You cannot just placate and pacify people.” “But when these things keep happening, after a while people see through that approach. “Bratton and Baca as soft-sell PR persons are almost like firemen having to douse the flames and show their departments’ good face to the community,” said commentator Earl Ofari Hutchinson. Skeptics suspect that the touchy-feely approach will be window dressing if policies don’t change. He has apologized for characterizing gang members as thugs and terrorists, and he declared his officers’ flashlight beating of a car thief suspect last year “a mess” that warranted discipline. Bratton, who once called Ali a “nitwit,” shows signs of softening his rhetoric. That’s never happened in the history of law enforcement here.”Įven tough-talking Los Angeles Police Chief William J. We feel those years of work have led us to a major victory: the unprecedented apology. “He’s shown leadership because of our efforts organizing against police brutality. “There’s a reason why Baca has shown leadership,” Ali said. Is this payoff from years of activism, or just law enforcement finally learning the value of timely spin? Law enforcement officials say the deputies might have panicked and responded to the initial gunfire volley with so-called contagious fire, resulting in a flurry of wild shots.Ĭommunity leaders are far from being of one mind about the sheriff’s sensitivity effort. “Police were shooting up the neighborhood like it was the wild, wild West,” he said. Sharpton called the display of police firepower the most reckless he had ever seen. In the televised scene, the residential Compton street resembled a war zone. After a slow pursuit, deputies began firing when they cornered the SUV and it backed toward them.
The SUV they approached was driven by Winston Eugene Hayes, 44. The incident started after deputies, responding to a call that shots had been fired in the area, approached a vehicle that resembled the one involved in the incident. Indeed, within days, Jackson and Sharpton were gone, headed for Mexico to meet with President Vicente Fox over remarks he had made about blacks that were considered disparaging.Īnd the Compton shooting, which had been videotaped by a freelance cameraman and replayed for days on the national news, began fading from public consciousness. “He’ll say this stuff, then go on back to Chicago, and we’re left here to try to work with these officers,” Ali complained later.
The civil rights leader’s comments were, he said, “inflammatory, counterproductive and false.” Of the 10 deputies who fired weapons, three were black, four Latino and three white.īy that afternoon, Ali had split ranks with Jackson. Jackson’s “hate crime” characterization seemed out of sync with reality. Privately, he had already conceded that in the court of public opinion, Baca had probably scored a victory. “We’re outraged and will continue to be.”
“How would it look for us to be up there now slamming these deputies,” he said as he stood on a sidewalk outside Compton City Hall, considering whether he should instead criticize Jackson. Najee Ali of Project Islamic HOPE contemplated what to say to the lone news camera. Local activists were forced back on their heels, caught between the fiery rhetoric of Jackson and Sharpton and the evolving reality on the streets: Only a handful of people showed up at what was supposed to be a protest Monday morning. Then Jackson, who had arrived in Los Angeles that weekend, called the shooting a hate crime and an act of terrorism. were affected by the shooting.”Īlthough they stopped short of saying that their tactics toward a man they had believed to be armed and dangerous were wrong, the symbolism proved compelling. Instead they got a contrite sheriff and a multiracial corps of apologetic deputies, who stood somberly before news cameras while their attorney conveyed “their unqualified and sincere apology to those who. They had expected stonewalling, denials, delay. And it has left community activists scrambling to compete. The investigation may not be complete for weeks, but one thing has become clear: Baca’s response represents a new approach to handling the fallout from controversial shootings.
#Compton shooting church driver#
The shooting involved 10 deputies trying to stop the unarmed driver of an SUV. He did it by borrowing a page from activists’ own handbook - denouncing the shootings, ordering an inquiry and meeting with residents to, as he says, “absorb their pain.” By Saturday morning, while activists were busy urging residents to turn out for a Monday rally, Baca had managed to deflect community anger and keep agitators at bay.
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