Councilman
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
http://www.contracostatimes.com/crime-courts/ci_22470264/walnut-creek-parents-man-shot-death-by-police
By Erin Ivie
eivie@bayareanewsgroup.com
eivie@bayareanewsgroup.com
Posted:
01/28/2013 09:38:21 PM PST
Updated:
01/30/2013 08:30:27 AM PST
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.
Walnut Creek interim police chief named
Walnut Creek interim police chief named
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.
Inmate Norman Wielsch
petercbennett123May 10, 2013CNET, Contra Costa Narcotics Enforcement Taskforce, US Grand Jury
No comments
Disgraced former Contra Costa drug cop apologizes for 'tarnishing the badge'
By Katie Nelson
Contra Costa Times
Posted:
05/09/2013 06:22:47 PM PDT
Updated:
05/09/2013 06:22:48 PM PDT
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
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Job Title: Bouncer
Location: Round Up Lafayette CA
Accident: Solo Motorcycle accident, no witness
On the night of his death he was at Round Up. We often chatted between songs when I would sing Karaoke. That night we chatted - nothing important but do remember him getting on his bike and 20 minutes later he was found deceased a few miles west of Round Up
David Kristopher Schafer
David Kristopher Schafer April 8, 1990 - August 2, 2012 Oakland, CA
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CNET: Officer Lombardi
Date:
Former San Ramon Officer Gets Three Years in Prison for CNET Scandal
TAGX:CNET101
WCPD - Banta Shooting - another failure
My personal story leads into the Banta Shooting via events leading to the shooting. My very strong opinion is the city could have taken my strong advice and made changes. Instead months later I'm being setup while in custody by former Danville Deputies who placed a Berserker in my cell on March 30th 2012 - shortly after that after making a call to post bail my friend was murdered in Concord. Of Course I filed a police report that my brakes were sabotaged a few days later.
Sorry Pete you can't have your police reports - we don't do them for attempted murder.
Chronological Events
Sorry Pete you can't have your police reports - we don't do them for attempted murder.
Chronological Events
CNET: Commander Norman Wielsch
Ex-narcotics squad commander pleads guilty to stealing and selling drug evidence, robbing prostitutes
By Malaika Fraley
Contra Costa Times
© Copyright 2012, Bay Area News Group
Posted: 12/05/2012 01:05:54 PM PST
Updated: 12/05/2012 04:39:52 PM PST
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_22130934/ex-narcotics-cop-pleads-guilty-stealing-drug-evidence
OAKLAND -- The ousted head of an elite Contra Costa County vice squad pleaded guilty to five felonies in federal court Wednesday, nearly two years after his state Department of Justice colleagues caught him selling stolen drug evidence.
Former Central Contra Costa Narcotics Enforcement (CNET) Cmdr. Norman Wielsch, 51, of Antioch, kissed his father before he stood in front of the judge and admitted to selling drugs that had been seized by CNET agents, robbing prostitutes and making phony arrests.
He was taken into custody after, in a barely audible tone, he said he was "guilty" of crimes dating back to 2009. His plea was part of a deal he made with federal prosecutors.
Wielsch, a law enforcement officer for 25 years, apologized for the shame he brought to the badge, and particularly the members of CNET, a Department of Justice operation that was shut down after Wielsch's arrest.
"We (at CNET) did a lot a lot of good things before I did all these stupid things," Wielsch said.
"Most of all, I want to say sorry to my dad, who I let down and brought disgrace to my family name," he said, breaking down in tears. "I'm very sorry."
A judge will decide how much prison time Wielsch receives at his sentencing hearing scheduled for Feb. 19.
The federal sentencing guidelines call for between 14 and 17.5 years in federal prison. Wielsch's attorney, Michael Cardoza, says he's forbidden from arguing for fewer than 10.
Wielsch
Describing to the judge how he and former Concord private investigator Christopher Butler would make dates with prostitutes they found on the Internet and then rob them, Wielsch stopped himself and said, "I'm sorry, I really can't believe we did this."
Butler and Wielsch, friends since they were on the Antioch police force together in the 1990s, were arrested in a state Department of Justice sting in February 2011, prompting a countywide police-corruption probe that expanded to include allegations that the pair ran a Pleasant Hill brothel and led to more arrests.
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 in January to three years. 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 P.I. firm clients for DUI arrests.
San Ramon attorney Mary Nolan, of Oakland, is among the defendants being sued in civil court for the so-called Dirty DUI scheme. She is also awaiting trial on charges that she and Butler used eavesdropping equipment on her clients' estranged spouses.
Butler, 51, of Concord, also took a plea deal and was sentenced in September to eight years in federal prison. His attorney said Butler was motivated by a need for cash when his business suffered at the expense of his failed attempt to launch his own reality TV show.
Cardoza said Wednesday that it's unclear why Wielsch "went bad" after serving "the public honorably for a number of years."
"I don't think even Norm knows the answer to that," Cardoza said.