The Anatomy of Public Corruption

Anthony Banta Jr.

To the family bringing litigation against the City of Walnut Creek 
First I am sorry for the loss but for me this is personal as he makes the fourth person known to me suffer this fate.  On August 5th 2011 faced Captain Schultz, Sgt. Mike Chan and a detective who was following me after my car was totaled in a hit and run
The person connected to accident was the youth director from Hillside Covenant Church who targeted me but worse just days before my June 2012 hearing in Butte County the "other" youth director attempted to run me over at the Safeway in Walnut Creek at 600 S. Broadway.  

Hillside Covenant Church youth director were stalking my sons for over a year and likely are connected

 
 


Share:

Bacterial Infections, Accidents and Deaths

Councilman
Share:

Parents of Walnut Creek man shot to death by police file $15 million lawsuit

Parents of Walnut Creek man shot to death by police file $15 million lawsuit

By Erin Ivie
eivie@bayareanewsgroup.com
Updated:   01/30/2013 08:30:27 AM PST

Click photo to enlarge
Walnut Creek hair dresser Anthony Banta, 22. (Photo Courtesy of Mandy Grainger)
WALNUT CREEK -- The family of a hairdresser killed by Walnut Creek police last month is seeking $15 million in a wrongful-death suit filed against four members of the police department, alleging the 22-year-old man was shot after officers tripped and fell over one another.
Anthony Banta Jr. was killed Dec. 27 when officers say he charged them with a knife after a fight with his roommate in their Creekside Drive apartment. A lawsuit filed Jan. 24 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco maintains the altercation had ended by the time police arrived and that Banta was not armed. The lawsuit says that one officer fired in a panic after reacting to the other officers tripping and falling behind him, and that other officers also opened fire.
Walnut Creek police declined to comment on the lawsuit, referring all questions to James Fitzgerald, an attorney representing the city. Fitzgerald also declined to comment, saying the incident is still being investigated.
Fitzgerald said the joint investigation, which involves the police, the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office and the Contra Costa Crime Lab, could take at least three months but likely will take longer.
Police Chief Joel Bryden has previously said officers were forced to shoot when Banta came at them with a 10-inch knife.
The family's lawsuit, which names the city and four unidentified officers, said that Banta had just returned to the Bay Area after visiting relatives in Yuba City over Christmas. Banta got into an argument with his roommate, either over jealousy surrounding the roommate's girlfriend or "tidiness, noise or the many things that roommates can argue about," which led the roommate's girlfriend to make a 911 call about 3:15 a.m. reporting that Banta was trying to choke the other man, the lawsuit said.

Dispatchers reported to police that morning that they heard a struggle and a woman screaming on the phone before the 911 call ended abruptly, Bryden said at a Jan. 7 news conference.
Fitzgerald declined Tuesday to release the 911 tapes until the investigation is complete.
According to the complaint, the argument may have led to "throwing beverage cans or bottles, pushing or wrestling," but that the entire fight had ended before police arrived, and that the roommate had even managed to speak on the phone with California Highway Patrol dispatchers.
The lawsuit said Walnut Creek police responded "under cover of night and without a warrant," rushing to the landing of the first-floor stairway, where Banta, a hairdresser at a Walnut Creek salon, appeared at the top "wondering who was in his apartment."
It was when officers arrived at the landing, the
complaint alleges, that one of them backed up, forcing the other officers back, and tripping them to the floor. In the panic that ensued, one officer fired his gun, and the other officers "joined in, repeatedly shooting Anthony to death."Bryden said earlier this month that officers' knocks had gone unanswered, and the four officers walked into the apartment to find Banta at the top of the stairs, clutching a chef's knife with a 10-inch blade. When officers told him to drop his weapon, Banta suddenly charged down the stairs at them and they shot him.
The 12-page complaint does not mention a knife.
"No one was under any threat of harm," the complaint says. "Ultimately, only Anthony was harmed. Innocent of any wrongdoing, having only stood up for himself by denying the false allegations of the roommate, Anthony lay dead at age 22, never knowing that it was police officers of his hometown, whose duty it was to protect him, who had invaded his home and shot him to death."
Banta's family sought $15 million in damages in the complaint, along with funeral, burial and legal costs and a declaration regarding the officers' alleged "unlawful and unconstitutional" acts.
"No officer wants to shoot to kill," Bryden said earlier. "Officers don't shoot and kill anyone unless they are absolutely forced to."
Contact Erin Ivie at eivie@bayareanewsgroup.com. Follow her at Twitter.com/erin_ivie.
Share:

Walnut Creek interim police chief named

Walnut Creek interim police chief named

Updated:   05/10/2013 11:00:08 AM PDT





WALNUT CREEK -- City Manager Ken Nordhoff has named longtime Capt. Steve Skinner to become acting police chief upon Joel Bryden's retirement in two weeks.
Skinner's chief job is effective May 24. Skinner, a 25-year Walnut Creek police veteran, will serve until a new chief is in place. Interviews for the chief position took place in March and April after panel interviews and a preferred candidate has been identified, Nordhoff said.
Before coming to Walnut Creek, Skinner worked for the Washoe County Sheriff's Office in Reno while attending University of Nevada, Reno, where he got his bachelor's degree. He also has a master's degree from Cal State Hayward and has a total of 28 years of law enforcement experience.
Skinner grew up in Contra Costa County, attending Miramonte High School in Orinda He has been a police captain for three years, had been a lieutenant for 10 years and before that was sergeant and an officer/detective, all in Walnut Creek.

"I am very honored and excited to be given the opportunity to help transition our police department into the next generation of leadership and I am looking forward to working with both members of our department and the community as we move the (department) into the future," Skinner said in an e-mail.
He takes the reins from Bryden, who has been the city's police chief since June 2008. Bryden leaves with exactly five years on the job in Walnut Creek. He gave about six months notice, letting city officials know in December of his plans to retire.

Before coming to Walnut Creek, Bryden had been assistant police chief in San Diego, where he worked for 28 years, starting as a patrol officer. Bryden has been chief during some of the worst city budget cuts in the city's history, which caused fewer officers and led to the ending of school resource and motorcycle traffic officers.

Last month, Bryden said the department was on track to have around five new officers joining the ranks by the end of year. Bryden retires with a salary around $200,000 a year.

Contact Elisabeth Nardi at 925-952-2617. Follow her at Twitter.com/enardi10.

Share:
Share:

Inmate Norman Wielsch

Disgraced former Contra Costa drug cop apologizes for 'tarnishing the badge'

Updated:   05/09/2013 06:22:48 PM PDT

Click photo to enlarge
Former Contra Costa Narcotics Enforcement Team Commander, Norman Wielsch,... ( JIM STEVENS
MARTINEZ -- Disgraced former police officer Norman Wielsch apologized to a federal court Wednesday, saying just days before he'll be sentenced for conspiring to sell seized drugs that he had "tarnish(ed) the badge."
Wielsch, the former head of the Central Contra Costa Narcotics Enforcement Team (CNET), pleaded guilty in December to charges that he had sold drugs that had been seized by CNET agents, robbed prostitutes and made phony arrests.
Wielsch, who is scheduled to be sentenced by a federal judge May 20, said in his apology note that he resisted help from doctors and family for treatment of depression and post-traumatic stress. He said he was hesitant because of a belief among some law enforcement officers that admitting weakness means an officer cannot adequately perform his duties.
"I was a big macho cop," he said in the note. "I didn't need help."
But Wielsch admitted he was wrong, and that his destructive behavior has hurt many. He said while he gave 24 years of honest work, he realized he had made gross errors in judgment.
"I have seen things and been through things that would make a normal person go crazy after one incident," he said. "Please have mercy on me."
Federal sentencing guidelines call for between 14 and 17.5 years in federal prison. Wielsch's attorney, Michael Cardoza, has previously said that he's forbidden from arguing for fewer than 10 years.
Former Concord private investigator Christopher

Advertisement

Butler, who was also implicated in the criminal scheme, pleaded guilty last year to seven felony counts covering methamphetamine and marijuana distribution, theft, conspiracy, extortion, robbery and illegal wiretapping. He was sentenced to eight years in federal prison.Former CNET agent and San Ramon police officer Louis Lombardi, 40, of Discovery Bay, pleaded guilty to stealing drugs in the case and was sentenced to three years in prison. Former Danville officer Stephen Tanabe, 48, of Alamo, is awaiting trial on charges that he conspired with Butler to set up the estranged husbands of Butler's private investigation firm clients for DUI arrests.
Share:

Anchor links for post titles

Popular Posts

Blog Archive

Labels

Recent Posts

Popular Posts

Labels

Recent Posts

Pages

Labels

Blog Archive

Recent Posts