The sound of greater than a dozen fast hearth gunshots despatched Angela Rivera working down her road.
It was about 2:30 a.m. and moments earlier, her son had pushed by whereas being pursued by a number of California Freeway Patrol cruisers.
When Rivera reached the supply of the gunfire, she realized her 21-year-old son Sei-Jah Rivera was mortally wounded by a dozen gunshots from a lone CHP officer. Three different officers chasing Rivera didn’t hearth their weapons, however authorities say Rivera had pulled a gun and the capturing officer perceived he was underneath fast risk.
Whereas there may be CHP dashcam footage from that morning of Feb. 26, the capturing itself isn’t captured on digicam. That’s as a result of, specialists say, the CHP had, till lately, been stubbornly sluggish in deploying physique cameras inside its ranks.
“There isn’t a motive nowadays, when the digicam know-how is so available, to not have body-worn cameras on officers within the area,” stated Geoffrey Alpert, a professor of criminology and legal Justice on the College of South Carolina.
Over the past decade, legislation enforcement businesses in California and throughout the nation have regularly built-in body-worn cameras into their operations. A examine from 2016 estimated practically 80% of huge legislation enforcement businesses had acquired body-worn cameras, based on the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and since then further native businesses have adopted go well with.
CHP dashcam footage from that Feb. 26 morning displaying the moments earlier than Sei-Jah Rivera was shot. The capturing itself isn’t captured on digicam.
(California Freeway Patrol)
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Workplace set guidelines for its body-worn cameras in 2016, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division started budgeting for them in 2020, and San Bernardino County started offering them to deputies final 12 months.
However the CHP is simply starting to catch up.
In 2022, the CHP had about 7,600 officers, however solely 3% of them — or about 240 — had been outfitted with body-worn cameras, based on reporting from CalMatters.
At present, about 1,500 CHP officers have them — however they’re all positioned within the Sacramento Valley and Bay Space, a division spokesperson stated.
The state Legislature accredited $9.9 million within the 2024/2025 finances to buy body-worn cameras for the CHP and $4.9 million for ongoing prices, however the tools has not but been deployed and coaching is underway.
CHP officers in Southern California ought to start receiving body-worn cameras within the subsequent 6-8 weeks, however that’s little comfort for Rivera’s household.
“The State’s refusal thus far to equip CHP officers with BWCs (body-worn cameras) will make our job more durable however not not possible,” the household’s lawyer David Fiol stated.
On Might 14, the household filed a wrongful loss of life lawsuit towards the CHP. The company declined to touch upon pending litigation.
“As a result of we will’t rely solely on the statements of the 4 officers on the scene, and Mr. Rivera cannot present his model of occasions, we’re working with certified specialists to scrutinize the target proof we do have,” Fiol stated, “together with the dashcam video and audio and the coroner’s report, to reconstruct the moments earlier than the defendant started capturing.”
On Feb. 26, Sei-Jah Rivera was driving his father’s work van when the CHP stated he ran a crimson mild after which refused to cease. On the time, Angela Rivera didn’t notice it however she was watching the pursuit unfold as she tracked her son’s location with a cellphone app, as she waited for him to come back dwelling from an evening out together with his cousins.
Inside minutes, she watched her son’s location go by their dwelling with the sound of blaring sirens. CHP dashcam movies offered to the household present what transpired from there:
Rivera drove to the tip of a cul de sac and tried to show round, however a CHP officer rammed into the aspect of the van, incapacitating it.
CHP dashcam footage from that Feb. 26 morning reveals a muzzle-flash from a CHP officer’s service weapon when Sei-Jah Rivera was shot.
(CHP)
A CHP officer then ordered Rivera to close off the engine and get out.
“Hey, flip it off. Flip it the f— off. Flip it the f— off.” the officer shouted. “Hey, flip it off otherwise you’re going to get shot!”
Rivera exited the van and a gun was seen in his left pocket, based on the household’s lawsuit. As he exited, he ignored the officers and walked, then trotted, across the automobile towards a fence. On the identical time, two close by CHP officers reached out to seize him however had been unsuccessful.
The moments after the officers did not seize Rivera are obscured by the van, however the audio is obvious.
Somebody is heard shouting “gun! gun! gun! gun! gun!” then an officer is seen unloading his firearm at Rivera. One officer is heard yelling “cease! cease!” a number of instances earlier than the capturing concludes.
Then, somebody says “He threw it. He threw it over the fence.”
Rivera’s handgun was recovered on the scene, based on the post-mortem report.
The household claims of their lawsuit that Rivera had his again to officers when he tossed his gun over the fence then surrendered. The criticism claims the officer fired 16 instances and “continued to shoot even after Sei-Jah raised his empty fingers as an indication of submission,” although it doesn’t specify what that account relies off.
In response to the post-mortem, Rivera was struck by 12 rounds, together with a number of that hit him within the again and left shoulder and one which entered the again of his head. Officers rendered help on the scene however Rivera succumbed to his wounds, based on the report.
Angela Rivera stated she rushed to the scene however was turned away by officers.
“I simply wished to present him one final hug, however they pushed me away like an animal,” she stated
The Occasions confirmed the dashcam footage to use-of-force specialists who independently reviewed the footage. They agreed that it’s troublesome to make out the trade that result in the capturing, as a result of the van obscures the view.
“We’re not going to ask an officer to threat his life by saying, ‘Oh, I’m wondering if he’s attempting to eliminate the gun or he’s going to shoot me,’” stated Ed Obayashi, a deputy sheriff in Modoc County and a legislation enforcement coverage advisor to police businesses throughout the state. “The officer would have been justified in feeling that there was an instantaneous risk to his life and his different officers, whatever the topic’s intentions.”
It’s unclear what brought on the officer to shoot, but it surely’s affordable to imagine that Rivera pulled out a gun when he was on the opposite aspect of the van based mostly on the sequence of occasions, Obayashi stated.
He added that it’s common for officers to fireside a number of instances in a matter of seconds in such situations and, within the absence of bodycam footage, investigators should rely closely on officer statements and what threats they perceived, whereas figuring out why solely the one officer fired. It’s unclear what the field of regard appeared like for the officers who didn’t hearth, Obayashi stated, however they might have been involved about hitting the officer in the event that they opened hearth when he was so near Rivera.
The incident is being investigated by an outdoor legislation enforcement company as is customary protocol for officer-involved shootings in California.
Jerry Rodriguez, a retired 35-year legislation enforcement officer and professional witness, stated that the place of Rivera’s gun performs a consider how the capturing officer responded.
“He fired 16 rounds, and we’re accountable for each spherical that we discharge,” Rodriguez stated. “So, with a view to assess the target reasonableness of that, you’d have to have the ability to discern what risk was being posed to the officer on the time.”
In response to the Los Angeles County Medical-Examiner’s post-mortem and toxicology studies, Rivera was 6 toes tall, 288 kilos and was underneath the affect of opiates when he was killed.
His household stated he liked to sing and dance and had misplaced about 100 kilos over the previous 12 months as he labored towards his objective to affix the U.S. Navy and his long-term aspiration was to turn out to be a firefighter.
“He was working each day and attempting his greatest to get into form,” his older brother, Okalani Langi stated.
Fiol, the household lawyer, stated officers can’t justify capturing Rivera due to the mere sight of a gun. He pointed to a choice final 12 months from the ninth Circuit Courtroom of Appeals that dominated a San Jose police officer may stand trial in a 2019 deadly capturing involving a duplicate gun and was not protected by certified immunity, a typical protect from legal responsibility for legislation enforcement.
“The underside line is the defendant shot at an unarmed man sixteen instances,” Fiol stated, suggesting Rivera had already tossed the gun when he was shot.
Alpert, the criminology professor, stated the vast majority of the time body-worn cameras affirm an officer’s model of occasions. However there are instances the place an officer’s report doesn’t align with what the footage reveals, like when LAPD officers had been discovered to be out of division coverage once they repeatedly used a stun-gun on a instructor in 2023 and the person later died.
That’s why the know-how is essential and must be embraced, stated Alpert, the criminology professor.
“It turns into an ethical compass concern,” he stated. “Why would a police chief not need to have his officers outfitted with cameras?”
