On January 15th 2021, the Sacramento Sheriff Department's Gang Suppression Unit murdered Kershawn Geyger. In the information coming from the Sheriff department, an officer was also shot but in good condition and released. The Sheriff department never stated that Kershawn had a gun or that an officer was shot by the victim or his passenger. Something they would have made sure to do if this was in fact true. The department only gave info that implied this.
Also, the dash cams in two deputy vehicles was off, the Sheriff Department has said. Video was off while knowing that California law requires video to be on and released within 45 days. Video was off when the department has already failed to get body cams by the deadline they were required to have them.
On behalf of the family of Kershawn Geyger, we have some demands for our Sacramento County Sheriff Department, and our Sacramento County Board of Supervisors.
Enough is enough!
Demands for Kershawn Geyger
- All audio and video of the murder of Kershawn Geyger by the Sacramento Sheriff department needs to be released to this family and then to the public. The release needs to be within 45 days, in accordance with California law AB 748.
- We demand that the Sacramento Sheriff Department stop using propaganda through media, to validate their narrative and influence the communities perspective without providing any proof of facts. A part of this action would be to immediately detach video of a separate incident, where there is absolutely no proof of Geyger involvement, from being connected to Geyger and his family including his brother. This video can impact Geyger’s brothers current and future court proceedings by creating bias based on non factual information.
- We demand the family have the names and badges of all officers involved in the January 15th incident.
- We need all deputies in the Sacramento sheriff department to have body cameras immediately. We understand that some will be with cameras in February. We also understand that the budget recently included it, but this is something that they know should have already been in place. The history of no transparency, or having to be forced to be transparent; the history of pushing back against state laws to continue to not be transparent; and the fact that this agency has killed so many people in Sacramento; is exactly the reason why our Sheriff needs to be moving with urgency.
- Since gang units in any agency are sent out to racially profile Black and Brown folks in our community, while ignoring white gangs and hate groups that terrorize communities of color; we demand that the county of Sacramento and the sheriff department abolish the gang suppression unit by divesting from it, and reinvesting those funds into the communities that are over policed by these units. Working with the root of a problem fixes the problem with a smaller chance of it re-occuring. Sending police to terrorize Black and Brown people, then institutionalizing them, does not resolve anything and has shown only create an atmosphere where folks continue to re-visit this cycle.
- We demand that the Board of Supervisors and the Sacramento Sheriff Department create a powerful and fully operating oversight commission. With power to subpoena information, investigate, and hold deputies accountable.
- We demand that going forward, video and audio released is not accompanied by a narrator providing unverified information that is not visible on the video and audio being narrated. That is a false narrative. We demand no narrating at all on all video/audio released regarding police involved altercations.
- Lastly, we demand that Kershawn Geyger’s surviving children, are compensated. While no amount of money can replace a father that is in a child’s life, they are now left to be raised with out him, his guidance, his protection, his assistance in the day to day raising them, and ensuring their proper education. We expect the Sacramento Sheriff Department to willingly initiate compensation for their loss.
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