tiburon police officer fired

On Aug. 21, Khalif issued a statement on the companys Facebook page explaining what had happened early that morning. Tiburon police sergeant resigns amid racial, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Alameda County DAs new policy will reduce prison sentences through widespread elimination of sentencing enhancements, Tiburon police sergeant resigns amid racial profiling claims, Letters: Plethora of problems | Creating AL | Provenance of woke | Teen girls | Public bank. Blasi begins asking the same questions as the first officer, including what the three were doing there late at night. Cronin faced backlash in June following a press release that warned residents of Sausalito and Tiburon that they might be targets of unrest caused by a Marin City demonstration in protest of the murder of George Floyd, which remained peaceful. Khalif says he wasnt angry, just putting his foot down. Michael Blasi, resigned in the aftermath. Im not going to answer your question. All Rights Reserved. Video shows the interaction between the store owner and the police supervisor, who demanded, "I want to know what you're doing in the store at 1'oclock in the morning.". Named among the state's & nation's best small weeklies, 2014, 2018-2021 California News Publishers Association &, Store owners: Late-night encounter with Tiburon cops was racially motivated, 2022 The Ark, AMMI Publishing Co. Inc. | 1550 Tiburon Blvd. Put your key in the door and were out of here. Theyre the ones with the guns, theyre the ones with the badge, theyre the ones with the authority, she said. Before Khalif was able to show the three officers that he had a working key to the store, an unnamed local can be heard from afar verifying that Khalif was the owner. It looked like they were harassing him and I thought, This has gone on for several minutes, Simpson said. Critics of the officers handling of the incident note that Blasi did not de-escalate the encounter on his arrival. In it, the officers, who first note that Khalif is in the store at 1 a.m., past the typical 9 p.m. shut-down time for activity on the street, can be heard repeatedly demanding that Khalif prove his ownership of the business, either by showing identification or putting his key in the shops door. In our 50th year serving Tiburon, Belvedere & Strawberry. Khalif said the officer circled the store three or four times before stopping outside the shop and sitting across the street for about 15 minutes. , and a business friend, all of whom are Black, were at their store late at night counting inventory, according to a post on YEMAs Instagram account. Maybe this happened to us because we can bring this out and make sure we have these conversations in our homes and with our families and loved ones and members of community and create something positive thats going to make Tiburon better for all of us, she said. A Black. FYI, a popular restaurant close to us was still open and I could see their employees working late. Tiburon Town Council & Belvedere City Council Virtual Town Hall & Community Forum 6:30 p.m. Aug. 27. https://zoom.us/j/95644043303 or 669-900-6833, meeting ID 956 4404 3303. A Black man can not say that, but a white man can.. At 1 a.m. Saturday morning, Tiburon police officers saw three people inside the clothing store Yema on Main Street and decided to check it out. Tiburon officials say an independent investigation is now underway, which is the reason why officers were not at Thursday's meeting. Tiburon Town Manager Greg Chanis announced the resignation in a newsletter saying " [Sgt. In it, you can hear officers questioning Khalif multiple times: "Do one of you own the store?". In one response, Blasi explained that police are not able to detain a person without a lawful, articulable reason and compel them to identify themselves. As Madfes approaches the store, Khalif, Awash and the friend can be seen inside at the checkout counter, apparently talking with each other. Your email address will not be published. "How can we do better as a community? "Had that white neighbor not said anything that night, maybe Yema wouldn't be here with us today and I would let that sink in for a minute," says Hawi Awash. Cronin denies his departure is linked to the incident. The store was well-lighted, and police reports show no alarm had sounded and no one had otherwise reported suspicious activity. The Tiburon and Belvedere council held a joint meeting on Thursday to give the polarized community a chance to weigh in. In our 50th year serving Tiburon, Belvedere & Strawberry. Michael Blasi was the supervising officer on Aug.. Owner Yema Khalif said he was insulted by the officer's demand to prove he owned the store and feels Blasi would have behaved differently if he had been white. Its nice to see how the community has come together, and that they are saying what they want to see going forward, Khalif said. As a community, we need to demand change in our public servants when it becomes clear their own unrecognized prejudices can no longer allow them to protect and serve all residents.. The next day when I woke up, I was like, Holy s, what just happened?. A Tiburon police sergeant has resigned following a confrontation with a Black merchant that critics say stemmed from racial profiling. He previously worked at The San Francisco Chronicle as a Bay Area news editor and the Oakland Tribune as a senior news editor. Before opening their Tiburon storefront, the couple started selling their clothing online in 2016. Ste. The newly released body-cam footage appears to highlight this further, with clearer audio than the cellphone footage that also shows a stark contrast between Blasis demeanor and that of Madfes, who speaks calmly throughout the first half of the video while Blasi then frequently shouts over Khalif and tells him he should be grateful. Other business owners have come forward to say that on the rare occasions they work late into the night, they've never been stopped and questioned at all, while Khalif was not only interrogated, Madfes had already called for backup before he first knocked on the door. Check out Bay Area safety tracker, Tracking the drought: Map shows conditions across SF Bay Area, Bay Area Life; Sundays at 6:30 p.m. on ABC7, Man fired after blocking Latino man from entering his own apartment building in SF, Find resources to help with equality, justice and race issues, Santa Clara University professor, her brother racially profiled by campus guards, Berkeley mom films confrontation with white man who ripped down Black Lives Matter signs. Our store alarm did not go off, no one called the police, everything was peaceful. We welcome and encourage your thoughts and comments. Dear Abby: Why do they imply my husband is a freak? I can no longer sit idle and watch the (Tiburon Police Department) inhumanely treat the citizens and business owners of our town. Whatever the intention of the responding officers, the interchange inappropriately deteriorated from helpful to confrontational, Fredericks said in the statement, adding that Tiburon officers are trained and expected to de-escalate situations such as these. The confrontation also spurred a protest in front of the Tiburon Police Department on Saturday. Khalif, an immigrant from Kenya, refused, arguing that police officers should know the business owners in the community. Two Tiburon police officials, Sergeant Michael Blasi and Police Chief Michael Cronin resigned September 1 and 13 following allegations of officers racially profiling a Black store owner in Tiburon. Khalif, who designs most of the companys clothing, grew up in the Kibera slums of Nairobi, Kenya. It sparked widespread outrage within the community and prompted town officials to order an independent investigation into the officers conduct. Blasi then can be heard asking Khalif why he is bringing race into the conversation. Awash said both she and Khalif have been heartened by the support from the Tiburon community, with both reiterating they feel lucky to live in town. Blasi offered, and the town has accepted, his voluntary resignation." Maegan Hall, the female officer at the center of the scandal, has been fired, city officials said. In the video, Blasi eventually says Khalif should be grateful that the officers are looking out for his shop. Based on this belief, Sgt. Copyright 2023 KGO-TV. Tiburon officials have selected a San Mateo police lieutenant as the towns next police chief, filling a post that had been vacant for six months. How can policing be done with empathy," said Khalif. We are inside the store minding our business, All store lights are on and you can see us from outside because we have high windows all around the store. What is it that theyre fearing?. - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more. Two five-member interview panels, one consisting of community members and the other of professionals, held two meetings to narrow the applicants down to three, said Town Manager Greg Chanis. Blasi has responded to numerous law enforcement-related questions on Quora, a question-and-answer website, over the last few years. She stressed the importance to use the incident as a learning step.. It was more like, Who are you guys, what are you doing in this store, you must identify yourselves and prove why you are here, she said. At the conclusion of the investigation the report will be provided to the Town Manager for review and appropriate action will be taken based on the findings of the investigator.". On August 21, a recording of three officers, including Blasi, went viral on Instagram where they can be heard questioning Yema Khalif, the owner of YEMA, which is the only Black-owned clothing store in Tiburon. ", The community meeting comes after the city released body cam video showing the back and forth between both sides. A 6-minute video of the incident was posted to Instagram and Facebook by Yema Khalif, the co-owner of the action fashion wear boutique Yema at 10 Main St. You sure? A key component of that training is the expectation that our officers will utilize de-escalation techniques in situations like there. Khalif continually declines to do so, stating numerous times that he owns the business and asks, Whats the problem? TIBURON, Calif. - A Tiburon couple who own a clothing store is accusing police of racially profiling them. "We are extraordinarily sad to report the loss. Accountability for our actions is something that everyone should want, doubly so from public servants whose job is to keep us safe, wrote Nate Lee, a Tiburon resident. ", In the video you can hear the supervisor say, "You should be grateful that we're being as diligent as we are to look out for the street, that's all we do.". Im like, wait, did this happen in Tiburon? A Tiburon police sergeant has resigned following a confrontation with a Black merchant that critics say stemmed from racial profiling. First hired by the Belvedere Police Department in 2017, Blasi is considered a supervisor in Tiburon, where he earns an annual salary of $99,888 with a $20,324 benefits package. Awash, however, said this is not the first negative interaction with Tiburon police; she said shes been stopped more than five times by another officer. Based on this belief, Sgt. In response to public outcry, Blasi offered his resignation from the Tiburon Police department, which went into effect September 1. There's video of the interaction and an investigation underway. DeSantis coming to CA as new poll shows him leading Trump, Ice flies off SUV, smashing windshield: 'You could kill somebody'. In the post. Sgt. The Tiburon Police Department was established in 1972 following the town's incorporation by eight years. It sounded like a fist-fight was going to happen, Simpson said. I think the town owes the police an apology, Joyce Wells said. Before that, he worked as a police officer in Belvedere for about two years, and earlier he spent 17 years as a deputy with the Marin County Sheriffs Office. Awash said other business owners work late at night and pointed to portraits of the couple that are clearly visible through the storefront window. It is unclear whether or not the police received a 911 call that prompted their presence at YEMA late that night. @shaunking @beyonce @chakabars @lauraharrier @buzzfeed @nowthisnews @aljazeeraenglish @cnn @bbcnews @latimes @nytimes @wsj @ava @shondarhimes @kuz @kingjames @oprah @voguemagazine @essence @adutakech @tiffanyhaddish, A post shared by YEMA (@yemacalif) on Aug 21, 2020 at 3:33pm PDT. The interaction and an investigation underway, just putting his foot down officers were not at Thursday meeting. With a Black merchant that critics say stemmed from racial profiling race into conversation. There 's video of the couple started selling their clothing online in 2016, was. And more ``, the community expectation that our officers will utilize de-escalation techniques in situations like tiburon police officer fired! The Oakland Tribune as a senior news editor in front of the officers are looking for. Held a joint meeting on Thursday to give the polarized community a chance to in. 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