A few years ago, during a peaceful protest in front of my TV station, I filmed a car driving on the wrong side of the street. The angry wrong-way driver hit at least two people (one hit in the crosswalk inthen speeding off with somebody stuck on the hood. Two SRPD motorcycle cops repeatedly ordered her to pull over, which she finally did - about 420 feet down the road. Several eyewitnesses attempting to give their statements were, instead, ordered to leave, and there is no Police Report of the incident.
The driver told SRPD officer Brian Kohlman she was “late for work”, and that she had stopped her car, but her “passenger” on the hood had refused to get off. (Watch the video for yourself, and count how many times she stopped…)
While a Press Democrat reporter noted, among the day’s activities, a tan station wagon speeding down Mendocino Avenue with somebody on the hood of the car, that reporter wasn’t curious enough to follow up on what happened next. In fact, I have emailed her for years without any response.
As the 20th Anniversary of this “unsolved hit-and-run” approached, I contacted Editorial Director Jim Sweeney [(707)521-5201 - Jim.Sweeney@PressDemocrat.com]. While Editor Sweeney invited me to write an Op-Ed, he never printed it; not in time for the 20th Anniversary, not ever.
When I asked Anne Belden (on the Board of The Press Democrat Journalism Trust) if she could find a reporter to cover this “unsolved hit-and-run”, she refused and told me, “We don’t want people thinking the newspaper is Anti-Cop.”
The problem isn't just that a hit-and-run got covered up, but that a Santa Rosa Police officer grabbed my camera out of my hand, and shut it off, after I identified myself as a Journalist. The Press Democrat should be covering this story for that fact alone, to protect the rights of journalists everywhere - including their own employees.
Over the years, as I showed this video to Santa Rosa residents, many people told me, “Well, if somebody got in my way, I’d run them over, too!” Others point at the victim on my viewscreen and tell me, “He looks like somebody who deserved it!”
Coincidentally, SPRD officer Brian Kohlman is married to Dava Kolhman, who at that time was a Legal Assistant to Jill Ravitch, the former District Attorney for Sonoma County. I detailed this is in an earlier blog, as it explains why no charges were ever pressed against this cop turning a Willfully Blind eye to Vehicular Assaults in a crosswalk.
During the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, two more Vehicular Assaults occurred, on May 30 and June 20, according to a City of Santa Rosa report. Unlike the hit-and-run I filmed in front of Santa Rosa High School (which barely got mentioned), both the May 30 and June 20 vehicular assaults got their own Press Democrat article:
Furthermore, the multiple Human Rights Violations by Santa Rosa Police during these protests cost the city at least $2.3 million in settlements. In contrast, everybody tries to sweep my own videotape down the memory hole.
https://bohemian.com/report-santa-rosa-police-violated-human-rights-during-protests-1/
Nationwide over a hundred Vehicular Assaults on protesters occurred between May and September 2020, with two of those listed occurring in Santa Rosa - what are the odds? In some states, legislature was introduced to legalize driving a vehicle through crowds of protesters, but Santa Rosa “legalized” it first.
On March 23, 2021 a driver deliberately targeted a homeless encampment, hitting at least two people leaving one injured and killing Kellie Jones, a 43-year old mother of two.
For years I have emailed Santa Rosa City Council members, and the Mayor, asking for comments about this “unsolved hit-and-run” in front of Santa Rosa High School, but not one person has responded. So, I decided to make a blog entry keeping track of all their non-responses: http://erikmiddlenamejorgensen.blogspot.com/2024/04/journalists-resources-more-emails.html
If you, as a reader, approve of vehicles driving through crowds of protesters, you are in luck! Santa Rosa is the perfect place for you, and you can be among the trend-setters for the entire country!
On the other hand, if you are a normal human being with a conscience, then I suggest that you contact Santa Rosa’s City Council and ask them what’s wrong with them:
- the City Council as a whole at citycouncil@srcity.org
- Mayor Natalie Rogers at nrogers@srcity.org (707)494-8378
- Vice Mayor Mark Stapp at MStapp@srcity.org (707)328-7024
- Eddie Alvarez (District 1) at ealvarez@srcity.org (707)791-5282
- Dianna MacDonald (District 3) at dmacdonald@srcity.org (707)495-7599
- Victoria Fleming (District 4) at vfleming@srcity.org
- Chris Rogers (District 5) at crogers@srcity.org (707)543-3017
- Jeff Okrepkie (District 6) at JOkrepkie@srcity.org (707)531-0056
- City Attorney Teresa Sticker at caoffice@srcity.org (707)543-3040
Either the City Council doesn't care whether its citizens get run over in crosswalks, or they actually approve of Vehicular Assault against certain types of people. From firsthand experience, many Sonoma County residents have told me they not only support that violence but look forward to the opportunity: "If anybody got in my way I'd run them over, too!" They sound jealous they missed out on the "fun".
And that is how Santa Rosa "legalized" Vehicular Assaults against protesters: not merely the apathy of City Council members, and Willful Blindness by police officers witnessing hit-and-runs, but the rabid eagerness of Santa Rosa residents to run over people themselves
No comments:
Post a Comment