Tyrell Wilson was a young black man who was temporarily unsheltered and had a history of mental health struggles, which likely resulted from trauma sustained in a childhood car accident. Though he grew up in Orange County, he had some family ties in the Bay. In the winter of 2020 he began to sleep on a solitary bench in the Danville Park and Ride near an entrance to the CA 680 highway. He tried to blend into the peaceful surroundings, keeping his temporary living space tidy, and he maintained a respectful relationship with all the bus drivers and riders who would pass by the stop. No unbiased observer could ever label him threatening and the Danville Police had been aware of his presence there for months.
On that fateful day in March, the police were supposedly responding to calls of rocks being thrown off an overpass (no evidence of this has been released). When Officer Andrew Hall arrived at the broad suburban intersection just before noon, he found Tyrell crossing the street, outside of the crosswalk, holding a paper shopping bag. Less than 30 seconds after Hall began to approach Tyrell, he shot Tyrell, once, in the face. Moments earlier, Tyrell told Hall that he didn’t want to interact and boldly challenged his authority, when Hall continued to aggressively close in on him, Tyrell produced a small knife. Rather than back away and pursue de-escalation, knowing no members of the public were in danger, Andrew Hall used deadly force, publicly executing Tyrell as onlookers pleaded “don’t shoot”.
Tyrell’s legacy won’t be defined by tragedy. He may no longer have a voice, but he made his wish to be an organ donor clear when he had one. Now he lives on through the gifts of life that he gave four people, including his uncle. For the thousands of people on organ transplant waiting lists, one family’s incomparable loss could mean another’s chance at life. Read more about Tyrell’s Purpose and how you can follow in his footsteps and be a donor hero.
SUPPORT NOW
Justice for Tyrell wilson
Like Laudemer’s family ,Tyrell’s family had struggled to get adequate support for their adult child’s mental illness. In the wake of this tragedy, both families have the same primary concern: that Andrew Hall is never allowed to work in law enforcement again. They never want a third family to go through what they’re going through now. Accountability is also important to them, and they want to see charges brought against Andrew Hall for killing Tyrell.
If you would like to connect and help see that officers like Andrew Hall are held fully accountable for their brutal actions, write us to join our mailing list and stay updated about our current calls to action.
.
2022-03-13 Father of man killed by Danville officer says no amount of money will bring back son The father of the Tyrell Wilson, who was shot and killed by Danville police officer Andrew Hall, said he wants Hall to be criminally charged for killing his son.
2022-03-11 Family Of Tyrell Wilson Reaches $4.5M Settlement With Contra Costa County Over Killing By Deputy
Contra Costa County has agreed to pay $4.5 million to the family of a mentally ill homeless man who was killed by a sheriff’s deputy in a 30-second confrontation. The lawsuit settlement, reported Thursday by the Bay Area News Group, involves the March 2021 shooting of Tyrell Wilson in the East Bay community of Danville. Wilson refused to drop a knife he was holding but didn’t approach the deputy before he was shot in the face, according to body camera footage released by the Sheriff’s Department.
The deputy, Andrew Hall, also shot and killed another mentally ill man in 2018 during a slow-speed car chase in Danville. Hall had stood in front of the vehicle and fired 10 shots through the windshield and passenger side window. Hall told investigators he was afraid Laudemer Arboleda, 33, would run him down. Arboleda was unarmed. Last fall, Contra Costa County agreed to pay $4.9 million to settle a federal lawsuit filed by Arboleda’s family.
2021-10-15 Tyrell Wilson: Killed for being Black and houseless in Klanville aka Danville “Tyrell was a peaceful man; he was always so careful, and I never felt threatened near him.” This poverty skola had the blessing of speaking with life-long resident of Klanville, Veronica Benjamin, on Po Peoples Radio. She is one of the founders of Conscious Contra Costa County and organized a powerful and prayerful multi-racial action for Tyrell six months after his murder by Sheriff Deputy Andrew Hall in March.
The rally was held to bring attention to 33-year-old Tyrell’s life and the life of 33-year-old Laudemer Arboleda in 2018, also killed by a racist with a weapon – aka Andrew Hall. The Arboleda family’s attorney, John Burris, said about the charges filed against Hall: “Our view was if they had been prosecuted earlier our second client would not be dead.” “We held this event today because we are still waiting for justice for Tyrell,” Veronica said at the rally.
2021-04-23 California officer charged in previous shooting kills Black man at intersection, video shows A white sheriff’s deputy in the San Francisco Bay Area shot and killed a Black man in the middle of a busy intersection about a minute after trying to stop him on suspicion of throwing rocks at cars last month, newly released video showed. The graphic body-camera footage shows Andrew Hall shooting Tyrell Wilson, 33, within seconds of asking him to drop a knife on 11 March in Danville.
The footage was released on Wednesday, the same day prosecutors charged Hall with manslaughter and assault in the fatal shooting of an unarmed civilian more than two years ago, and intensified criticism of local prosecutors for not taking a quicker decision in the 2018 killing.
2021-04-21 Body Cam Video: Contra Costa County Sheriff releases footage of Tyrell Wilson’s police killing The Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday released body cam footage of the fatal police shooting of Tyrell Wilson on March 11, 2021.
2021-04-21 KQED -Video Footage of Tyrell Wilson Killing Released – as Same Danville Officer Charged in Another Death Only a day after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering George Floyd, the East Bay town of Danville is facing its own reckoning over two police killings.
Andrew Hall, a police officer in Danville, which contracts law enforcement services from the Contra Costa County Sheriff, has been charged with felony voluntary manslaughter and felony assault with a semi-automatic firearm in the 2018 killing of Laudemer Arboleda, the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday.
Hall’s shooting of Arboleda was “without lawful excuse or justification,” the District Attorney’s Office said in a statement. If found guilty, Hall faces a possible 22-year prison sentence and would be barred from being a peace officer. “Ultimately, I’m confident a jury of officer Hall’s peers will review this case … and ultimately hold officer Hall accountable,” District Attorney Diana Becton said at a press conference Wednesday. “The unnecessary death of Mister Arboleda underscores the need for law enforcement personnel to better understand those who are suffering from mental illness.”
Just hours before the DA’s charging announcement, the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office released grisly, graphic video footage of the incident Burris was referring to: Hall shooting 32-year-old Tyrell Wilson, a homeless man whose family says suffered from schizophrenia, on March 11 of this year.
The newly released video — compiled from footage taken by Hall’s body camera, citizen dash cam footage and stationary city-operated cameras — shows Hall exiting his police vehicle and making contact with Wilson before pursuing him on foot across the broad, busy intersection of Sycamore Valley Road and Camino Ramon, adjacent to the I-680 interchange in Danville, then shooting and killing him in the middle of the intersection, all in under one minute.
Video of Fatal Danville Police Shooting Shows Officer Firing at Slow-Moving Vehicle
An attorney for Arboleda’s mother, prominent civil rights attorney John Burris, supported the charges – but he said serious harm may have come from waiting more than two years to make them.
“In this instance, the delay in prosecuting Hall is particularly hurtful because Hall recently shot and killed a homeless man, Tyrell Wilson, under very questionable circumstances,” Burris said. “Wilson could be alive if Hall were prosecuted earlier.”
The video begins with Hall’s body cam footage, which was activated as he approached the intersection in response to 911 calls about someone throwing rocks off the Sycamore Valley Road overpass onto the I-680 freeway below.
Hall gets out of his vehicle and calls out to Wilson, who is walking into the intersection, saying, “Hey buddy, come here real quick! Come here!”
Wilson refuses and continues walking away from Hall across the intersection, saying, “Who are you?”
Hall says, “You’re jaywalking now … We’re not playing this game dude.”
After continuing to pursue Wilson on foot into the intersection, Hall identifies himself as “Officer Andrew Hall of Danville Police,” to which Wilson responds, “From where? Authority of what?”
Hall closes the distance between them as Wilson stands still for a moment, before Wilson begins walking backward, away from Hall, holding a paper bag in one hand and what appears to be a small knife in the other.
“Don’t fucking touch me,” Wilson says as he begins to walk backward. “Touch me and see what’s up.”
Hall yells, “Drop the knife” as Wilson stops in the street and says, “No … Kill me,” while tapping his chest.
Wilson then takes a couple slow, halting steps forward. Hall yells, “Drop the knife” twice more, and shoots Wilson once. Wilson immediately collapses. Responding emergency personnel work to save his life, repeating, “Stay with us, stay with us,” as they roll him onto his side. Wilson died a week later.
The Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office framed the footage as exonerating Hall.
“Any loss of life is tragic, but the community can now see the truth,” said Contra Costa County Sheriff David Livingston in a statement. “Tyrell Wilson did in fact threaten the lives of passing motorists by throwing objects, possibly rocks, from the overpass down onto Highway 680. He was found with numerous rocks in his jacket pocket. He did pull a knife on Officer Hall. He did threaten Officer Hall. And he did start advancing toward Officer Hall in the middle of a major intersection. Officers are forced to make split second decisions to protect themselves and the public and that’s what happened here.”
Officers are generally trained to see a suspect with a knife in close quarters as a deadly threat. But a newly enacted California use-of-force standard under Assembly Bill 392 says officers should only use deadly force when other options aren’t feasible.
Alternatives to deadly force could include what the bill calls “tactical repositioning” to create time and distance between an officer and a person representing a threat.
Hall began working for the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office in 2013. Just a year later, he was accused of excessive force by a person incarcerated at the Martinez Detention Facility, who alleged Hall “brutally attacked” him, and was subsequently beaten by other deputies. The Contra Costa Sheriff’s investigation exonerated Hall of any wrongdoing, and the investigation notes that injuries sustained by the prisoner may have been pre-existing, though reinjured in the fight with deputies.
In 2018, Hall, who became a contract officer for the town of Danville, responded to a call of a “strange individual lurking around” property near Cottage Lane and Laurel Drive in Danville. Officers tried to pull over Arboleda, who stopped twice but then took off again when officers got out of their cars, according to previous statements on the shooting released by the Sheriff’s Office.
Video of Arboleda’s death was obtained in 2019 by the California Reporting Project, a coalition of news organizations (including KQED) seeking records from law enforcement agencies under a new state transparency law.
The footage showed Hall shot and killed Laudemer Arboleda as Arboleda attempted to drive through a gap between two police cars.
State policing standards generally advise officers against shooting into moving vehicles, warning that doing so carries a great potential risk of death not only for the vehicle occupants, but police and bystanders. In particular, state policing standards warn against officers placing themselves in the direct path of a moving vehicle, as Hall appeared to do when he shot into Arboleda’s vehicle.
Hall was placed on administrative leave after the Wilson shooting.
2021-03-29 Protesters criticize Danville police over Tyrell Wilson shooting
2021-04-06 Family of Black man fatally shot by Northern California police officer files civil rights lawsuit (CNN)The family of a 32-year-old Black man who was fatally shot by a Northern California police officer last month has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the town and police officers after video which captured a part of the shooting emerged.
A video released Tuesday by family attorney shows the last seconds of the encounter between Tyrell Wilson and a Danville, California, police officer on March 11. Wilson was carrying a grocery bag, walking by himself across a street toward his homeless encampment, according to a statement from his family’s attorney John Burris.
.
.
progressiveissuesblog 