‘Stand up and make changes’: Modesto protesters call for end to police violence
About 40 people gathered Saturday afternoon in downtown Modesto in response to national news about recent police killings and other acts of police violence.
Leaders from multiple organizations called for justice and police reform as they marched from Tenth Street Plaza across downtown streets, making stops in front of the Modesto police station and Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office on their way to Graceada Park.
Darlene Ruiz spoke in front of the DA’s office about her son Trevor Seever, who was fatally shot in December by Modesto police officer Joseph Lamantia. Seever was experiencing a mental health crisis at the time of his death, Ruiz said, and didn’t deserve to die for it.
“We need to stand up and make changes,” Ruiz said. “The police don’t rule us.”
Multiple incidents of police violence have made national news this month. They sit against the background of the continuing trial of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is charged with the death of George Floyd in June. Floyd’s death sparked nationwide Black Lives Matter protests and stronger calls for police reform.
Caron Nunez, an Army officer, filed a racial discrimination lawsuit April 2 in the Eastern District of Virginia after a December incident in which police officers pepper sprayed and struck him during a traffic stop. Body camera and cell phone footage of the incident was circulated in the days after the filing.
On April 11, Duante Wright, 20, was shot and killed by a police officer in Minnesota during a traffic stop. Brooklyn Center officer Kim Potter, who said she meant to use her Taser on Wright instead of a gun, has since been charged with second-degree murder.
Then Chicago officials released body camera footage Thursday from March 29 of officer Eric Stillman fatally shooting 13-year-old Adam Toledo during a foot chase, almost immediately after telling the boy to put his hands in the air.
Jaimee Ellison, an organizer with Black Lives Matter Turlock, said many of her friends were hit particularly hard by the death of 13-year-old Toledo. They told her they felt as if the Latino teen could have been their own brother.
Ellison, who is Black, said she wanted to show solidarity with the area’s Latino population in addition to standing up against the brutality against Black people such as Wright.
“It’s very important that we stand up for injustice no matter what race,” Ellison said. “We just felt it was time to bring something back to Modesto.”
This story was originally published April 17, 2021 at 3:45 PM.
