A police officer in Danville, California is facing felony charges for fatally shooting a Filipino man more than two years ago.
What happened: Andrew Hall, of the Danville Police Department, shot Laudemer Arboleda, 33, during a traffic pursuit that lasted for nine minutes on Nov. 3, 2018.
- Police reportedly chased Arboleda after receiving calls about a “suspicious” person knocking on houses and ringing doorbells.
- Footage shows Hall trying to block Arboleda’s car and then fatally shooting him multiple times.
- Arboleda, who was shot nine times, had been hospitalized for psychiatric reasons and was afraid of police taking him back there, his mother Jeannie Atienza told the Associated Press.
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The charges: Hall was charged with voluntary manslaughter and assault with a semi-automatic firearm on April 21, 2021.
- In a statement, District Attorney Diana Becton said Hall had used “unreasonable and unnecessary force” which endangered not only Arboleda’s life “but the lives of fellow officers and citizens in the immediate area.”
- Hall’s indictment came just a month after he shot Tyrell Wilson, a transient Black man — who was also mentally ill — for allegedly throwing rocks onto a freeway.
- Civil rights attorney John Burris, who represents both families, said Hall failed to use de-escalation techniques in both cases, according to KGO.
- “Our view was if they had been prosecuted earlier our second client would not be dead,” he said.
Burris wants the Justice Department to examine the shootings for a possible pattern of racism. “All I know is a Black man and a Filipino man were both killed in a town that is predominantly white,” he told AP.
Featured Image Screenshots via The Mercury News (left), KPIX CBS SF Bay Area (right)
