MARTINEZ — Three officers engaged in misconduct following a police taking pictures final summer time in Martinez and at the moment are now not employed by the town, in keeping with newly launched paperwork.
On Friday, the Martinez Police Division posted dozens of data associated to the incident, which occurred Aug. 18, 2023, outdoors the Velvet hashish dispensary at 4808 Dawn Drive. Officers shot and killed Tahmon Wilson, 20, of San Francisco, and wounded his older brother whereas responding to a housebreaking alarm on the enterprise.
The paperwork element how Officer Giani Arone kneed the older brother two to a few occasions within the head whereas he was handcuffed after which helped Officer Cole Bennett and Officer Alexander Tirona disguise an unlawful knife Bennett was carrying on the time.
Separate administrative investigations into the kneeing and knife incidents discovered that the three officers violated police division coverage. Extra particularly, Arone used unreasonable power and didn’t report the usage of power. Arone additionally took the knife from Bennett and put it in his patrol car after Tirona advised Bennett to do away with it.
The knife was unlawful to hold beneath state legislation, and the data indicated the three officers labored collectively to cover the weapon to maintain Bennett from getting in bother.
Arone was fired and his termination was upheld by each the town supervisor and the Civil Service Fee. Bennett and Tirona had been probationary officers on the time of the taking pictures and had been launched earlier than the probe into the knife incident was completed.
“It is disappointing that misconduct occurred at the scene of this incident after the shooting and understandably adds a layer of complexity to the officer-involved shooting investigation,” Chief Andrew White mentioned in an announcement. “Once we learned of the misconduct, we took immediate action, conducting thorough investigations, and ultimately imposing termination as a disciplinary measure. As a department, we are committed to maintaining the highest standards of professional conduct.”
The police division on Friday additionally posted transcripts of interviews with the officers who shot the brothers. The choice to open hearth, they mentioned, was influenced by a suspect in a automobile displaying a firearm, the automobile hitting an officer and the automobile touring towards different officers.
Adante Pointer, an lawyer for the Wilson household, beforehand mentioned the brothers didn’t pose a direct menace as a result of they had been driving away from the officers. One spherical hit Wilson behind the pinnacle and two rounds hit his older brother within the again.
As a result of prison and administrative investigations into the taking pictures are ongoing, no closing determinations have been made concerning the officers’ use of lethal power and their compliance with division coverage, in keeping with the police division.
