde did not respond. Newly praised and raised CEO Angelo did not respond. Nothing was done. Nothing was proposed. Nobody asked what could be done or even if Ms. Ranochak was available to discuss the problem. (Mark Scaramella)

IN HIS SUPERVISOR’S REPORT, Supervisor McCowen brought up the entirely unwanted, unattractive and unwelcome new County Courthouse being foisted off on the County and the City of Ukiah by the judges with no concern for the cost or disruption it will cause all so that Mendo’s nine (9!) judges can sit in fancy new digs, never mind that their County support staff will have to run around like unsupervised school children on recess to appear in the judicial palace and present the judges with their mostly fish in the barrel cases.

McCowen: “Most people in the community know that the proposal by the Administrative Office of the Courts to acquire a parcel of land of approximately 4.1 acres at the Ukiah Depot site is moving forward. I thought it might be appropriate since a number of questions have been raised by various people in the community, it might be appropriate before that purchase is finalized to invite the Superior Court and the Administrative Office of the Courts to make an informational presentation to the Board of Supervisors. This is a state-controlled process that neither the Board of Supervisors and nor the Ukiah City Council in whose jurisdiction it is of course really have any say in the matter. Again, for the information of the public I think it would be appropriate to provided the courts and the AOC are willing to make a presentation.

A presentation was tentatively scheduled for December 16. But that depends on whether the robed royal highnesses and their administrative mandarins in San Francisco will condescend to appear before the skeptical Mendo public. (Mark Scaramella)

PROPOSITION 47 UPDATE: Three cases were reviewed today and all three defendants were found eligible for “P47 relief” under the recent voter-approved “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act.” “P47 relief” means that the felony conviction is going to be reduced to a simple misdemeanor. It also means that the state prison sentence that was imposed by a local judge is going to be vacated. Finally, it means that the defendant is going to be released back to the community shortly without supervision. So who are these guys you may ask?

1. Kevin William Dahlund, age 45 (previously living in Willits), is currently being housed at Susanville State Prison. He was convicted in the Mendocino County Superior Court on February 17, 2012 of petty theft with at least three prior theft convictions, as a felony. Dahlund has generally a theft and drug-related criminal record that dates back to at least 1994. He was separately convicted in Contra Costa County of possession of a dangerous weapon (1994), grand theft (1994), petty theft with a prior conviction (1994), receiving stolen property (1995), possession of methamphetamine (1995), carrying a concealed firearm (1995), possession of drug paraphernalia (1995), second degree burglary (1995), possession of methamphetamine (1996), possession of methamphetamine (1997), being under the influence of drugs (1997), possession of drug paraphernalia (1997), possession of methamphetamine (1998), vandalism (1998), possession of drug paraphernalia (1998), and trespassing/interfering at a business (1998). He was then separately convicted in Mendocino County of second degree burglary (1998), grand theft (2004), petty theft with prior convictions (2004), receiving stolen property (2006), and second degree burglary (2009). Dahlund was required to be housed in state prison because he also admitted a prior Strike conviction – a residential burglary (1998) – that occurred in Mendocino County. Dahlund’s current state prison sentence was at least his fifth separate commitment to state prison. He will be excused from serving the remainder of his four (4) year state prison.

2. Stephen Patrick Aselio, age 59 (formerly a transient living in and around Ukiah), is currently being housed at San Quentin State Prison. He was convicted in the Mendocino County Superior Court on April 25, 2012 of petty theft with at least three prior theft convictions, as a felony. Aselio has generally a theft-related criminal record that goes back to at least 1974. He was convicted of petty theft in San Bernardino County in 1974. He was then separately convicted in Alameda County of unauthorized use of a stolen credit card (1979), robbery using a firearm (1980), a second wholly separate robbery (1980), escape from jail by the use of force (1980), receiving stolen property (1985), and petty theft with a prior conviction (1988). He was then separately convicted in Mendocino County of assault with a deadly weapon (2005), one of three prior Strike convictions that doubled his 2012 sentence pursuant to the Three Strikes law. Aselio’s current state prison commitment was at least his third trip to state prison. He will be excused from serving the remainder of the five (5) year state prison sentence.

3. William Edward Vantreese, age 48 (originally from Ukiah), is currently being housed at Corcoran State Prison. He was convicted in the Mendocino County Superior Court on January 17, 2014 of petty theft with at least three prior theft convictions, as a felony. Vantreese has generally a theft-related criminal record that dates back to at least 1996. He was separately convicted in Humboldt County of robbery in the second degree (1996), possession of methamphetamine (2001), illegal possession of a dangerous weapon (2007), petty theft with prior convictions (2006), burglary in the second degree (2012), and burglary in the second degree (2013). Vantreese was required to be housed in state prison because he also admitted his prior Strike conviction – the Humboldt County robbery. Vantreese’s current state prison commitment was at least his fifth trip to state prison. He will be excused from serving the remainder of his current six (6) year prison sentence.

— DA Eyster’s Facebook Update

YOU KNOW it's a slow day at the AVA when we have time for junk mail correspondence, such as this one from PG& Bloody E:

Editor, I hope you will consider printing the following letter to the editor from our division manager, Carl Schoenhofer, to emphasize some valuable safety tips around holiday lights. Thanks, Brittany McKannay

Carl's holiday tips?

”In the days following Thanksgiving, many families will begin the festive tradition of lighting their homes and businesses for the holiday season. To ensure that lights bring joy rather than fire, injury or electric shocks, PG&E recommends that customers follow a few simple safety tips,” and so on.

The email was signed, “Brittany McKannay, Corporate Relations, PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY, 707.577.7141 - direct line 415.973.5930 - 24-Hour News Line b3m8@pge.com"

ED REPLY: Tell Carl to mind his own beeswax. If I need help decorating my Christmas tree I'll call my congressman.

Apparently miffed, Brittany immediately wrote back:

”We'll go ahead and take you off our media list so you don't receive any updates from PG&E. Should you have questions about outages, gas or electric projects or anything else regarding PG&E, please contact our media line at (415) 973-5930. Happy holidays!”

ED REPLY: So long as you don't put me on PG&E's “Blow Up This Guy's House” list, Brittany, I'll be happy. PS. What exactly is Carl's function at everybody's favorite “public” utility? Vice President In Charge Of Inane Advice? No wonder our rates are so high!

A few minutes later Brittany herself called the AVA office. The Major, always a sucker for damsels in distress, tells what happened next:

Brittany just called asking if someone was fooling around with our email.

“I got a strange answer to my letter,” Brittany said.

I explained that the Editor was probably responsible.

Brittany then read the editor's “mind your own beeswax” response to me.

“Oh, yeah. That's him,” I said. “Mighta been early in to the Jack Daniels,” I explained.

Brittany seemed surprised that we weren't interested in Carl's safety tips.

“We're not big fans of PG&E, Brittany, Don't take it personally,” I said.

Brittany asked what she should do.

“Buy a subscription. That would probably cool him out. He never messes with paying customers.”

“Oh, that's ok,” Brittany said, “we'll just take you off our email list.”

“Remember San Bruno,” I said.

A READER WRITES: Filmmakers Studio put the old '80's movie, "The Story of Jim Jones - Guyana Tragedy" on YouTube.

Ned Beattie stars as Leo Ryan.

Seems that everyone is easily identifiable in the movie, excepting that the name of one set of characters is changed, and I wonder why just those were changed:

Randy Quaid plays Tim Stoen, but they changed his name in the movie to "Clayton Richie."

"Richie" is described as the Temple Business Manager and always seen in a suit vest and tie.

Grace Stoen's name has been changed to "Jean Richie" in the movie.

John Victor Stoen's name is changed to "Joshua James Richie" in the movie.

Irene Kara and LaVar Burton also star. (Old Sesame Street stars!)

There's something apropos about Randy Quaid playing Tim Stoen. Randy Quaid has turned out to be a bat-shit crazy Hollywood joke. He and his wife are both still in Canada, I think, escaping prosecution in the US for trashing motel rooms or somesuch. He's lost it. He's done a couple of interviews while he and his wife are lying in bed. Domestic abuse fights between them... Que Bizarre!

Art imitates life in the cheesiest of ways.

CATCH OF THE DAY, November 25, 2014

CALVIN BAUSLEY, Santa Rosa/Ukiah. Kidnapping for robbery, rape, spousal rape, oral copulation, sodomy or sexual penetration.*

JAMES BAZIL, Fort Bragg. Indecent exposure.

LYNN BROOKES, Kelseyville/Ukiah. Involuntary manslaughter in commission of a crime, elder abuse resulting in death or great bodily injury. **

CHRISTOPHER DOTY, Ukiah. DUI, driving on suspended license, probation revocation.

DEBORAH McOSKER, Ukiah. Drunk in public.

DANIEL RAYMEN, Mendocino. Felony vandalism.

RAYMOND RHODES, Fort Bragg. Dirk or dagger.

DAVID RUSSELL, Fort Bragg. Drunk in public.

MY STUDIO [in Los Angeles] was in Hazard Park, where the Avenues and MS13 gangs were fighting over drugs and territory. Their disputes were visually apparent through massive amounts of tagging. The city responded by sending out their anti-graffiti teams at night. Power paint sprayers were used to cover up the day's graffiti in a muted wash of either beige or gray. The city did this under cover of darkness, while the gangs seemed to prefer the vulnerability of the day. One wall in particular seemed to be the primary site for these territorial disputes. By early morning, there would already be four to five rival tags, the markings were still decipherable. By nightfall the individual traces were impossible to break down. The tagging had become abstract. All territorial clashes, aggressive cryptograms, and death threats were nullified into a mass of spray-painted gestures that had become nothing more than atmosphere, their violent disputes transposed into an immense, outdoor, nonrepresentational mural. The city teams would then continue the cycle with a clean slate that evening, and it would start all over again the next morning. I started painting again when I saw this."

— Sterling Ruby

FERGUSON COP DARREN WILSON'S GRAND JURY TESTIMONY

Q: 'So August the 9th of 2014 you worked as a police officer for the Ferguson Police Department?’

A: 'Correct.’

Q: ‘That means you are a certified police officer?’

A: 'Correct.’

Q: ‘Had you completed all your training and kept up with your continuing education as a certified officer does?’

A: 'Yes, ma'am.’

Q: 'You have the power of arrest?'

A: 'Correct.’

Q: 'In the State of Missouri?'

A: Yes, ma'am.’

Q: 'What’s your height?’

A: '6'4", just a shy under 6'4"’

Q: 'A little under 6'4"?’

A: 'Yes, ma'am.’

Q: 'And how much do you currently weigh?'

A: '210-ish.’

Q: 'That’s been your weight for a while?’

A: 'Yeah, it fluctuates between 205, 212, 213, something like that.’

Q: ‘Of course everybody knows why we're here, so let's just get to it.’

A: 'Okay.’

Q: ‘Let’s talk about your day on August the 9th. What shift did you work?’

A: 'Day shift.’

Q: 'And what shift would that be, what hours?’

A: '6.30am to 6.30pm.’

Q: ‘Twelve hour shift?’

A: 'Correct.’

Q: ‘Had your worked the day before?’

A: 'Yes I had.’

Q: ‘Same shift?’

A: 'Yes.’

Q: ‘You weren’t working like midnight the night before?’

A: 'No ma’am.’

Q: ‘When you started your shift, did anything happen that you consider very eventful? I mean, earlier that day, prior to 10, let’s say 10am.’

A: 'No ma’am.’

Q: ‘Had you answered any calls prior to 10am?’

A: 'I don’t recall, I don’t believe so but I don’t recall, nothing stands out in my memory.’

Q: ‘It was a pretty quiet day initially?’

A: 'Yes, ma’am.’

Q: ‘Now, at some point you had a sick call, a sick baby, I think?’

A: ’Yes, ma’am.’

Q: ‘And that would have been 11-ish or so?’

A: ’ I think it was around 11.30am-ish, somewhere in that vicinity.’

Q: ‘That was near the Canfield Green apartments?’

A: ’Yes, ma’am, it was actually past them, in the adjoining apartment complex.’

Q: ‘And what do they call those apartments? ‘

A: 'I believe that apartment is called Northwinds.’

Q: ‘Northwinds. Okay. And it is like east of the Canfield Green, behind those apartments?’

A:’Correct.’

Q: ‘When you went on that call, did you have assistance?’

A: 'No I did not.’

Q: ‘All right.’

A: ’Not police assistance.’

Q: ‘No police assistance?’

A: 'No.’

Q: ‘You handled that call by yourself?’

A: ’Yes ma’am.’

Q: ‘And did you have any confrontation with anybody or was everything, was it a pretty as a matter of fact call?’

A: 'It was a pretty laid-back call. It was for a sick infant, I believe, only a couple months old.’

Q: ‘Okay.’

A: ’I believe she had a fever, I’m not 100 per cent sure.’

Officer Wilson is asked further questions about the call to the sick baby , which was taken to hospital in an ambulance.

Q: 'Did you get any other calls between the time of the sick baby call and your interaction with Michael Brown and Dorian Johnson?’

A: 'While on the sick case call, a call came out for a stealing in progress from the local market on West Florissant, that the suspects traveling towards QT. I didn’t hear the entire call, I was on my portable radio, which isn’t exactly the best. I did hear that a suspect was wearing a black shirt and that a box of Cigarillos was stolen.’

Q: ‘Okay. And was this your call or you just heard the call?’

A: ’It was not my call, I heard the call.’

Q: ‘Some other officers were dispatched to that call?’

A: ’I believe two others were.’

Q: ‘Was it a call that you were going to go to also?’

A: ’No.’

Q: ‘So you weren’t really geared to handle that call?’

A: ’No.’

Q: ‘Tell us how you were dressed that day on August the 9th.’

A: 'How I was dressed?’

Q: ‘Yes.’

A: 'I was wearing my full department uniform, light duty boots, dark navy blue pants, my issue duty belt, with my uniform shirt, and that was it.’

Q: ‘All right, so when you say, when you are in uniform, you were not a detective?’

A: ’No, ma’am.’

Q: ‘So your uniform is like a uniform police officer and when you are walking around I can clearly see oh, that’s a police officer?’

A: 'Yes ma’am, I believe it is French blue uniform shirt, had patches for Ferguson on both sides, badge name tag.’

Q: ‘Okay. And you were in what type of vehicle.’

A: 'I was in a Chevy Tahoe police vehicle fully marked with a light bar.’

Q: ‘Fully marked, okay. Tell us, you were mentioning your radio or what is this you spoke about?’

A: 'Walkie is what we normally call it.’

Q: ‘Like a walkie-talkie or something?’

A: 'Yes ma’am’.’

Q: ‘And did it work that day?’

A: 'Yes.’

Q: ‘Okay. And it was on which shoulder?’

A: ’I wear it on my left shoulder.’

Q: ‘Are you left or right-handed?’

A: 'I’m right handed.’

Q: ‘Okay. Tell us what else is on your duty belt?’

A: ’I have my, I’ll go in order. Magazine pouches sit right here, my weapon is on my right hip, I have an asp that sits kind of behind me and kind of to the right and then a set of handcuffs, another set of handcuffs, my OC spray or mace is on this side and then my radio and that’s it.’

Q: ‘Okay, so your mace is on your left side and your gun is on your right side?’

A: ’Correct.’

Q: ‘What type of weapon did your carry?’

A: ’I carry Sig Sauer, a P229 .40 caliber.’

Q: ‘How many cartridges or bullets would it hold?’

A: ’It has 12 in the magazine and one goes in the chamber, so a total of 13.’

Q: ‘You had a couple spare magazines on your belt?’

A: ’Correct.’

Q: ‘That had 12 each?’

A: ’Correct.’

Q: ‘Did you carry a Taser?’

A: 'No.’

Q: 'Why not?’

A: 'I normally don’t carry a Taser. We only have a select amount. Usually there is one available but, but I usually elect not to carry one. It is not the most comfortable thing. They are very large, I don’t have a lot of room in the front for it to be positioned.’

Q: ‘Had you been trained on how to use a Taser?’

A: 'Yes ma’am.’

Q: ‘Have you ever used a Taser before?’

A: 'I believe I have, but it wasn’t one that I carried. It was one that I used from someone else on a scene. I can’t remember the time or where I used it.’

Q: ‘You prefer not to have a Taser?’

A: ’Correct.’

Q: ‘So that day you had mace, you said, on your left side?’

A: 'Correct.’

Q: ‘All right. You are coming west, is it on Canfield Drive?’

A: 'Yes, I started out on Glenark and then I turned on to Bahama and then onto Glen Owen, and then I turned on Windward, which actually turns into Canfield Green and that’s where I was going west on that.’

Q: ‘West on Canfield Drive?’

A: 'Yes ma’am.’

Q: ‘Okay, We are going to get a map here shortly so you can kind of map it out for us. So you are going west on Canfield Drive, what happens?’

A: 'As I was going west on Canfield, I observed two men in the middle of the street, they are walking along the double yellow line single file order.’

Q: ‘Okay. And you say something to them, did they say something to you first?’

A: 'No, you want me to just go with the whole thing?’

Q: ‘Sure, go ahead, let’s start there.’

A: 'I see them walking down the middle of the street. And first thing that struck me was they’re walking in the middle of the street. I had already seen a couple cars trying to pass, but they couldn’t have traffic normal because they were in the middle so one had to stop to let the car go around and then another car would come.

‘And the next thing I noticed was the size of the individuals because either the first one was really small or the second one was really big.

‘And just for the conversation, I didn’t know this then, But the first one’s name was Dorian Johnson, the second one was Michael Brown. That was discovered, I think, the following day is when I learned the names.

‘I had never seen them before. And the next thing I notice was that Brown had bright yellow socks that had green marijuana leaves as a pattern on them. They were the taller socks that go halfway up your shin.

‘As I approach them, I stopped a couple feet in front of Johnson as they are walking towards me, I am going towards them. And I allowed him to keep walking towards my window, which was down.

‘As Johnson came around my driver’s side mirror I said: ”why don’t you guys walk on the sidewalk.” He kept walking, as he is walking he said,”we are almost to our destination.”’

Q: 'Do you think he used those words, destination; we are almost to our destination?’

A: 'Yes, ma’am. He said we are almost to our destination and he pointed this direction over my vehicle. So like in a northeasternly (sic) direction. And as he did that, he kept walking and Brown was starting to come around to the mirror and as he came around the mirror I said, ”well, what’s wrong with the sidewalk.” Brown then replied, um, it has vulgar language.’

Q: 'You can say it, say it.’

A: 'Brown then replied ”fuck what you have to say.” And when he said that, it drew my attention totally to Brown. It was a very unusual and not expected response from a simple request.

‘When I start looking at Brown, first thing I notice is in his right hand, his hand is full of Cigarillos. And that’s when it clicked for me because now I saw the Cigarillos, I looked in my mirror, I did a double-check that Johnson was wearing a black shirt, these are the two from the stealing.

‘And they kept walking, as I said, they never once stopped, never got on the sidewalk, they stayed in the middle of the road. So I got on my radio and Frank 21 is my call sign that day, I said ”Frank 21 I’m on Canfield with two, send me another car”.

‘I then placed my car in reverse and backed up and I backed up just past them and then angled my vehicle, the back of my vehicle to kind of cut them off kind, to keep them somewhat contained.

‘As I did that I go to open the door and I say ”hey, come here for a minute” to Brown. As I’m opening the door he turns, faces me, looks at me and says ”what the f are you going to do about it”, and shuts my door, slammed it shut. I haven’t even got it open enough to get my leg out, it was only a few inches.

‘I then looked at him and told him to get back and he was just staring at me, almost like to intimidate me or to overpower me. The intense face he had was just not what I expected from any of this. I then opened my door again and used my door to push him backwards and while I’m doing that I tell him to ”get the fuck back” and then I use my door to push him.

Q: 'You tell him to ”get the fuck back”?’

A: 'Yes.’

Q: 'Okay.’

A: 'He then grabs my door again and shuts my door. At that time is when I saw him coming into my vehicle. His head was higher than the top of my car. And I see him ducking and as he is ducking his hands are up and he is coming in my vehicle. I had shielded myself in this type of manner and kind of looked away, so I don’t remember seeing him come at me, But I was hit right here in the side of the face with a fist.

‘I don’t think it was a full-on swing, I think it was a full-on swing, but not a full shot. I think my arm deflected some of it, but there was still a significant amount of contact that was made to my face.

Q: 'Now, he was hitting you with what hand?’

A: 'I believe it was his right, just judging by how we were situated.’

Q: 'Right.’

A: 'But like I said, I had turned away, had my eyes, I was shielding myself.’

Q: 'Where did you see the Cigarillos at?’

A: 'They were in his right hand.’

Q: 'Okay, were there any broken Cigarillos or anything in your car later.’

A: 'No, I don’t remember seeing anything on the ground or anything.’

Q: ’Okay’.

A: 'After he hit me, it stopped for a second. He kind of like, I remember getting hit and he kind of like grabbed and pulled, and then it stopped. When I looked up, if this is my car door, I’m sitting here facing that way, he’s here.

‘He turns like this, and now the Cigarillos I see in his left hand. He’s going like this and he says, "hey man, hold these.”

Q: 'So you start out with Cigarillos in his right hand?’

A: 'Correct.’

Q: 'At this point they are in his left hand?’

A: ’Correct.’

Q: 'He didn’t have like two hands of Cigarillos?’

A: ’No, I only saw them in one hand.’

Q: 'You only saw them in one hand, okay, go ahead.’

A: 'And he reaches back and he says ”hey man, hold these.” I’m assuming to Johnson, but I couldn’t see Johnson from my line of sight.’

Q: 'But you could tell he was giving Johnson Cigarillos?’

A: 'Yes I saw them in his hand go around.’

Q: 'All right’.

A: 'And then he said, ”hey man, hold these.” And at that point I tried to hold his right arm because it was like this in my car. This is my car window. I tried to hold his right arm and use my left hand to get out to have some type of control and not be trapped in a car anymore. And when I grabbed him, the only way I can describe it is I felt like a five-year-old holding onto Hulk Hogan. ‘

Q: 'Holding on to a what?’

A: 'Hulk Hogan, that’s just how big he felt and how small I felt just from grasping his arm. And as I’m trying to open the door is when, and I can’t really get it open because he is standing only six inches from my door, but as I was trying to pull the handle, I see his hand coming back around like this and he hit me with this part of his right here, just a full swing all the way back around and hit me right here (indicating).

‘After he did that, next this I remember is, how do I get this guy away from me. What do I do not to get beaten inside my car? I remember having my hands up and I thought to myself, you know, what do I do?

‘I considered using my mace, however, I wasn’t willing to sacrifice my left hand, which is blocking my face, to go for it. I couldn’t reach around on my right to get it, and if I would have gotten it out, the chances of it being effective were slim to none.

‘His hands were in front of his face, it would have blocked the mace from hitting him in the face and if any of it got on me, I know what it does to me and I would have been out of the game.

‘I wear contacts, if that touched any part of my eyes, then I can’t see at all.

‘Like I said, I don’t carry a Taser, I considered my asp, but to get that out, since I kind of sit on it, I usually have to lean forward and pull myself forward to the steering wheel to get it out.

‘Again, I wasn’t willing to let go of the one defense I had against being hit. The whole time, I can’t tell you if he was swinging at me or grabbing me or pushing me or what, but there was just stuff going on and I was looking down figuring out what to do.

‘Also, when I was grabbing my asp, I knew if I did even get it out, I was not going to be able to expand it inside the car or am going to be able to make a swing that will be effective in any manner.

‘Next I considered my flashlight. I keep that on the passenger side of the car. I wasn’t going to, again, reach over like this to grab it and then even if I did grab it, would it even be effective? We are so close and confined.

‘So the only other option I thought I had was my gun. I drew my gun, I turned. It is kind of hard to describe it, I turn and I go like this. He is standing there. I said ”get back or I’m going to shoot you.” He immediately grabs my gun and says ”you are too much of a pussy to shoot me”. The way he grabbed it, do you have a picture?’

Q: ’I do have some pictures of your gun. Well, you can tell us if it is your gun, I believe it is.’

A: ’My gun was basically pointed this way. I’m in my car, he’s here, it is pointed his way, but he grabs it with his right hand, not his left, he grabs it with his right one and he twists it and then he digs it down into my hip.’

Officer Wilson uses pictures provided to show the jury how Michael Brown grabbed the gun and shows further pictures to show where he suffered scratched and swelling to the face.

Q:’I have a few other questions while we are waiting on that (the photos). So during the time that he’s, you said Michael Brown is striking you in the face through the car door.’

A: ’Right.’

Q: ’And it was your opinion that you needed to pull out your weapon because? Why did you feel that way? I don’t want to put words in your mouth.’

A: ’I felt that another one of those punches in my face could knock me out or worse. I mean it was, he’s obviously bigger than I was and stronger and I’ve already taken two to the face and I didn’t think I would... The third one could be fatal if he hit me right.’

Q: ’You thought he could hit you and it would be a fatal injury?’

A: ’Or at least unconscious and then who knows what would happen to me after that.’

Officer Wilson shows photographs of gun and his facial injuries.

Q: 'All right. So you suffered the injury to your face and you showed us where the gun was grabbed and at the time when there is a struggle for the gun, take us from there.’

A: ’He grabs my gun, says ”you are too much of a pussy to shoot me.” The gun goes down into my hip and at that point I thought I was getting shot. I can feel his fingers try to get inside the trigger guard with my finder and I distinctly remember envisioning a bullet going into my leg. I thought that was the next step.

‘As I’m looking at it, I’m not paying attention to him. All I can focus on is just this gun in my leg. I was able to kind of shift slightly like this and then push it down, because he is pushing down like to keep it pinned on my leg.

‘So when I slid, I let him use his momentum to push it down and it was kind of pointed to where the seat buckle would attach on the floorboard on the side of my car Next thing I remember putting my lefty hand on it like this, putting my elbow into the back of my seat and just pushing with all I could forward.

Q: 'Were you saying anything?’

A: 'I don’t know.’

Q; ’You don’t know if he was saying anything either?’

A: 'I heard stuff, but I couldn’t tell you what it was. Like I said, I was just so focused on getting the gun out of me. When I did get it up to this point, he is still holding on to it and I pulled the trigger and nothing happens, it just clicked. I pull it again, it just clicked again.

‘At this point I’m like: why isn’t this working, this guy is trying to kill me if he gets ahold of his gun. I pulled a third time, it goes off. When it went off, it shot through my door and my window was down and glass flew out of my door panel. I think that kind of startled him and me at the same time. When I see the glass come up, it comes, a chunk about that big comes across my right hand and then I notice I have blood on the back on my hand.

‘After seeing the blood on my hand, I looked at him and he was, this is my car door, he was here and he kind of stepped back and went like this. And then after he did that, he looked up at the and had the most intense aggressive face.

‘The only way I can describe it, it looks like a demon. That’s how angry he looked.

‘He comes back towards me again with his hands up. At this point I just went like this, I tried to pull the trigger again, click, nothing happened.’

Q: ’When you say he came back up to you with his hands up, describe to us what he is doing?’

A: 'Last thing I saw was this coming at me.

Q: ’Was it a fist?’

A: ’I just saw his hands up, I don’t know if they were closed yet, on the way to going closed I saw this and that face coming at me again, and I just went like this and shielded my face.

Q: ‘And you did what?’

A: ’Went like this and shielded my face.’

Q: ‘Did he hit you at that time?

A: ’Yes.’

Q: Okay, go ahead.’

A: ’So I pulled the trigger, it just clicks that time. Without even looking, I just grab the top of my gun, the slide and I racked it, and I put my, still not looking, just holding my hand up, I pulled the trigger again, it goes off. When it look back after that-

Q: (interrupts)’ So how many times does it go off in the car?’

A: ’It goes off twice in the car. Pull, click, click, went off, click, went off. So twice in the car.’

Q: ‘Are you certain?’

A: ’Yes.’

Q: ‘Okay.’

A: ’When I look up after that, I see him start to run and I see a cloud of dust behind him. I then get out of my car. As I’m getting out of the car I tell dispatch, “shots fired, send me more cars.” We start running, kind of the same direction that Johnson had pointed. Across the street like a diagonal towards this, kind of like where the parking lot came in for Copper Creek Court and Canfield, right in that intersection. And there is a light pole right there, I remember him running towards the light pole.

'We pass two cars that were behind my police car while we were running. I think the second one was Pontiac Grand Am, a green one. I don’t know if it was a two door or four door, I just remember seeing a Pontiac green Grand Am.

‘When I passed the second one, about the same time, he stopped running and he is at that light pole. So when he stopped, I stopped. And then he starts to turn around. I tell him to get on the ground. He turns and when he looked at me, he made like a grunting, like aggravated sound and he starts, he turns and he’s coming towards me, he kind of does like a stutter step to start running. When he does that, his left hand goes in a fist and goes to his side. His right one goes under his shirt in his waistband and he starts running at me.

Q: ‘You say under his shirt?’

A:’ Yes.’

Q: ‘Was he wearing a shirt that was longer than his waistband?’

A: ‘Yes ma’am.’

Q: ‘So he goes up under the shirt?’

A: ‘Yes.’

Q: ‘Okay, go ahead.’

A: ‘That was all done, like I said the first step, his first stride coming back towards me. As he is coming towards me, I tell, I keep telling him to get on the ground, he doesn’t.

‘I shoot a series of shots. I don’t know how many I shot, I just know I shot it.

‘I know I missed a couple, I don’t know how many, but I know I hit him at least once because I saw his body kind of jerk or flenched (sic). I remember having tunnel vision on his right hand, that’s all, I’m just focusing on that hand when I was shooting.

‘Well, after the last shot my tunnel vision kind of opened up. I remember seeing the smoke from the gun and I kind of looked at him and he’s still coming at me, he hadn’t slowed down. At this point I start backpedaling and again, I tell him to get on the ground, he doesn’t. I shoot another round of shots. Again, I don’t recall how many it was or if I hit him every time. I know at least once because he flinched again.

‘At this point it looked like he was almost bulking up to run through the shots, like it was making him mad that I’m shooting at him.

‘And the face that he had was looking straight through me, like I wasn’t even there, I wasn’t even anything in his way.

‘Well, he keeps coming at me after that again, during the pause I tell him to get on the ground, get on the ground, he still keeps coming at me, gets about eight to ten feet away. At this point I’m backing up pretty rapidly, I’m backpedaling pretty good because I know if he reaches me, he’ll kill me.

‘And he had started to lean forward as he got that close, like he was going to just tackle me, just go right through me.’

Q: ‘Can you demonstrate for us how he was leaning forward?’

A: ’ His hand was in a fist at his side, this one is in his waistband under his shirt, and he was like this. Just coming straight at me like he was going to run right through me. And when he gets about that eight to ten feet away, I look down, I remember looking at my sites and firing, all I see is his head and that’s what I shot.

‘I don’t know how many, I know at least once because I saw the last one go into him. And then when it went into him, the demeanor on his face when blank, the aggression was gone, it was gone, I mean, I knew he stopped, the threat was stopped.

‘When he fell, he fell on his face. And I remember his feet coming up, like he has do much momentum carrying him forward that when he fell, his feet kind of came up a little big and then they rested.

‘At that point I got back on the radio and said: “send me a supervisor and every car you got.”

NEW REPORT DOCUMENTS BIG OIL'S HUGE INCREASE IN LOBBYING EXPENSES!

by Dan Bacher

The oil industry has spent over $70 million on lobbyists in California since 2009, including record amounts of money spent during the third quarter of 2014, according to a new report written by Will Barrett, the Senior Policy Analyst for the American Lung Association in California.

The Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), the most powerful corporate lobbying organization in Sacramento, led the oil industry spending with a total of $31,179,039 spent on lobbying since January 1, 2009. San Ramon-based Chevron finished second with a total of $15,542,565 spent on lobbying.

From July 1 to September 30 alone, the oil industry spent an unprecedented $7.1 million lobbying elected officials "with a major focus on getting oil companies out of a major clean air regulation," said Barrett.

The oil industry spending total from July through Sept 2014 amounts to an amazing $2.4 million/month, $78,000/day, $3,200/hour, $54/minute and $1/second!

And this doesn’t include spending on ballot measures or the recent election, including Chevron spending $3 million (unsuccessfully) to elect “their” candidates to the Richmond City Council. Big Oil also dumped $7.6 million into defeating a measure calling for a fracking ban in Santa Barbara County and nearly $2 million into an unsuccessful campaign to defeat a measure banning fracking and other extreme oil extraction techniques in San Benito County.

The report documented record money spent on lobbying by the oil industry through the first 9 months of 2014. Big Oil has spent $13.6 million lobbying elected officials so far this year:

• This surpassed the prior record ($13.5 million) seen in all of 2013.
• The industry spent $1.5 million per month lobbying in 2014.
• Oil interests represented 17 percent of all lobbying in California last quarter.

The report also revealed huge increases in July-September 2014 compared to previous quarters. Big Oil made significant increases in spending in 2014 as the legislative session came to a close and as the industry intensified its anti-AB 32 campaign, as well as successfully lobbying to defeat a bill that would protect a "marine protected area" created under the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative from offshore oil drilling.

The Western States Petroleum Association spent a record $4 million in the last three months alone, more than twice historical levels. WSPA has spent more than $7 million so far in 2014, leading all statewide lobbying by a wide margin. The group paid nearly $2.5 million to KP Public Affairs, the state’s highest paid lobbying firm, in 2013-2014.

The report also revealed that:

• Eight oil interests spent their most ever lobbying in California
• Four broke annual spending records in just 9 months.
• Phillips66 (4), Chevron (6) and Valero (9) are also all among the top ten lobbying spenders from July-Sept 2014.
• Phillips66 spent $880,000, 4 times over its recent average
• Valero spent $542,000 in 3 months - more than the prior 42 months combined.

To read the complete report, go to: http://www.lung.org/associations/states/california/advocacy/climate-change/oil-industy-lobbying-report.pdf

Of course, oil industry representatives don't exert their enormous influence over California politics only by spending millions on lobbying and political campaigns, but also by sitting on state and federal regulatory panels.

In one of the biggest conflicts of interest in recent California history, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, President of the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) and leader of the campaign to expand offshore oil drilling and fracking in California, chaired the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force to create fake "marine protected areas" on the South Coast. She also "served" on the task forces to create the alleged "marine protected areas" on the Central Coast, North Central Coast and North Coast.

The MLPA Initiative, funded by the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, created so-called "marine protected areas" that fail to protect the ocean from fracking, oil drilling, pollution, military testing, corporate aquaculture and all human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and Tribal gathering. These "marine protected areas" are good for Big Oil, polluters and corporate interests - and bad for sustainable fishermen, tribal gatherers and the public trust.

Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and media investigations by Associated Press and truthout.org reveal that the ocean has been fracked at least 203 times in the past 20 years, including the period from 2004 to 2012 that Reheis-Boyd served as a "marine guardian.” (http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/10/19/calif-finds-more-instances-of-offshore-fracking/3045721/)

In addition to her "service" on the MLPA Initiative panels, Reheis-Boyd also sits on the Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Federal Advisory Committee. (http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/03/28/big-oil-lobbyist-serves-on-federal-marine-protected-areas-panel/ )

Caleen Audrey Sisk, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, said allowing a big oil industry lobbyist to serve on state and federal “marine protected area” panels is “outright WRONG.”

“How can this continue to be overlooked and allowed? Where is the public on these things? When will the public refuse to accept this outright WRONG? The Mega Corporations have loop holes to provide funding and personnel to government to run their billion dollar destructive projects through. It is so sad the public has no recourse because they are held hostage and want the two bit jobs!”