Month: July 2021

Ian Simmers from Kent, WA, spent nearly 23 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.

In March 1995 Simmers, then 16, and his friend were picked up by police for allegedly shooting off flare guns near Lake Washington a few days after the brutal murder of a 35-year-old, Rodney Gochanaur.

Despite having no probable cause to link the boys to Mr. Gochanaur’s murder, police officers held them incommunicado from parents and Simmers’ attorney, ignored Simmer’s request to remain silent, and berated and cajoled the boys through the night. Simmers’ mother was refused access to her son. Isolated and exhausted, after nearly 10 hours Simmers finally gave a transparently false confession full of wrong information about the murder.

There was no physical evidence linking Simmers to the crime. Simmers spent his life from age 16 to nearly age 40 behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit. DNA testing of the murder weapon, definitively clearing him, finally led to his release in 2019. In January 2021 Simmers sued Bothell, WA and King County and several of their police officers in federal court for illegally coercing a false murder confession out of him in 1995.

Lymond Moses was shot and killed by police officers in Wilmington, Delaware.

The incident began in the early hours of Jan. 13 when a police officer approached a car where Moses was sleeping. According to police, the officer woke up Moses and the two engaged in a verbal confrontation. Police repeatedly asked Moses to get out of the car.

Police body camera video shows Moses disobeying police commands and driving away and then presumably turning around. The footage then shows Moses appearing to drive forward and in the general direction of the three police officers, but not directly at them. Police say the officers believed they “were in imminent danger” so two of them fired their guns and killed Moses. The three officers have since been placed on administrative leave while the incident is under investigation.

In April 2021 family of Moses has filed a lawsuit against New Castle County, Delaware, as well as the New Castle County Department of Public Safety, the New Castle County Police Department and the involved officers in his death. The family is suing the agencies and officers for violating Moses’ constitutional rights that the lawsuit states led to Moses’ death.

On August 22, 2021, was held a demonstration in front of house of Kathy Jennings, Delaware’s attorney general. The mission of demonstrators was to get Jennings to file criminal charges against the two unidentified New Castle County police officers who shot Lymond Moses.

Steve Maia Caniço, 24, went missing and died after he fell into the river in the city of Nantes, France, when police raided a music festival.

Steve Maia Caniço was last seen in the early hours of June 22, 2019, when he and his friends visited a free techno party at a quay of Loire River. Police intervened to end the party when it failed to end in the early hours of morning on June 22, saying the music “had exceeded the set time”. Witnesses say police fired tear gas and rubber bullets as they tried to bring an end to a night of techno music.

There was no barrier along the river and a number of revellers fell in, before they were rescued by firefighters. Steve Maia Caniço fell into the river and went missing. His body was found in the river on July 29, 2019, 38 days after he disappeared.

In July 2021 an inquiry heard that Caniço fell into the river during the police raid. Prosecutor announced about summons of several people, including two police officers.

Alexander Gonzales, 27, was shot dead after an interaction with an off-duty cop that started on a highway in Austin, TX.

The officer claimed Gonzales cut him off and brandished a gun, so he followed the man and shot at him six times hitting Gonzales and his female passenger. The couple’s baby was in the backseat of the car.

When police show up, Gonzales — likely disoriented from being shot — does not listen to their commands and instead walks around to the passenger side of the car. Gonzales could have simply been checking on the baby’s mother. However, because he did not listen to their commands, another officer opened fire on him killing him on the spot.

Police admitted Gonzales was not holding a gun at the time and only claimed that they found “what they believe is his gun” in the car. In April 2021, family of Gonzales announced that they are going to fill a lawsuit against police officers, involved in the shooting.

On August 2 2021 the family held vigil for Gonzales to push for accountability. According to the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, the district attorney’s office’s Civil Rights unit and Austin Police Department’s Special Investigations unit are conducting a joint investigation in this case. They likely won’t decide to present this to a grand jury until later this year.

Edward Snowshoe, 24, died by suicide in August 2010 after spending 162 days in segregation in federal prison of Manitoba, Canada.

Snowshoe was serving a five-year sentence for shooting and injuring a cab driver. Snowshoe was placed in segregation — with no access to the general population — after brandishing a knife made from a juice box in March 2010. After his transfer to the maximum-security Edmonton Institution in July 2010, he requested to be released from segregation, but a 2014 inquiry found his request went missing and was not located until after his death.

The Snowshoe family notes that he attempted suicide at least three times before he was placed in segregation in Manitoba. The family alleges that his wrongful death resulted from systemic discrimination against him as an Indigenous person.

In April 2021 Snowshoe’s family filled a wrongful death lawsuit against the federal government. The lawsuit seeks $12.5 million in damages.

Mario Gonzalez, 26, died on April 19, 2021, after he was restrained by police officers in Alameda, Northern California.

According to police, they received a 911 call about a disoriented man in the park who appeared to be drunk. Police talked with Gonzalez for nearly an hour before finally throwing him to the ground and pinning him down for over five minutes.

Gonzalez was lying face-down on some wood chips and was heard shouting and grunting as the officers used their body weight to control him. One officer seemed to put an elbow on his neck and a knee on his shoulder. When Gonzalez stopped breathing, the officers rolled him over onto his back and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but he was pronounced dead at a hospital.

In June 2021 the family of Mario Gonzalez has filed a wrongful death claim against the city of Alameda alleging the officers detained Gonzalez without reasonable suspicion and caused him to die of asphyxia.