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

http://www.contracostatimes.com/crime-courts/ci_22470264/walnut-creek-parents-man-shot-death-by-police

By Erin Ivie
eivie@bayareanewsgroup.com

Posted:   01/28/2013 09:38:21 PM PST

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.

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Walnut Creek interim police chief named

By Elisabeth Nardi
Contra Costa Times

Posted:   05/10/2013 11:00:08 AM PDT

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.

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