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Pleasanton police said the officer who fatally shot a 19-year-old early Sunday outside a downtown antique and classics car agency acted in self-defense during a struggle, “fearing for his life.”
John Patrick Deming Jr., a San Jose resident and a recent graduate of Piedmont Hills High School, was apprehended after police spotted him inside Specialty Sales Classics at 4321 First St. around 2 a.m. Deming was the son of an Oakdale reserve police officer.
Deming’s family has hired a celebrity attorney to contend that the fatal shooting wasn’t justified.
Police Lieutenant Jeff Bretzing said officers at the scene told Deming to leave the business, but he ignored their commands and jumped from car to car, screaming. He then jumped off a car and ran to the back of the business, where officers couldn’t see him.
While inside, Deming threw a large floor jack through a front glass window, which landed about 10 feet away from the officers. Officers fired non-lethal beanbag rounds at him, but they missed, Bretzing said.
Pleasanton police then went inside the car agency and found Deming sitting on top of a car. When he refused their orders to come down, Bretzing said they fired more non-lethal rounds. Livermore police was called for backup and arrived after the incident.
Deming then ran toward the back of the agency as police released a police dog to capture him. But before the dog reached him, Deming ran out a broken window in the back of the business, which is how police believe he got inside the car showroom in the first place.
Pleasanton police officer Daniel Kunkel was there and ordered him to stop. When he kept running, Kunkel fired a Taser weapon at Deming, hitting him in the back.
Deming kept running, with Kunkel chasing him while also calling other officers to block Deming’s escape.
Suddenly, according to Bretzing, Deming turned around and charged at Kunkel, kicking the officer in the stomach, punching him in the head and knocking him to the ground.
According to Bretzing, Deming climbed on top of Kunkel and kept hitting him in the face and head. The officer felt like he was going to lose consciousness, Bretzing said, and he fired at Deming with his Taser again.
“As the Taser deployment once again failed to stop Deming’s attack, Officer Kunkel, in fear for his life, drew his pistol from his holster and fired one round into Deming’s torso area,” Bretzing said. “Deming continued to strike the officer who then fired two additional rounds, striking Deming at least once in the face.”
Other officers ran toward the sound of gunshots and found Kunkel unconscious on the ground. They grabbed Deming, who continued to resist, and handcuffed him. They got him into an ambulance, which took him to Eden Trauma Center, where he died.
Kunkel, who has been an officer for eight years and was an officer in Antioch before joining the Pleasanton Police Department, was treated for his injuries and is on administrative leave while the investigation continues, Bretzing said.
No other officers witnessed the shooting, and security footage didn’t film the outside of the building, he said. Bretzing said the department had recently purchased body cameras for officers, but Kunkel hadn’t received one as of the incident.
Bretzing said there is no indication Kunkel had been in any other incidents during his time at the department or previously.
Bretzing said the last time an officer-involved shooting happened in Pleasanton was 2005, and the last time a fatal officer-involved shooting happened was 2000.
He said his department felt it was important to give an extensive account of the incident.
“We work hard to be as transparent as we can be because we have a lot of trust and support from the community,” Bretzing said.
The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office is also conducting its own investigation, which Pleasanton police stated is normal in cases of an officer-involved shooting.
Bretzing said an autopsy and a toxicology screen will be done, but he didn’t know when those reports would be completed.
Deming’s family has hired celebrity lawyers Mark Geragos and Ben Meiselas of Geragos & Geragos to contend that the fatal shooting wasn’t justified. The lawyers said Deming was an aspiring musician who was a member of his church band. The firm said Deming had never been arrested or in serious trouble before.
“My son Johnathon has always been a kind, loving, well-mannered and talented young man who respected others, loved music and had a boundless thirst for life,” said father John Deming Sr. “Johnathon was fun, helpful and outgoing, he always did the right thing. He valued his friends and family and put others first. I will miss him every moment of every day.”
Geragos, with an office in Los Angeles, has represented celebrity clients such as Michael Jackson, Winona Ryder and Chris Brown.
The Deming family has also alleged they were mistreated by Pleasanton officers who came to investigate after their son’s death.
The family alleges in a media statement officers obtained a search warrant, detained and handcuffed Deming’s mother Linda in her backyard at gunpoint.
Officers searched the home and took electronic devices, the family alleges.
Here is the deal – If the suspect had not committed a felony burglary, had listened to orders when officers told him to exit, had not ran from officers, and had not fought with an officer and slammed the officer’s head into the ground – the suspect would be alive today. That’s the bottom line.
I applaud Pleasanton Police Officer Daniel Kunkel’s efforts in this situation and I’m happy there are officers like him protecting Pleasanton. It sounds like Officer Kunkel, and all of the officers involved, used an incredible amount of restraint before having to use lethal force. The suspect’s criminal actions dictated the officers’ responses. I’m thankful the other officers got there in time before the suspect took the firearm from the knocked out officer and used it.
Good guys – 1, bad guys – 1.
Typo, meant to say:
Good guys 1, bad guys 0
“Here is the deal – If the suspect had not committed a felony burglary, had listened to orders when officers told him to exit, had not ran from officers, and had not fought with an officer and slammed the officer’s head into the ground – the suspect would be alive today. That’s the bottom line. ”
Unless the police fabricated parts of the story. I’m not saying that’s what happened in this case, but police in other districts have. Sometimes they do it to cover mistakes, sometimes to cover corrupt activities. There are corrupt police, and there are corrupt citizens. Let’s wait to see what turns up in the investigation.
@Pro-Law,
I’m guessing you probably haven’t lived in the American South as an African-American? You may have a different perspective if you had. You can correct me if I’m wrong.
@BobB,
I’m not here to compare other incidents of injustice or perceived injustice from the past or present. I’m here to comment on the specifics of what happened in this situation.
With that said, I have full-faith that the Alameda County DA’s office would prosecute any officer who they believe killed someone illegally. From what I have heard there were numerous officers on scene that saw this suspect breaking the law (burglary, vandalism, not listening to officers orders) and then the officers come across a knocked out officer next to the suspect. I’m sure a medical evaluation would show this officers’ injuries, including signs of a concussion. Pretty hard to fake something like a concussion.
I will say this though… Where has the Chief of Police Dave Spiller been in all of this (related to media interviews and press releases)? We see him all the time glad handing people in our community at ‘happy’ and ‘fun’ events, but when an event of potential controversy like this comes up like I don’t see him anywhere. It is easy to talk to the media and community members at neighborhood block parties, but a real leader gets in front of the camera to do the ‘dirty work’ too (aka: not fun stuff) instead of sending out the Captains and Lieutenants.
Now if he is out of town tending to a sick relative (or something similar) or if I missed something then I apologize. Anyone have any ideas of where the Chief is during this?
I lived in Deep South and Oakland and racism is much worse in Iakland.
A cop will always say they were in fear for their life when they kill an unarmed boy. Of course the man left alive is the only one who can give his version of what happened. I hope the video backs up the cop’s story or it is murder.
I wonder what he was doing in that car shop @ 2 in the morning? Yes the PD says he was acting strange (jumping on cars and supposedly unfazed by beanbags + tazers) Why @ that location? Was he originally with others? Was he on something?
I suppose the med examiner can answer the last ? But…. If the med examiner states he was drug/alcohol free, It may open a whole new can of worms.
All is not as perfect as it seems with PPD. I’m an upstanding 50 year old ish member of the community and have NEVER had any legal issues. EVER. I’m your typical room mom, children’s sports party organizer, slumber party host and regular volunteer. My criminal history is all of a couple of traffic citations over more than three decades. I had to deal with a few of the arrogant officers some time back on a medical emergency and was treated horribly. It got so bad that I realized I should turn my iPhone recorder on out of fear. As a result, I recorded them flat out lying about badge numbers and rank with a captain later confirming the lies in written communications after listening to the recordings himself. If they will blatantly lie about something like this, who knows what other stories they are capable of telling. I got an apology, but only because I recorded it, otherwise I feel confident they would have denied it. My gut tells me there was no corrective action taken. I didn’t go public or sue because I was so embarrassed by how they treated me. No settlement was/is worth reliving that evening and having to fear retaliation when they are the only game in town.
Mr. Geragos: Dig. Dig, and you’ll find the complaints that never see the light of day because they police themselves. All PPD officers have on person recorders so their version of events is worth investigating. I don’t know what transpired, but dealt with enough bad behavior by them that I know they are capable of abusing their authority.
Geragos? This will be entertainment for a while.
Good grief why are so many people instantly ready to throw the PPD officer under the bus.
I do not think for one minute that ANY officer takes lightly drawing his gun and shooting someone.
I’m proud that I live in a town with officers that aren’t afraid to defend themselves and the citizens that live here.
The kid was probably high on something stupid and the toxicology report will show that.
Lighten up people. You can bet if you are being assaulted and an officer shoots to protect YOUR life you will be singing a different tune!
Having Geragos on this means no stone will go unturned. I’m not a fan of his, but am happy to have him on this case if it means the truth will come out either in support of the officers’ version, or not.
Tragic anyway you look at it.
I concur with not all as it seems with PPD. That goes for any police department and the only exception I have seen in my 58 years of an exemplary record is the California Highway Patrol. The police departments get all Hot Heads who “Somehow” managed to pull off some collage with a chip on their shoulder sign up to be a Cop & Police the public. Give us a break, will you, a 19 year old how hit many many times with the bean bag thing and then shot several times with a taser and you had to kill him just because you took some hits. IT WASN’T LIKE YOU THERE ALONE!!!! WHERE WERE YOUR BUDDIES?? Your NOT suppose to try and apprehend a suspect without backup!!!!!!!!!!!! You didn’t learn that in the Academy??
OMG thats a life we are talking about here. Someone’s child. Someones brother, best friend, nephew. You have taken out many lives with your rush to judgement. You, the officer, had better pray that your child when he is that age doesn’t do something stupid and find himself in the same circumstances!!!!!!!! BANG BANG your son or daughter is dead. Think about that one.You knew good and well he had NO GUN BY THEN if in fact all what is in print is what happened. A kid took you down??? I am all for an officer protecting himself but not a blanket license to kill. NO WAY. That 14 yr old kid who the officer shot in another state because at a distance it looked like a real life gun….YES….I agree with that one but if what I read is the FACTS (& I know the officers never ever give “ALL the facts”) then press charges against that officer. It sounds as if the Officer was pissed off because the boy got some hits in on him and the officer double down was angry because he knew he had to start carrying a camera and was chomping at the bit to shot someone otherwise why did he become a Police officer. The boy was obviously on something and there were other officers all over the place and yet you felt “THREATEN” HE WAS BEATING YOU UP AND THERE WAS NO HELP IN SITE…..You feared for your life??? A kid, hit tons of times with the bean bag shots, several times with the taser and you can’t win a fight….Fire him then convict him but I do have a Caveat: As long as the facts are as stated above but then again like the previous lady said, you can’t trust what the officers say. Even to us little ole ladys in our 60’s they are nasty nasty nasty. More than that my son was almost killed by a San Jose Police off duty police officer who was a little guy with a big ego and felt he could shove and do what he wanted. My son only wanted to see his badge & was getting out of there as the cop pushed him while drawing his gun & thank god my son got the best of him and that way they both lived. If not my son would be dead. The police report said when they found the car, 3 spilled Slurpee’s, 2 packs cigarettes and 5 bags of candy and 2 cigarette lighters. They were pissed at a friend at school and was climbing the balcony to get to him when this off duty officer told them to come down. Both sons said, let me see your badge and the guy pulled a gun. They froze, then the guys says “Get out of here and go home” as they were running down the stairs to underground parking to their car he came up behind the last one going down the stairs and pushed him while drawing his gun. My son saw his hand go on the pistol and he took him down. Thank God or I would not have my son to this day. We all ended up in court. The police told so many lies and trumped up charges and gave us a plea deal for 5 years in the state penitentiary. The police won the judge they wanted. Then in the end the Judge said Quote: “Theses BOYS are only guilty of being spoiled and need a spanking”. Sentenced them to 6 Months probation. They never ever got in trouble again and went to collage and graduated. So I thank God every day that my one son “Under the Influence” of Slurpee’s & Good Judgement made that decision. I am so sorry that boy was on something and maybe he would have taken the officer out and ran away………Gee Wiz ……..Everybody lives……What is the wrong in that.
@Marci,
What does a San Jose PD officer talking to your son have anything to do with the specifics of this incident?
No one knows what actually happened other than the officer who did the shooting. Is it time for Pleasanton Police officers to wear body cams?
Before jumping to judgment, lets wait for the toxic report which supposedly takes 3 weeks. If the kid was on anything , that may explain his actions and may have increased the fear of the officer involved.
Also, police dogs were involved and probably would have cornered the suspect and police dogs don’t carry guns.
Based on some of the comments by the lesser than educated on this site, I think next time the officers should just let people like this go so they can run through the community and into your house and then you can personally see what it is like to deal with someone like this. Maybe that will give you some perspective on your perfect world.
Is this the same Daniel Kunkel who is the cop in this case?
https://www.facebook.com/daniel.kunkel.547?fref=ts
If so the link that he watched the day before the shooting is interesting. I can see why he may have been amped up to kill a “Bad Guy”. Daniel Kunkel shared a link. July 3 at 9:09am ·
Officer Kunkel’s statement sounds contrived. Cop’s lie, they are circling the Blue Wagons.
Sandy, no it is not the same Daniel Kunkel
Seems like the police did try to apprehend him with as little force as necessary. First a bean-bag gun, then a taser. Too bad it had to come to shooting him because he apparently was high on drugs and attacked a cop. Maybe after trying the taser they should have sent a few police dogs after him to take him down. I have a feeling that they would have taken the fight out of him pretty quickly.
@damon: I don’t think toxicology is in yet. Can you explain your statement that the deceased was “apparently high on drugs?”.
It does seem odd to me that the officers had apparently really bad aim with non lethal force but apparently were on target with lethal force. Also, it seems odd that with the other officers on scene that none of them witnessed the alleged altercation or actual shooting. That seems a bit too convenient IMHO.
Wow, some of the posters on this site just have no clue of the real world. You don’t need to have a gun pointed at your head to be in fear for your life. Let some 19 year old kid spaced out on drugs start banging your head off the cement and lets see if you fear for your life. It really becomes a problem when there is a gun in play since the officer has one in his possession. My understanding from reading another article is that there is a video of most (if not all) of the incident from security cameras at the business. I’m sure his family will say he was a church going kid who was headed off to college in the fall, but one dumb incident can change everything as this kid and his family has found out the hard way.
I am sure the officer will have many sleepless nights ahead, but I hope he knows that he did the right thing for the citizens of Pleasanton. Most importantly, he went home to his family at the end of his shift.
Marci. When people are on drugs, they do not feel pain and have near super human strength. If you are getting hit with a taser and bean bag rounds and not going down, there is something in your system. This cop was fighting someone that was not feeling pain and had exceptional power. On the ABC report it showed the suspect was lifting 50 pound car jacks and throwing them threw the air like nothing. Would you want to fight someone like that?
Why instantly support the scumbag in this scenario and demonize the cop who is in your community confronting people like this to try and keep you safe?
This report is indicative of someone on bath salts or PCP. These are very easy to drug someone without their knowledge. If that is the case, this young man man had a torturous last few hours.
The officer will be charged with murder and will at a minimum be prosecuted for involuntary manslaughter. reference: Supreme Court Cases and Geragos’ history
If you disagree, that’s fine. We can talk in 3 years after the court case has been long battled and the officer, having truly felt fear or not, is being sentenced for manslaughter in some way shape or form.
Lastly, their stories are already mixed up between the press release and what they told news and press contacts. There were at least 5 shots. I heard them.
Facts not opinions people.
Quote from Marci the idiot “I am so sorry that boy was on something and maybe he would have taken the officer out and ran away………Gee Wiz ……..Everybody lives……What is the wrong in that.”
Well what is wrong with that is that some psychopath would not be running around in a residential community posing a danger to the public. Thank you PPD for putting yourself on the line to confront this person before that could happen. Just know people like Marci and her criminal son do not represent the majority opinion in this town. We support you and appreciate you. Thank you!
And from what the police had seen from the beginning he was obviously having some sort of mental breakdown due to what was in his system. It should have been expected that the suspect would act exactly as he had unless the police had absolutely no training on how to deal with people on drugs. While he was just sitting on the car before they acted violently to capture him they should have tried using a megaphone or some way to talk him down. Its the best protocol to follow especially if it was PCP. It could have avoided all of what came after if they had attempted to first calm him down since he obviously was not in the right state of mind.
Is there information not available to all of us? Has it been announced that the deceased young man was high on drugs? Let’s give this young man the due process in death that he didn’t get in life. If the officer is telling the truth, on person recordings will prove it. Right now we have only one side since the other was silenced and apparently all of this occurred outside of view of the numerous other officers on scene. We should not be drawing conclusions either way without knowing the facts.
If this was appropriate use of force, the investigation will support this. Since we can’t get the story as it unfolded by the only other person allegedly present, and can only get it from the side that stands to lose everything if it was excessivem, it makes the most sense to allow the investigation to take place.
And keep in mind he could very easily have been drugged WITHOUT HIS CONSENT OR KNOWLEDGE. For those thinking it’s not probable you need to wake up and realize that this does happen a lot. It just usually doesn’t react this negatively with the victim. Please hold your judgement until you actually know what happened.
Before “DF” asks where my proof is that the kid was on drugs, I am taking the objective symptoms and making an educated guess that he was high on something. the coroners report will indicate what he was on, if anything.
In response to “Another” it is one thing to try and shoot a taser at say 15 feet while you are running and it is quite another when the person is directly on top of you trying to beat your brains out. The officer shot one time and the kid kept beating him, then he fired two more times and the kid still was swinging away.
Here is a link to a press release on PPD’s Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=935648526481145&id=272449359467735
@DF: “@damon: I don’t think toxicology is in yet. Can you explain your statement that the deceased was “apparently high on drugs?”.”
Well, let’s see….: He was seen jumping on top of one car to another at 2am while screaming. He shrugged off tasers. He turned and attacked a police officer. That sort of erratic behavior is consistent with reports I’ve seen in the past when police encountered someone high on drugs. We’ll see.
I’ve been following this from the start. You’ve got to be a bit weary when the police have had several different stories since the beginning. And with the completely unacceptable intimidation on the mother while trying to cover their backs.
Not to mention straight up lying to the mother. Why do you think they wouldn’t lie to the public who’s opinion means more to saving their hides?
Who wrote that article? “Pleasanton police officer Daniel Kunkel was there and ordered him to stop. When he kept running, Kunkel fired a Taser weapon at Kunkel, hitting him in the back”. Kunkel fired weapon at Kunkel??? OKAY, it’s a typo, but I’m suspicious that whoever wrote it didn’t know what really happened, just took somebody’s word or dictation for it.
Also, After firing his service revolver, the cops found their fellow officer unconscious and the suspect fighting?
How is that possible? Are we to believe he shot him three time, before he went unconscious?
How does a kid take 3 bullets including at least one in the face and still think about punching a cop right before he dies?
How does a crazy, stoned man flee a trained German Shepard? How does he go from sitting on top of a car to escaping the building?
Most likely the cop was in danger but the story to justify the shooting defies logic thus putting the whole story in jeopardy.
Truth is the first casualty in this kind of conflict.
It’s unfortunate that the police nationwide have thrown their credibility away. There is too much video evidence in too many cases. The video evidence frequently destroys the police narrative, the stories they tell attempting to justify their killings of citizens.
Because the police have no credibility, one cannot believe the story as reported above.
This does not exonerate the 19 year old. We just don’t have enough facts to judge this ourselves.
Shame on the Pleasanton Weekly for posting hearsay to sway the opinions of the gullible, instead of waiting for all the facts and getting the story right. It would have been more appropriate to simply report the verifiable facts.
There is a very small minority of people commenting in this thread that are anti-cop, or anti-Pleasanton PPD, and willing to go to great stretches of the imagination to ignore the most obvious conclusion.
Life is a series of choices, and it appears that Mr. Deming made several bad ones that night. Thankfully he only took himself out.
Thank you PPD for performing your duties in an exemplary manner and preventing a perpetrator from causing additional damage and possible injury to civilians. Attacking a police officer with intend to cause severe injury or death is a felony. It was a justified shoot!!
Another vote of support for the Pleasanton Police Department. Its unfortunate this individual made multiple poor decisions that lead to his death, and I fully appreciate the difficult decision the officers had to make and thank them for making the right decision and keeping this community safe.
The cop’s statement is laughably convaluted and scripted. This boy should not have been killed. This was terribly mishandled. An unarmed teenager was needlessly killed. Livermore cops are wearing bodycams. There is no excuse that PPD still is not. This is so sad.
Why are people commenting stating Livermore PD has body cams and is it time for PPD to get body cams? Read the article, they have them!
Ok, Livermore PD were there too ? Where is there body cam footage ? Where is the kids car ? Did he just appears there from nowhere ? Was he at the fair with friends ? San Jose is a long walk on drugs. Pleasanton PD has an easy job in this town and are very arrogant because of it. Maybe field trips to Oakland are required for all PPD for proper training. Anyway, something is fishy about this whole episode and how it is potentially being manipulated by tha powers that be. There IS WITHOUT A DOUBT footage of more than we are being told. The car place, businesses near by, patrol cars, homes. will see what comes out. The story is TOO CHOREOGRAPHED. Good luck PPD, hope you did the right things that night, you have a lot is questions to answer.
@”Let the Manipulation”: “Where is the kids car ? Did he just appears there from nowhere ? Was he at the fair with friends ? San Jose is a long walk on drugs.”
What are you suggesting? That the Pleasanton Police kidnapped the this youth from San Jose, drugged him, planted him into a business so that he could damage property and so that they could then shoot him? Why don’t you try writing a more coherent argument next time?
I’m getting SICK and TIRED of people sticking up for the CRIMINAL. Plain and simple, if all these people that have been shot and killed by police officers wouldn’t have committed the crime in the first place, they’d still be alive. The minute you decide to go after an officer, is the minute YOU killed yourself. Take orders from law enforcement, everything they say and ask, YOU DO. There would never be one shooting if you just OBEY.
This kid, John Patrick Deming, may have been a good guy except for that one night. I don’t know. Maybe he decided to celebrate July 4th on that Saturday night by taking some drugs or maybe one of his friends slipped him some drugs without his knowledge. We can speculate all day about how he came to be jumping up and down on top of some cars in a Pleasanton business while screaming at 2am. The bottom line, though, is that the Pleasanton Police did not come in with guns blazing to take him down. First, they tried bean-bag guns, then they tried tasers. It was only after one of their officers was attacked by this apparently drug-crazed youth that the officer out of attack took out his gun – not to apprehend the youth but to merely protect his own life. Yes, the use of deadly force in order to protect one’s own life is a basic right – even for police officers.
Well said Damon.
Well said Damon.
I am bothered since I learned that there were 7 police officers involved? Seven??!!! I do not understand why they could not take him down without killing him…senseless.
Wow, you people just won’t be happy will you? “the story is to convoluted, the story is too choreographed, There were different stories.”
To convoluted? There is a sequence of events with a very erratic individual in a chaotic dangerous situation that escalate to an end where the officer is unconscious and the other person is shot. I don’t see convolution. Choreographed? The officer followed a plan of action to stop this individual using the taser (lesser degrees of force) and only when his life was in danger, his gun. Different stories? Only from this forum! The story has unfolded and details have been added but I haven’t seen anything different in the story from Pleasanton PD has put out to the public.
Some of you expect an officer to not shoot someone and let themselves be killed. You can kill someone and be killed by someone who is unarmed! Why assume the officer is guilty until proven innocent and that a criminal who broke into a business, threw a large object at the officers, would not cooperate, ran, attacked a police officer, is innocent? THAT is backwards!
What if the scenario was the same except it was your HOME he broke into and you and your FAMILY were in danger? First, why is he there? Seems strange to me that a criminal from ANOTHER town would be in your home? Would we expect you or the officer not to defend your self? After all, he is unarmed, but beating the life out of you so you should just take it. Maybe while he’s on top of you beating your head you could ask him to hold still so you could try to shoot him in the leg? NO REALITY! You have no idea of the physicality. Too Much Violent TV watching so you don’t understand that when someone has the crap beat out of them, they don’t get up unfazed.
And as far as the kid who died. I am sorry for his family. I am. BUT, they need to do the right thing and realize that even if it was for that one night or someone drugged him, something went terribly wrong and an officer almost lost his life BECAUSE OF THEIR CHILD. Whatever that something was, they need to face facts and decide to either help others or blame others. It does happen! I’ve seen a Mom refuse to lie for her son who is now on death row. I’ve seen a Mom warn others of the dangers of drugs from ONE FIRST TIME USE after her son died.
As far as Geragos is concerned I hope Pleasanton PD DOESN’T back down or settle. I would rather tax dollars be spent putting an end to this type of immoral action than go to a settlement!
And yes I know that police CAN be corrupt! I know someone who lost a family member because a police officer shot him in the back through a window into a dark room because he thought he had a gun. Yes Officers can be at fault but it is not the norm. It is just the thought of the day, en vogue, sheeple prejudiced attitude to think ALL cops are bad and wrong.
Go to the many Pleasanton activities involving the Police department. There is an event in August, National Night Out. Join you neighborhood watch. You’ll meet actual police officers and be surprised by the fact they don’t have two heads and are pretty much like you and me.
Chris, take a listen to the recording from that night. It is available and very interesting. Because during the altercation one of the officers reported that it appeared that the young man had a box of keys which forced the police to widen the secured area for fear that he would drive out of the location. The recording is 23 minutes. Also there was two Livermore Officers who were also dispatched and this is documented in the tape as well as a request from an Officer on the scene after everything went down to turn off his body cam. This request was clearly made after the ambulance and medical was called for both the Officer Kunkel and the suspect. Also as you listen to the tape you will hear an additional request for a camera to document Officer Kunkel’s injuries.
I agree with Damon earlier. If there were canine on site than why not use them? Use other resources necessary before taking a life.
If you don’t succeed the first time than try and try again – use the taser again and again (some one said it was used more than once yet an interview from Lt Bretzing it was only one time with the taser and bean bag) I am looking forward to the “whole truth and nothing but the truth” because having friends experience the PPD in previous years – this not a truthful police department and yet we want our children to look up to them – REALLY. I have witnessed first hand that they fabricate their stores to serve their purposes and it starts from the Top Down. Let’s remove these individuals from our community so that we can truly look up to them and know they are serving the community with honesty and just because they have a badge.
@”Where were the dogs?”: “I have witnessed first hand that they fabricate their stores to serve their purposes and it starts from the Top Down.”
That’s a pretty serious accusation coming from someone who is posting anonymously and providing no details or facts to back up the accusation. You’re going to have to do better than that.
To let the manipulation machine run – did you not read the part that this officer is a veteran from Antioch? Is that a safe city also? In fact, aren’t most Pleasanton officers laterals?….and would you rather have Oakland officers patrolling this town?
You are right that my statement is vague in FEAR of RETALIATION FROM PPD but true! There is no secret that every police dept.stick together – its their own brotherhood – whatever you want to call it. That is why I would like to see the truth come out – period. Up front I have seen first hand empathy and compassion but there are a few rotten officers that need to go – that’s all I am saying.
If our justice system will help our community get to the truth than I guess we will see it!
Again, my initial statement is for using other forces necessary and why isn’t PPD using body cams yet Livermore is? Maybe that should speak volume as to who has not authorized that resource, its not because we cannot avoid it nor have the availability – yet we know if our officers had them then we wouldn’t be questioning what truly happend that morning – would we? The whole truth would be on our side and not hear say.
Response to BobB-
I have never been to Somalia, but been to many other countries around the world (Singapore, Japan, Germany and even England) where they don’t question/prosecute the very police officers they have trained and armed to protect them ! I should also remind you and other liberals like you in those places there are not over 360 M guns on the streets either….Wake up and see the reality of this country with guns for all, over 1.8M people behind bars and highest number of murders and violent crimes anywhere in the world- yes perhaps, even higher than Somalia !
Aggressive policing is the ONLY answer and if you don’t like it, then STOP doing stupid stuff at 2AM !!!!
” I would have killed him after they release him from jail”
Of course, that would make you a murderer.
” that criminals will be killed in Pleasanton -even if their crime is as small as destroying personal property…”
Summary execution for vandalism. Sounds like the kind of justice system they have in places like Somalia.
I’d take bets (and probably win on odds) that the people coming to the defense of the suspect are the first to attack the teacher when they get a call home about issues that student is having in school, “my kid would never do that….”
Got news for you – your kid would, could, and did.