Owen Geronimo › Likes

http://www.nytimes.com/2009... - David Newman

If you've seen video of the MURDER, it was completely, totally and utterly unwarranted. a man who is face down, with someone's knee crushing his neck, who is not resisting, is not a threat. The murderous cop here deserves the death penalty. the Oakland attorney who's taken on this case, John Burris, wrote a book, Blue vs Black (http://is.gd/eQVe) about the STATISTICALLY evident pattern of police brutality against blacks in Oakland which has persisted for DECADES. This small riot is just a spark. Stay tuned! - .LAG liked that

It's really chilling if it was murder, in front of dozens of witnesses, but I have to wonder if the cop was on drugs, or incompetent. There's a number of videos on the web of incompetent police discharging their weapons, like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch... No doubt police are more brutal against african-americans, and heightened brutality means increased chance of accidents or crimes of passion. Murder to me means the cop actually intended to do what he did, so we need a trial. - Ray Cromwell

Here's a better example for those who haven't seen it: http://www.youtube.com/watch... - Ray Cromwell

It did seem sort of dangerous Paul. It was really tense. There was a lot of tension. There seemed to be a lot of racial slurs going on. A few sort of negative comments about the camera. At one point my brother and I were walking and filming and there was a cop filming near us as well and these guys pointed to the cop and us and started yelling these are the cops, these are the cops, they're filming you. Another time a bottle came pretty close to where I was shooting. - Thomas Hawk

The tear gas also launched and started dispersing very quickly. I wasn't aware of how fast the gas starts spreading once it's fired. There was just a lot of negative tension in the air. People would approach you and say "are you the press?" and then complain that police told them that if they went over in one area that they were going to get the s*** beat out of them. The crowd would also get worked up very quickly and especially when glass started breaking and the crowd started cheering. - Thomas Hawk

I felt pretty safe when we were in areas with lots of cops, but walking back to the car when we were walking down streets which were pretty dark and no cops around and you'd have to walk pass a group of 5 to 10 guys at once you worried that you might be seen as the "white guy" with the camera for the taking. I took my 10D down to shoot instead of my new more expensive 5D. I also worried a lot about my car when I saw how many cars around the area where vandalized. - Thomas Hawk

It was pretty stupid for me to park where I did in hindsight given that the car behind me was completely burned out when I got to where my car was parked. It felt dangerous but it also felt like it needed to be reported, seen, felt, experienced. - Thomas Hawk

SF Chronicle has a pretty good wrap up on the rioting: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin... - Thomas Hawk

@ThomasHawk... thanks for sharing this. Personally, I don't think it matters what the trigger is, when you have riot conditions, it's not safe to be around or in any kind of mob. anything can happen, and no one is really in control. - .LAG liked that

Wow, Thomas. Ballsy. Thanks for bringing us this perspective. - Christopher Sacca

I really like your brother's helicopter shot, your riot gear capture and the photo of the lady on the cell phone. Thank you for sharing your photos, and I am glad that you, and your car, came out unscathed. - RAPatton

Thomas - do you have and carry press credentials into situations like this or are you just another citizen photographer? One of those pictures of an officer giving you a pretty nasty look made me wonder, especially after seeing so many stories of police trying to stop photographers - both press and citizen. - chris tirpak

Chris, I don't carry press credentials. I've got a business card I can hand out but haven't felt the need for press credentials. Typically in these situations the police are very accommodating with regards to cameras and citizen journalism. This time was no different. I actually have to give high regards to the Oakland PD last night who handled a very bad situation about as well as could be handled in my opinion. - Thomas Hawk

Thomas you are brave to have ventured out into the riots. I was going to UCLA law school during 1992 riots. I piled up all my friends in my car that were walking / biking home. I insisted that they let me drive them directly to their homes. When we were at Wilshire and Veteran Blvd (VA Bldg). Rioters were cursing us and pushing my car!!! we all freaked out... I hit the gas and blasted right thru the intersection, despite the red light! we all made it safe. I drove home via PCH and NOT the 405 Frwy!! - Susan Beebe

I find it unfortunate that this tragic episode has such a racial spin to it. Seems more of a matter of General Public Safety to me. - Rob Michael (Atmos Trio)