National Scrutiny of Fatal Police Shootings Reminds Us of Two OBceans Killed By Cops

There is a soul-searching national scrutiny going on right now about fatal shootings of civilians by police officers.

In a LA Times article, published Nov. 16th, the issue of police killings of civilians is raised and it describes how the ranks of families are expanding “who demand answers about why lethal force was used, and who decides what is reasonable use of force.”

The key and central question is : What’s reasonable force?

This is significant in what happened in Ferguson, Missouri, in the shooting death of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old African-American – the incident that has heightened an awareness across the country into police-civilian issues. First, was the horror at the level and types of military hardware and equipment displayed by the Ferguson police.  This caused a revulsion that swept the country and was even felt here in San Diego when the local school district returned their military-tank-truck, donated to them by the Pentagon.

And next is a national conscience-probing of the numbers of civilians killed by police officers, and also how difficult it is for civilians to have the police officers involved in non-reasonable shootings indicted or convicted. The LA Times:

Those questions are in play in Missouri right now, as a grand jury weighs whether to indict police Officer Darren Wilson in the Aug. 9 shooting death of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old. … The hurdles for indicting or convicting a uniformed officer are high, for many reasons.

“There’s a great deal of deserved respect for the difficulties of being a police officer,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Irvine School of Law. “There’s a desire to give great deference to police officers.”

As with Ferguson, critics sometimes see law enforcement agencies as reluctant to go after their own members.

To add to all this, police killings of suspected felons are the highest they’ve been in 2 decades.

This needed soul-searching reminds us of the two fatal shootings of OBceans by police over the years.

First in 1991 there was Tony Tumminia, a 21-year-old OB native who was gunned down by police on West Pt Loma Avenue.

And in 2003, the well-known homeless man, Danny “the Walker” was fatally shot in front of dozens of witnesses – also on West Pt Loma.

Tony Tummania

As a young kid in OB, Tony lived at the beach – as he and his slightly older brother Dominique – had the run of the War Zone, living on Brighton and then on West Pt Loma, right off the San Diego River. Their navy father had abandoned them years before and they lived with their mom, Diana.

Diana was very active during the early, mid 1970s as an activist in Ocean Beach, so both Tony and Dom were very well known in the local social circles of the progressive crowd.

Tony went to all the local schools, and subsequently, became involved in local youth circles that flirted with fringe lifestyles.  By time he was 21, he lived in a small cottage in the 4900 block of West Pt Loma. One morning, police detectives came knocking on his door. They had issues to discuss.

It’s unclear just exactly what happened, but at some point Tony took the detectives to his parked truck, resting in the parking lot of what’s now the restaurant the Third Corner. They got into a tussle over nun-chucks, and the cops shot him, dead. He died right there on the sidewalk.

Shocked, the community had a memorial protest a few days later. Diana Tummania was so shaken that after she moved from OB not too long after, she has never set foot in the community since. She sued the police and city and obtained some small amount of change.

Danny “the Walker” Woodyard

On February 4, 2003, a well-known homeless man who OBceans also saw walking around the community, Danny “the Walker” Woodyard was fatally shot by cops on West Point Loma Avenue near the intersection with Voltaire Street, a few yards from the entrance to north beach parking lot.

That  morning he had been dumpster diving with his only tool, an old knife.  Thinking he was a drug dealer they were looking for, Danny was confronted by police officers, who ordered him to drop his knife.  What happened next was viewed by dozens of OB residents who called out – even yelled – to the police from their porches, front doors and windows not to shoot the man.

Here’s a report we made in 2008:

On February 4, 2003, police officers shot and killed Danny as he too was supposedly advancing on police with a knife. Although, that incident occurred in front of dozens of OB residents, who were outraged by the blatant killing of a known homeless man, slightly mentally off, who had been “dumpster diving” that morning with his digging tool, a knife.

Just several days later, OBGO (Ocean Beach Grassroots Organization) led 500 locals and family in a memorial to Danny at the site of what many in the community believed was a murder, and then a march down Abbott Street to a rally at the foot of Newport. Hundreds chanted, “Stop police brutality!” This was 2003! Not the Sixties or Seventies!

To calm the community, the DA’s Office organized a public forum at the OB Rec Center on March 4th – exactly a month after the killing. DA Dumanis was there, along with then-police chief Jerry Sanders, the Councilman and psychologists and counselors. Chief Sanders made a big point of how many resources the police have to assist the homeless, especially the mentally-ill homeless, from shelters, therapists, to non-lethal weapons, — none of which were available for some reason the morning Danny was shot. And apparently, none were available the day that Dominic Long was killed, either.

Danny’s shooting was particularly disturbing, not because it was done in front of so many residents, not because the residents’ version of what happened differed sharply with the police account and the later DA exoneration, but that it was the fourth killing by police of homeless men with mental problems within three years – back then.

On May 17, 2003, the DA’s Office released a report saying the Woodyard shooting was justified. [For the OBRag’s report on that, go here.]

There was a lot of talk back after Danny’s shooting about the use of lethal force by police, and all the non-lethal alternatives they have. But it was continually pointed out by the DA and police that officers – when placed in a position to shoot their weapon – always, always shoot to kill. This policy – apparently – has not changed.

Here we are, years later, and the nation is having  this discussion.