Thursday, August 15, 2013

Pacifica police got their skateboarder, officer injured


San Mateo County Times/Joshua Melvin, 9/14/13.  "Peninsula skateboard chase ends with jail, officer hurt, DA says."
but running from police is,
as is the accident caused to the officer, oops

"While officers were trying to capture 25-year-old Tyler Alvarez during the June 6 pursuit, a Pacifica police sergeant swung his club at the suspect and accidentally hit a fellow officer. The blow knocked the officer to the ground, which caused his leg to break and left a gash in his head that required 13 stitches, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said Wednesday.  

....Alvarez, a transient, was sentenced Tuesday in San Mateo County Superior Court to a year in jail and two years supervision, immediately after pleading no contest to felony resisting arrest that caused seriously injury to a police officer. Even though it was an officer who swung the baton, Alvarez was criminally charged with the injury because it occurred while he was allegedly committing a crime.

The trouble started when an officer spotted Alvarez, who was on supervision for a 2011 conviction for fleeing Pacifica police and the California Highway Patrol, and tried to stop him for a routine search. Alvarez rolled away on his skateboard and an officer gave chase in a car for at least several blocks, Wagstaffe said."  Read article. 

Note:  graphic from  Uptown skate school, NYC, NY.

Posted by Kathy Meeh

3 comments:

todd bray said...

When will Cop on Cop violence end? Our society must do something to end the specter of officers injuring other law abiding officers. How much longer must the violence against each other continue? Until Cop on Cop tasering? Oh wait, that already happened. Never mind. :)

Anonymous said...

Transient? Don't we wish? Young Mr. Alvarez is completely home-grown, if not entirely welcome at home. He's neither a transient nor the advance for that crime-wave we've been told to expect. Probably a hapless hero among his peers.

Anonymous said...

Good thing the cop didn't kill his friend when he failed to hit his target or the poor kid would have been in prison 25-life.

The arresting officers clearly had no business using lethal force against an unarmed, fleeing suspect... but in my experience Pacifica Police use just about any excuse to use excessive force on someone so long as they are Hispanic.

Same holds true for the excessive sentence... just another example of the rampant racism in the criminal justice system in America.

I'm putting money on Alvarez's books and meeting him when he gets released to offer him a job.

This kid is my new hero. He deserves better, and we deserve a better police force.