Trường hợp lần này là anh rể Kwang Tae Lee, 61, và em vợ, Richard Kim, 49, người Korea ở một khu phố trung lưu thuộc thành phố Dublin, California, không phải là một khu vực lộn xộn bạo lực. Ngày 11/8/2005, cảnh sát đến nhà ông Kim sau một cú gọi trường hợp "domestic disturbance".
Sau khi có mặt ở hiện trường, cảnh sát thấy ông Lee đang cầm một con dao nên ra lệnh cho ông này bỏ dao xuống nhiều lần nhưng ông Lee không tuân lệnh. Không tuân lệnh thì sao? Thì cảnh sát bắn xối xả chứ sao? Ông Lee bị trúng nhiều phát đạn và chết tại chỗ. Không những ông Lee chết mà một viên đạn lạc khác cũng giết chết ông Kim đang núp sau một cánh cửa gần đó!
Cuộc điều tra sau đó của Văn phòng Công tố Alameda County nói rằng vụ bắn này là hợp pháp, những cảnh sát liên quan sẽ không chịu trách nhiệm hình sự.
Luật sư của gia đình Kim thì nói rằng dân quyền của ông bà Kim và anh rể đã bị vi phạm vì một là ông Lee không hiểu tiếng Anh. Hai là trong khi em dâu ông ta đang ráng trao đổi với ông ta thì cảnh sát nổ súng.
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Diverse Crowd Remembers Korean Men Shot and Killed by Police
New America Media, News Report +
, Wendy Rockett, Video: Mona Koh//Min Lee, Posted: Oct 13, 2005http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=3a6977bc03b562d31...
DUBLIN, Calif. -- Some 150 people gathered at a candlelight vigil in front of city hall Tuesday to remember the two Korean men shot and killed by local police last month. The crowd demanded a thorough investigation of the incident as well as community input on police trainings and reviews.
On Aug. 11 police officers responded to a domestic disturbance at the home of Richard Kim. They found Kim’s brother-in-law, Kwang Tae Lee, 61, holding a knife. According to a police statement, Lee did not drop the knife after being asked to do so repeatedly by police. Community members say Lee had been drinking and did not speak English. Police shot Lee several times and one of the shots hit and killed Kim, 49, who was standing behind a door nearby.
Mrs. Kim asks for justice for her slain husband and brother. |
“Please help bring justice to their tragic and unnecessary deaths,” pleaded Jeeyoung Kim, widow and also the sister of Lee. Kim fought back the sobs as she addressed the crowd which included Korean-American civil rights groups, Dublin residents, college students, mainstream media and Korean and Chinese media.
After the shooting occurred, Kim and Lee’s wife were placed in a hotel room and told not to leave. Police officers told the women the next morning that they had to vacate the room unless they paid for it. The Dublin police have not yet explained these actions.
Kim is working with renowned civil rights attorney John Burris to take legal action against the Dublin police. The newly formed Korean American Bay Area Justice Coalition is also calling for an independent, public investigation. The police report is still not yet available and Kim herself has not spoken publicly about what happened that night.
The Korean American Bay Area Justice Coalition is also asking for improved training for the police force and the establishment of a civilian police review board.
Reverend Myung Sep Lee, a minister from the Korean Presbyterian church of Tri-Valley, gave a sermon at the vigil.
Reverend Lee speaks at vigil. |
“This is a kind of sorrow and deep grief that we never expected. However, we know God is alive in America, especially because God blessed America,” Lee said.
A Dublin City Council meeting took place at the same time as the vigil. Several people from the vigil spoke during the public comment period of the meeting to Dublin’s mayor Janet Lockhart and city council members.
"I want to live in a safe city. If police kills residents, how can I live in Dublin?" said Sungho Suh, a Korean American resident of Dublin who didn’t know the Kims personally but wanted to express his concern.
Chris Markoo, another resident of Dublin said, “I realized it’s not just a Korean issue, it’s a Dublin issue, and therefore involves me.”
Thirty students from San Francisco State University came to show their support for the widow. They carried signs with messages such as “Don’t Hate, De-escalate” and “Respect Cultural Sensitivity.”
"I couldn't believe that this was happening in Dublin,” said Ashlie Sandoval, an SFSU student who grew up in Dublin. “We hope that someone would take notice and think about their actions. This is why we're here."
There have been other Asian American victims of police misconduct in the Bay Area. Cau Tran, a Vietnamese American, was shot in her San Jose home two years ago because she was holding a vegetable peeler. Kuang Chung Kao, a Chinese American, was shot outside his home in Rohnert Park in 1997 because the police assumed he had deadly martial arts skills.
Because of this pattern of police misconduct, New California Media (the creator of this site) last month gathered representatives from Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean media to discuss actions they can take to prevent cultural conflicts when dealing with the police. The media representatives also discussed how to work together.
Jonathan Bae, co-counsel for Kim, said, "We need to keep this issue alive in the public mind.”
“We're hoping the media can help so that people, as well as those who are in a position to change police practices policy and training don't forget," Bae said.
It is unclear how long and what legal action will take. But Ms. Kim told KTVU 2 News later that night that she is heartened by the support she has received.
“I’m ready for the long fight,” she said.
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DA says Dublin police shootings were justifiable
The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office has ruled that a Dublin police shooting of two Korean men in August was justifiable.
In a letter to Dublin police chief Gary Thuman that accompanied the report, District Attorney Tom Orloff wrote “I have reviewed and agree that although the result is tragic, there is insufficient evidence to prove criminal liability against Dublin police deputy Tara Russell and Dublin police deputy David Taylor.”
On Aug. 11, officers answering a disturbance call shot Kwang Tae-Lee, 61, of Korea after he refused to put down a knife inside his sister’s Dublin home. One bullet hit homeowner Richard Kim, Tae-Lee’s brother-in-law, who was hiding behind a bedroom door.
Members of the Korean community are upset that the report, completed in March, has just now come to light.
“We were pretty surprised that no one was notified,” said Hun Kim, executive director of the Korean Community Center of the East Bay. “People we thought might know about the report didn’t know about it and were just as surprised as anyone.”
Kim said he and others have asked for months about when the investigation would be complete.
From the beginning, the Korean community has called for transparency and impartiality in the investigation and for cultural sensitivity training for police, especially because Tae-Lee did not understand English.
Immediately after the shooting, police did not disclose that Kim had been shot by police until he died three days later.
Many in the Korean community were not so much surprised by the District Attorney’s findings but of how it was released. A local newspaper had to file a Public Records Act request to get it.
Others are angry about the delay, said B. J. Han, a reporter for the Korea Times.
“They are so upset the D.A.’s office did not disclose the report for almost two months,” he said.
Dublin contracts for police services with the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office. Department spokesman Lt. Jim Knudsen referred questions to county counsel, Richard Winnie. Neither Winnie, nor senior deputy district attorney John Jay, the report’s author, were available to comment Friday.
According to the report, on Aug. 11, neighbors said they had difficulty sleeping because of loud singing and then screams coming from the Kims house in the 3000 block of Innisbrook Way.
Jee Kim told police her husband and her brother had fought earlier and she and her sister-in-law had to separate them. Autopsies showed Richard Kim had a blood alcohol level of .20 and Tae-Lee .19.
Jee told investigators her husband yelled before he closed the bedroom door that he was calling the police. She said she told her brother, in Korean, when the police were in the house.
According to the report, officers arrived about 11:40 p.m. and heard screams. They knocked on the door and tried to kick it in. From the window, Deputy Russell saw Tae-Lee walk up the stairs with a knife and saw Yang Oh, Tae-Lee’s wife, come downstairs walking with difficulty, clutching her side. Oh, who later said she had been drinking that night, let the officers in.
Because of her condition, the deputies thought Oh had been an assault victim. Russell also saw Tae-Lee carry the knife above his head and head toward an upstairs bedroom, where deputies later found Richard Kim behind a door.
The report says the officers thought they, the two women, and whoever was in the bedroom, were in danger of being stabbed or killed. Both repeatedly ordered him to put the knife down. When he did not, they fired.
Tae-Lee was shot five times and died at the scene. A bullet from Russell’s gun pierced the door and hit Richard Kim in the left arm and left eye. He died three days later at Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley.
“To justify the filing of criminal charges, it is necessary to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the killings were neither justifiable nor accidental,” the report concluded. “There is credible evidence that the first shots were fired at Mr. Lee in defense of another and subsequent shots were fired in defense of others and in self-defense. Sadly, one round fired at Mr. Lee passed through the door and accidentally struck Mr. Kim.”
According to the district attorney’s report, a homicide is justifiable if the person believes the victim was going to commit “a forcible and atrocious crime” and danger was immediate.
Oakland attorney John Burris has filed a $60 million wrongful death claim on behalf of Richard Kim’s family. Burris said he did not get the report until about a week ago.
Burris said the civil rights of his client, her brother and her husband, were violated.
“(Tae-Lee) was never given a sufficient opportunity to comply,” Burris said. “One, he didn’t speak English; and two, as his sister was communicating with him in Korean, he was shot.”
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