All language subtitles for Killing County - S01E03 (2023) WEB.eng

"Mom. I love you so much.

I must be the luckiest guy in the world

to have a mom like you.

You're always there for me.
And you never let me down.

You've always comforted me when I was sad

and always made me feel special

with all the little things you do for me.

Mom, I wish I could be there for you

like you've always been for me.

Thanks, Mom.

I hope that when I get out,

I can return to being a good son.

So that I can make you happy.

Love, Pelon.

At approximately 10:30 p.m.,

Jorge Ramirez texted his contact

at the Bakersfield Police Department --

Larry Esparza.

Wanted and dangerous,

Justin Harger was in Jorge's apartment.

For 12 minutes, Esparza didn't answer.

Mr. Ramirez was texting

and calling with Officer Esparza,

but a crucial fact was
that Officer Esparza

was not on duty that night.

He was relaying messages from Mr. Ramirez

to police colleagues
who were on the ground.

On a night
when every second matters,

Jorge is left waiting.

Then, 10:44 is Ramirez calling you?

Correct.

And this is after
he sends you the message

saying that he's here, correct?

Correct.

And it's a routed call,

which means you didn't pick up the phone?

Correct.

Officer Esparza
was off duty that night,

was not even around the scene

or anywhere during that time

planning this this whole operation.

If I was the sergeant on that
scene and I'm getting texts,

"Hey, I don't have all those
details, this is all I know,"

I don't know that I'm willing
to send my officers in there

to an unknown on something like that.

Ramirez never
officially registered

as a confidential informant,

but officers that night mobilized

according to the information he provided

and referred to Jorge as an informant.

Still, the poor communication
between Jorge

and the off-duty Officer Esparza

had consequences.

At 10:21 p.m.,

Ramirez is texting his contact to say

Harger has turned up at his apartment.

It's almost two hours after that

that a surveillance van
turns up at the home.

They had set it up
where he was going to have Harger in there

with him in the apartment.

They were supposed to be
out there and reassure him

that they were going to make an arrest

as they exit the place.

By the time the cops turn up

with an unmarked van,
they basically missed each other,

and we don't really know why.

Somehow they dropped the ball
and they weren't watching.

Eventually,
Jorge texts his contact

to say they're going to the AM/PM

and then to the Sheraton Hotel.

The officers turn up to the AM/PM,

they miss them there,

and then they head back to the Sheraton,

where they're expecting to intercept them.

Ramirez said, "Hey, where are you guys?"

Hey, where are you guys?

"We're up here at the AM/PM now.

We're on our way to the Sheraton."

We're on our way to the Sheraton.

I said, "Hey, I need that information.

What kind of car are you guys in?

Does he still have the gun?"

He goes, "I can't talk.
I've got to go. I can't"--

I've got to go. I can't talk.

He was extremely rushed. Frantic, almost.

What jumped out of those messages, to me,

was that Mr. Ramirez was fearful.

There's a lot of
"Where are you going to be?"

"Can I call you?" "No."

"Can you text?" "No."

His contact is obviously off duty

and pressuring him to call in,
he's saying he can't do it.

He's warning him that it's too dangerous

and that doesn't really seem
to be being acknowledged.

He was annoyed. He was mad,
like, "Where are you?

I can't text right now.
Are you coming or are you not?"

Shortly after six officers
had set up at the Sheraton Hotel,

the SUV driven by Justin Harger
entered the parking lot.

Officer Wimbish An Officer Brewer

followed the vehicle in their patrol car.

-Harger parked.

And the two officers proceeded

on foot towards his SUV.

There seems to have been
widespread confusion

among the police

about whether they were supposed to be

apprehending the driver or the passenger

in the vehicle once they had stopped.

As the officers approached,

Ramirez, who was the passenger,
exited the vehicle.

You don't want that informant there.

You want him to walk away.

You get him out of that scene.

I just see the passenger
getting out of the vehicle,

and he looks similar to Justin Harger.

So I'm not positive if it is
or is not him at that point.

I now draw my gun
and I yell at the passenger,

"Police, show me your hands."

Suddenly,
the officers heard the driver

of the vehicle yell something.

And instantly after that,
I heard two gunshots

and saw two muzzle flashes

coming from the driver's door area.

Officer Brewer
was struck on the cheek

by what he thought was a bullet
coming from the driver.

Basically, after that,

it all goes completely wrong.

Harger, who they know is armed
and potentially violent, opens fire.

Immediately after getting hit,

Officer Brewer fired 15 shots

in an attempt to shoot at the driver.

At any point in time,
did you shoot at the passenger?

Not intentionally.

I was shooting into the vehicle
every time, but I was very...

When the bullet hit me, I was barely able

to stand afterwards.

But I was trying my best
to aim toward the vehicle.

So you had this confusion, if you will.

The officers didn't know
who they were firing at

or who was who.

The rest of the
officers exited their vehicles.

Officer Beagley saw Ramirez come
around from the passenger side

of the vehicle.

However, he thought
it could be Justin Harger.

I gave the suspect verbal commands.

"Bakersfield Police Department.
Put your hands up."

Obviously, I'm focused on his hands,

but I remember seeing blood in this area

on his face or neck area.

His hand went behind his back.
He wouldn't put his hands up.

I told him twice, and I thought
he was reaching for a gun.

I fired five or six times.

Ramirez fell to his knees,
and Officer Beagley

fired what he described
as "a couple of more rounds."

And then the individual appeared
to be deceased at that time?

Yes.

Did you see a weapon in his hand

when he pulled his hand forward?

No.

As you sit here today,

you now learn that that
individual was Jorge Ramirez.

Correct?

Correct.

There is a volley of gunfire

that kills both Ramirez and Harger.

We know that when Ramirez was shot,

he was left face down on the floor

and handcuffed as he was dying.

This was an informant for the BPD.

Both Jorge Ramirez, Jr.

and Justin Harger
were declared dead at the scene.

According to the Kern County
coroner's report,

Jorge died from 10 penetrating

and perforating gunshot wounds
to the body.

He was not armed.

His toxicology report was clean.

There seemed to be some confusion.

Did all the officers
who were there that night,

did they know that Ramirez

was working as an informant?

Did they know what Ramirez looked like?

You know, were officers
going to be able to

know who was the suspect
and who was the contact?

An officer says that he's aware
there's an informant present.

He's not sure which side
of the car he's sitting on.

Other officers didn't even know
there was one present.

You know what happens to information

when it passes through so many people.

It kind of changes and alters.

There are conflicting stories

about who did what and when.

I think what we noticed quite quickly

was that these stories did not match up.

What you see
coming out after this operation

is a number of officers,
as part of the investigation,

really divulging
there wasn't a huge amount

of planning that went into any of this.

Sergeant Eric Lance,
in charge of the operation,

stated there was no tactical plan
on how to respond

if Justin Harger got in the vehicle.

Other officers downplayed
that a specific plan

was even necessary.

Was there any discussion
of a plan for apprehending Harger?

We didn't have nearly enough
information to make a plan.

We're still hoping
to get enough information

in order to make a plan.

I mean, you can make a plan
to get a cup of coffee

and not know where you're going
to get the cup of coffee at.

The police already knew,

before Jorge got involved
in this situation,

that they were dealing with
an armed, dangerous individual.

And one would think that, in planning

and preparing to apprehend such a suspect,

the police would have planned thoroughly,

would have taken into account
the possibility

that things could turn chaotic,
could turn violent,

and especially given that

the police had an informant

inside this operation.

There should have been a briefing,

an ongoing dialogue.

There should have been a rescue plan.

People, when they think of it
being risky, being an informant,

they think about, you know,
the person they're ratting on,

if you will, potentially hurting
them, not law enforcement.

Mr. Ramirez
really shouldn't have been present.

That was a tactical blunder.

The police agency
has a definite obligation

to protect and preserve human life.

So they should have
made decisions and judgments

prioritizing the safety
and security of all people

involved in this operation.

There was really a haphazard approach

to this incident in which they just

sort of went on instinct.

And as a result, both men were killed.

They were careless about the way
they conducted the operation.

There was enough information there
for them to prevent this.

They failed.

They failed my son.

They failed the department.

That's not fair to our family.

It's not fair.

That made me want
to be my brother's voice even more,

just knowing how his life ended.

It just gave me more of the power

to, like, want to fight that.

I was in
communication with Ralph Silva,

the uncle of David Silva,

the young man that was murdered
at the hospital.

So my daughter
somehow communicated with him

about, "Let's mobilize.

Let's make it known that

they have taken a life."

We gathered our family,

our grandkids and everyone.

Every Friday, cold, rain, fog,
whatever it was--

we stood there and we held
our signs and we protested.

You should be ashamed!

You should be ashamed
to wear that uniform!

You should be ashamed!

And as time went on,

you know, more families got together.

You know, A, the Ramirezes
standing over in the corner.

Soon we had Chris Silva family

and De La Rosa and Alderman.

And we were looking at, like,
"What's going on?"

-What do we want?
-Justice!

Losing a loved one is painful.

He always eats with us.

But the loss
each of these families suffered

comes with other emotions

and an ache for accountability.

Consoling each other wasn't enough.

So while they shed their tears,
they found their voice.

-Whose streets?
-Our streets!

-Whose streets?
-Our streets!

I think they try to figure out
how to grieve together,

but also how to advocate,
how to change things.

At this point, like,
we were meeting monthly,

at least, to sort of talk
about what we wanted to do.

And it was just becoming this movement,

-and it was incredible.
-Never be divided!

I couldn't believe how many other families

were affected by this, you know.

That they didn't have
a voice before, you know.

That they were afraid to speak up against

the police department.

We're finally out. "Hey,

we have a story just like yours."

Jason gets killed,

and his aunt Tracy reached out to me.

And again, same thing.

"I seen you guys on the corner."

You know, "Can you help us?"

We join together
and do protests together

to share our family's story.

Connected through tragedy.

It's how we're connected, you know.

Because of our experiences and our fights,

there's just always a thought in our heads

where, "What else can we do?"

Family members who've had
this awful thing happen

have every right to just
kind of want to curl up

and not engage and disappear.

But not Lethy or Jesse.

Not Jorge, not any of the families.

I'm really proud of the leaders
that have emerged in the community.

This is not a movement

its members want to grow.

Yet, as it did, they struggled
to make a difference.

Then Kern County got rocked --again.

"The Guardian" is out tonight
with another scathing article

about Kern County law enforcement.

We had already dealt
with Damacio Diaz being arrested,

and all of the sudden, this huge article

from "The Guardian" comes out,

calling the Kern County Sheriff's Office

and the Bakersfield Police Department

the deadliest law enforcement
in the country per capita.

Don't shoot!

Don't shoot!

After Ferguson

and the national conversation
that that sparked,

we at "The Guardian" realized

that there was no national database

of people who were killed

by law enforcement in the United States.

So we decided
we would try to do it ourselves.

We were trying to document
to try and look at areas

in the country
that had been under-covered,

but where this issue

of fatal police violence was most acute.

And time and again,
cases were cropping up

in Kern County, California.

We found out that Kern County
had the highest rate

of officer-involved deaths

anywhere in the country.

13 people killed by law
enforcement in a single year

in a county of a population of 875,000.

Now, compare that to somewhere
like New York City

that has about 10 times
the population of people,

but only nine people were killed by cops.

Once it came out,
it was shared across

every Facebook page,

Instagram, Twitter.

I had family and friends

from across the country sending it to me

because they knew
I was working in Bakersfield,

going, "Did you see this?"

It became a big talking point
for John Oliver's show.

If you listen to the police chief

in Bakersfield, California,

the system is just fine.

These guys are experts in the field.

They have hundreds of years

of law enforcement experience combined.

Our staff has a combined

347 years in television.

And that doesn't mean we won't
just throw a load

of raisins on a desk
and call it entertainment.

You know, law enforcement would say

this is a typical story

that's done from an outside agency,

painting a picture based
on some unseemly statistics

that don't paint Bakersfield
in a positive light.

While our attention
was brought to Kern County

because of the numbers of people
that were killed there,

the details that we found,

the questions that were raised
over officers

and their conduct --
that was human detail.

That was information
that put flesh on the bones

of these statistics in a way
that I think shocked people

and a way that prompted authorities

to take a look
at these police departments.

It was really important

for that piece to come out.

I think that helped catapult

this issue on a more national level

and create the last inch
of momentum that was needed.

...learning more about
an officer-involved shooting.

...saying he charged at responders

before being shot by five officers.

The incident is being investigated

by the California Department of Justice.

The deadly trend is alarming.

...called the deadliest
police force in America

by The Guardian, The Washington Post,

And Vanity Fair.

Suddenly, the world was speaking

about police killings in Kern County.

For the families,
it seemed a time for hope.

But less than one year later,

that hope was crushed.

I remember very distinctly
sitting at my desk in New York

getting a phone call
from a source in Kern County

who basically said,
"They've done it again."

...if under the influence.

The 73-year-old grandfather

suffering from dementia
was shot and killed

by a BPD officer
just before 1:00 a.m. on Monday.

I was upstairs playing video games

with my girlfriend at the time,

and I heard some shots.

We heard literally

six, seven shots outside.

We ran downstairs, looked over a fence,

and saw a man, dead.

Francisco Serna.

Around 12:30 a.m.,
the BPD responded to a call

from dispatch reporting a man with a gun.

Brown jacket,
unknown if under the influence.

Armed with a revolver.

Mr. Serna had
an altercation with a neighbor.

She placed a call to law enforcement

and said that he appeared
to have some sort of gun.

Police officers responded to the neighbor.

While they were discussing
what the neighbor had seen,

Mr. Serna came out of his home

and police exited the neighbor's house.

Mr. Serna moved towards them.
He was wearing his robe.

He's in a robe
with his hands in his pockets,

not complying.

They engage with Francisco Serna.

They ask him to stop.

They ask him to pull his hands
out of his pockets,

put his hands up.

He doesn't comply. He doesn't stop.

He doesn't say anything.

But he continues walking toward officers.

Eventually, while he was within
15 to 20 feet of an officer,

one of the officers fired seven times,

striking and killing Francisco Serna.

Six officers, one 73-year-old man.

And 15 feet between them,

and a rookie officer opens fire.

He was clothed

and just face down, cuffed,

and I just kept noticing he wasn't moving.

Then I saw blood.

You know, mean my mom figured he's dead.

It's like an hour and a half, two hours.

They still hadn't called paramedics.

Could have been screaming commands

where he just got nervous or scared.

I just it goes through my mind.
What do you go through?

You know, I wasn't there.

What the hell did he go through, you know?

Just 'cause he was alone.

It fucking pisses me off.

Right away, they said he had a gun,

and the media was pushing that.

The officer tells them
that he felt threatened

and that he thought that he saw a gun.

He don't own a gun, you know?

Who said he had a gun?

They said, "There was an object
found in his pocket.

We'll give you that information
when we find out."

And I told my wife, "I know what that is."

It's a crucifix, because
he was at my house the day prior

and he had that in his pocket,

and he was, like,
you know, blessing my house.

The Bakersfield
police will report

that Francisco was unarmed

and the object in his pocket
was indeed a crucifix.

The Serna family,
who insisted the police knew

that Francisco had dementia,
would come to learn

that the Bakersfield Police Department
Communications Center

had indeed added a hazard notification

to the dispatching officers

stating that the homeowner,
Francisco Serna,

had dementia and giving
the name and phone number

of a daughter to contact if necessary.

Laura Serna was
the daughter of Francisco Serna,

and I was escorted,

the day Francisco Serna died,

by neighbors to talk to her family.

I didn't want to. I stay in my lane.

I'm very respectful
of anyone that passes away.

But the neighbors felt inclined

that I was the person
to speak with the Serna family.

I wasn't familiar with Chris.

I just remember hearing about
his brother, and he was like,

"Can I bring some people to do the vigil?

And then there's going
to be some activists."

And I was like, "Hell yeah, let's do it.

Let's do it tonight."
You know, I was ready.

The advice I give

was work quickly.

You've got 15 minutes
before the cameras go away.

So if you hesitate

or fail to do an interview

or fail to protest

or don't have a vigil,
you can lose out on valuable time

where people just wipe their hands of it.

I'm thinking, "I need some help,
but who can I call?"

Because the fucking police killed my dad.

They're supposed to be the ones helping.

So I was, like, up in arms,
like, going crazy,

and, like, I was talking
to anybody who would listen.

The very night
after Francisco Serna was killed,

his family held a vigil.

A lot of people showed up,

a lot of our family, friends,

and then these people that we didn't know

that were in the community.

It turned out to be they were
part of these other families

that have, you know,
family members killed by police.

I met Laura Serna --
I believe it was that night

at her mother's house
for the vigil for her father.

They executed her father.

While neighbors watched.

And, um...

that devastates me.

I think this is a club that
nobody wants to be a part of,

but it's a beautiful thing that it exists

because otherwise there would be nothing.

-Whose streets?
-Our streets!

-Whose streets?
-Our streets!

-What do we want?
-Justice!

-When do we want it?
-Now!

The families were moving
beyond protests in Bakersfield.

They were pushing for new legislation
not only in California,

but in the entire country.

I think it just grew and grew and grew.

We come together here in Bakersfield.

We meet each other from northern,
southern California, or central.

I'm proud to stand
shoulder to shoulder with you

and have your back as we fight
to make our fundamentally broken

criminal-justice system more just
and to change it.

We had to go
banging on their door

at the capital of this state, Sacramento,

to let them know that our families
and our family members

should never die like this.

We both went to Sacramento for that AB392.

It was very powerful,

to see everyone come together
for a common cause.

That was a huge win.

Let us live!

They had to see our faces.
They had to hear the names.

I mean, we crowded the halls.

Pass AB392!

It was the most powerful thing
I think I've seen in a really long time.

392 is now law in the state of California.

It was a fascinating boom, boom, boom.
It was meeting after meeting,

and it was, like, you know,
calls after calls after calls.

Literally, if there's a rally
for somebody, anybody, we go.

It's hopeful. It gives us hope.

We call ourselves the Justice Family
because we're so close now

and we're bonded by this, which sucks.

The day
after Francisco Serna was killed,

the Bakersfield City Council met
to honor the outgoing mayor.

But the Justice Family had other plans.

Madam Clerk,
please call the next public speaker.

Jorge Ramirez.

I'm talking to you from my heart,

that there's changes to be made.

I love my son, and I love my family.

But I don't think it's fair
when you guys turn your back on us

when we request answers.

I remember the day he made me weep
as I heard a father

get up and address the city council.

I ask you to do the right thing
for our people, this community.

I'm not going to stand behind,

hiding and thinking
that everything's okay,

because it's not.

It's time to wake up.

After the city council meeting,
activists and families

discussed one more action
they could take that very day.

And it was big.

It might be a long shot,

but what if we ask the attorney general

to, like, do an investigation
into Bakersfield Police Department

because they just killed a 73-year-old man

and we basically, like, called, right?

A lot of people who like to say,
you know, take responsibility

for the Department of Justice
investigation.

But it was really a handful
of those courageous families

who got on the call
with the Department of Justice.

Attorney General Kamala Harris
opened the separate investigations today,

saying community complaints
and media coverage over the past year

prompted the department
to open these investigations

into potential civil rights issues.

Kamala Harris
announced that the DOJ

was going to launch an investigation
into the Kern County Sheriff's Office

and the Bakersfield Police Department,

specifically looking
at their use of force.

That's amazing. Like, that's victory.

Little victories at a time.

And we're changing things.
Our voices are being heard.

But real change
doesn't come easy.

It's no secret
that police departments

have a culture of protecting each other.

And this comes up
when you're talking about

why there are so few prosecutions
of police officers who shoot people.

A lot of our law enforcement
comes from within the families.

So maybe your grandpa was a police chief

or they, you know,
were on football teams together

or maybe raced cars together.

It's a very "good old boys" club.

I go to a church,
and it's a multiracial,

multi-ethnic group church.

And it is a beautiful place to go worship

because you're sitting
next to Filipinos and Asians

and Blacks and Hispanics and Whites.

And for 20 years of my life, I didn't.

I didn't interact or relate or socialize

with anyone other than

my little circle of police officers.

That's who I socialized with.

When you have folks
who are reviewing your wrongdoings

and they're friends and family,
they don't want to see you get in trouble.

You tend to protect and defend

your colleagues at all costs,

even when common sense and evidence
tells you otherwise.

There's a camaraderie.

You are going to go out,

give up your life if necessary

to protect that other officer.

You're going to get in the line of fire.
You'll do whatever needs to be done.

Toxic police culture

forces you to kind of band together

because it's us against them.

That's toxic police culture.

There's a code
where police officers are expected

to not expose each other,

not talk about the practices
or the procedures

that were followed or not followed,

basically to not talk
about other police officers, ever.

So in Kern County
and in Bakersfield in particular,

there's a lower level of accountability
than almost anywhere else

in the state or in the country.

Nationwide, you know, about 10% to 12%

of all complaints of misconduct are upheld

and result in some sort of accountability,
which is extremely low.

In Bakersfield, it's 6%,
and when we look at,

you know, some of the most serious forms
of misconduct, 0%.

So there's less accountability here
than almost anywhere else.

And when I say less,

I mean functionally
zero accountability for misconduct.

Officer accountability
oftentimes comes down to policy manuals.

These define the latitude
that officers have regarding use of force.

When it comes to internal discipline

and whether officers are held accountable
for breaking the rules,

what the rules are, of course, matters.

So, the policy that Bakersfield
had in place in 2012

had a very broad and permissive standard
around deadly force.

You'll see the word "reasonable"
peppered throughout,

especially in their policy 300,

which governs the use of force
and deadly force.

This "reasonableness" standard,

that as long as the officer
reasonably believed

that there was a threat,
an imminent threat,

that the officer would be justified
in using deadly force.

What that policy didn't say

and what some cities,
for example in San Francisco,

says, "If the officer reasonably believes
that there is an imminent threat,

there have to be no other options
available to that officer

before they would be allowed
to use any type of deadly force.

I mean, I think that the broad conclusion
to draw from all of this

is that police departments
should ask serious questions

about whether the policies
that are being put out there

are going to increase safety,

the safety of the people
that they're responsible for policing.

Hold one of these
officers accountable,

make them lose their retirement,

let their family know what it's like
for them to not come home

because they're in jail for murder.

You don't see that.

I can't name one officer.

And if you all can,
then please let me know

who's been held accountable
for an officer-involved shooting or murder

in Kern County in the last 10, 15 years.

And I think that is part
of the frustration of the community,

and that is what really pushed them
to seek assistance

with the Department of Justice
to open up an investigation.

The California DOJ's
investigation lasted five years.

Its findings coincided
with an expansive report

by the ACLU in 2021.

Both concluded that the use of force
in Kern County is still a problem.

I mean,
the conclusion was that, yes,

they are violating people's rights.

They are causing harm to the community.

Excessive use of deadly force,
racially discriminatory practices,

harassing and retaliation of individuals,

excessive use of canines.

Many of the same unconstitutional
patterns and practices

were still being engaged in
by the Bakersfield Police Department.

After delivering its findings,
the California DOJ required

that the BPD engage
in a wide set of reforms

under the watch
of the state attorney general.

Today, we are announcing
that the California Department of Justice

has entered into a stipulated judgment

with the city of Bakersfield
and the Bakersfield Police Department.

It entered into a consent decree,

guiding the department on how to reform
and correct its practices.

It installed a monitoring team to oversee
the implementation of the decree.

We believe the state's concerns
are unfounded,

and we have nothing to hide.

Over the years, courts and judges
have consistently validated

the police department's efforts

to preserve the civil rights
of our residents.

Police agencies are not as afraid
of these consent decrees

and judgments as they once were.

Well, the monitor is just doing just that,
they're monitoring.

Some experts say
that consent decrees call for monitoring

but offer few real incentives
or punishments,

failing to move departments
toward substantive changes.

Departments, they say, can subscribe

without improving
the behavior in question.

We don't agree on everything

that the attorney general has said.

We do not believe that the men
and women of this organization

have ever violated constitutional rights,

have ever used excessive force

that we didn't deal with
punitively when we found.

That just doesn't happen
in our organization.

With that said...

Carrot and a stick.

You either incentivize them--

that means additional resources
and funding--

or you penalize them.

Punish them in prison.

Jail, convictions.

Anything other than those two things

has no impact on the toxicity

that still exists in many
of our law-enforcement agencies.

I planted my garden
in memory of my son.

Because I'm able to spend time
with him out here on a daily basis,

and I feel him with me.

All the time.

I want people
to remember my son as a person that--

he tried to make it in his life.

He was not perfect. No one's perfect.

But he was it.
He was a man that loved his family.

Just because somebody has a past,

it's not who they are.

It doesn't define who you are today.

And my brother was an amazing person.

He was so full of life.

He had amazing kids.

And...

I'm sorry.

If James was in front of me
right now, I'd...

probably just want
to give him a hug and cry.

Tell him I love him.

I'd just tell him,
"I hope you're proud of me."

I just feel, if he was here,

I would look at him
as if I was five years old again.

Run and jump into his arms,

like when he would come home from work.

I wish I could do that with him today.

I miss him.

David was a very jovial young man,

and this is what he would bring me

every Mother's Day-- peanut brittle,

because he knows I love it.

He was just a good boy.

David didn't get justice.

Justice, for me, would be getting,

now, another family justice.

So having an officer
being held accountable.

If an officer's doing a bad job
or killing somebody,

you know, maybe serve some time in jail.

We haven't even got close to that yet.

And that's all we want to see
is we want to see these officers

held accountable for what they have done

to our children.

Watchdog organizations
state that efforts at reform

in Bakersfield have not had
a meaningful impact

on the frequency of police killings

or the number of police officers
held criminally liable.

So, functionally,
there is almost zero accountability

for police use of deadly force
in Bakersfield, in Kern County.

So that pathway, functionally,
does not exist

in city of Bakersfield either.

The only other pathway
is the financial accountability,

suing the police and getting some sort

of misconduct settlement payout
in response.

I could have took it to trial.

But they wanted to run
my past in the ground.

My son's past on the ground.

Our whole family's in the ground.

So I accepted $100,000.

For my grandchildren.

I know it's nothing,

but that's a form of guilt to me,

because if you give me a dollar,

you're guilty of murdering my son.

While, in the past,
there have been family members,

community members
who have received payouts,

there are a set of laws and policies

that prevent that pathway

from ultimately holding
the police accountable.

When we filed a lawsuit,

we didn't actually know
it was a money civil lawsuit.

We never knew that the civil lawsuit

wasn't going to bring criminal charges
against these officers.

We kept, you know, calling our lawyers

and they were, you know,
"This is what it is."

Justice is, you know, it's money.

They're shoving money
down families' throats, to shut you up,

is not fixing the problem
we have in our community.

It's covering it up, and that's not okay.

The settlement
didn't settle anything.

It was just an agreement

between our law firm and the county.

Some are out-of-court settlements.

Some happen in a lawsuit,

but generally they don't include
an admission of liability.

So, the money that Bakersfield
is paying out to family members,

that doesn't come
from police-officer salary.

They don't pay anything for it.

It's the very own taxpayers

who end up paying
for these type of settlements.

And so this creates a question, right?

Whether it's even a mechanism
to hold police officers accountable

if there's not that financial incentive.

If we start going after their pension,

they start going after money
that's coming out of their pocket,

I guarantee you,
things are going to change.

Things will change,
but if it's on public finances,

it ain't going to change,
it ain't going to get better.

Reporters have found examples
of thousands of police officers

who their departments have paid out
multiple settlements

for their conduct for things
that they've been accused of.

And nobody's really keeping track

of the officers
who have those track records.

People have lost loved ones
that are not returning.

And to suggest that justice
in some way exists

by the end of a civil case
is fundamentally unfair

to the families who have lost loved ones

who have to live with this
for the rest of their life.

Quite frankly,

I don't know the amount
that people place on human life,

but I think it's worth more
than a few million dollars.

-This is the one I like.
-We'll wash that one, too.

I like that one, too,
but we have to get it cleaned up.

I cannot give up.

He gave it all he had in the ring.

He gave it all he had in life.

Now I have to see
that I give it all I got for him.

This was one of my last pictures with him.

It got all messed up.

This was at grandpa's party.

Justice for my brother is different now.

Justice for my brother now
is changing things in his honor

and saving another person's life,

you know, saving another family
from having to go through

what we had to go through
the last eight years,

because it literally will destroy you.

The days aren't the same anymore.

You try to make them
as normal as possible.

But life is just not the same.

I don't interact with people
outside of work.

There are days where I don't see people.

I spend a lot of time pacing.

It changes everything. It changes...

It isn't a one-time experience.

It isn't a phase or fad.

It's life.

And it's real.

I don't think
a mother can explain...

um, the loss so deep.

And...

I think that as years go by,

not many people say it will get easier.

No, it doesn't get easier.

I struggled a lot.

I don't go out as often.

I'm just more of a homebody.

-Hands up.
-Don't shoot.

-Hands up.
-Don't shoot.

-What do we want?
-Justice.

-When do we want it?
-Now.

I think organizing helps me cope,

and I don't want to be stuck
in my depression.

I don't want to be stuck in my sadness.

No justice, no peace, no killer police.

It does take a lot of courage
to come out and to speak up.

You know, they're not powerful people.
They're not rich people.

They're not the sort of people

who you might expect to wield influence.

But the pain that they felt
over the loss of their son,

their brother,
it really drove them to fight.

To fight to get journalists like me
to pay attention to them

and to fight to make sure that,
in the future,

things don't happen to other people

like they did to their loved one.

Bakersfield Police Department
killed my dad.

They murdered my dad in cold blood.

They shot my son in the back seven times.

-Five times.
-He was shot and died.

Our pain is equal here.

We're all suffering every day

thinking about our loved ones
that are not here with us anymore.

We're here to stand up for them.

Okay. One, two, three.

We love you! Whoo!

You know,
I do have hope that, you know,

somebody sees what I see.

You don't have to experience
what I experience

to really understand
that there's a problem here.

But if you don't change it,
it's going to keep happening.

I hope one day
Bakersfield will stand up

and come together as a community

and demand change
within their law enforcement.

That's what I hope for, for all of us.

We get some kind of justice and change.

So I'm willing to keep
putting that time in

and be Jason's voice

and stand beside the other families

that have suffered the same pain
that I suffer with daily.