Monday, July 23, 2012

Anaheim Residents Outraged Over Police Shootings

Residents of Anaheim are outraged over two fatal officer-involved shootings over the weekend. Unarmed Manuel Diaz was killed on Saturday afternoon as bystanders say he was fleeing from police. A large protest broke out near the intersection where Diaz was killed resulting in attempts by Anaheim police to forcibly disperse the crowd. Witnesses say at least a dozen people - including at least one child – were struck by so-called pepper balls. As police broke up an ongoing protest, another man, Joel Acevedo was shot and killed in a low-income housing complex near the Disneyland resort. Residents say the weekend violence follows a pattern that Anaheim police have been following in order to terrorize and ultimately push out low-income Latino residents. Pacifica KPFK’s Ernesto Arce was at both sites last night. He files this report from Anaheim.