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Family,
Friends of Man Shot in Back by Deputy Protest
Lawyer representing
dead man’s father says wrongful death suit in the works
By
Allison Jean Eaton
Bulletin Staff Writer
COMPTON – They
may have been few in number, but about a dozen protesters outside Compton
Sheriff’s Station last week voiced their message loud and clear:
Unity is necessary in the fight against police brutality.
Twenty-seven years to the day of his birth, Bryan David Lee Moore Jr.
was laid to rest Thursday, June 10. In honor of what would have been
his 27th birthday, family and friends gathered outside the station
that evening following his funeral hoisting picket signs, munching
on cupcakes and sharing their story with passersby.
Moore was June 26 shot three times in the back, twice in the buttocks
and once in the lower back, by a patrol deputy in the 1000 block of
West 150th Street. The deputy and his partner claim they saw Moore
with a firearm and shot at him in fear for their safety after he ran
from them and refused to show his hands.
According to department officials, Moore was alone walking southbound
on Wadsworth Avenue holding his waistband and walking in a manner that
suggested he was concealing a firearm. Two deputies patrolling the
county unincorporated area spotted Moore and attempted to stop him.
But as soon as Moore saw the black-and-white, he began running.
Compton Station Capt. William Ryan said Moore repeatedly refused to
show his hands when ordered by the deputies. Both, he said, saw Moore
with a handgun in his right hand. After hopping a couple fences, Moore
was positioned with his back toward one of the deputies and still would
not show his hands. When he began to turn around to face the deputy,
the deputy shot at him three times because he believed Moore had a
gun.
However, after a thorough investigation of the scene, no firearm was
recovered.
“That’s because he didn’t have a gun,” said
Moore’s
girlfriend, 27-year-old Chanta Deeminter.
According to her, the Sheriff’s Department’s account of
what transpired is far from the truth.
Moore, referred to by friends as “Lil Dave” and “PL,” wasn’t
running from the deputies because he had anything to hide, she said.
He was fearful of going back to jail. He had just been released in
late April and was still on parole.
“We were driving, coming from around the corner on 149th Street,” said
Deeminter. “When we hit the corner coming down Wadsworth, I saw
the police behind us. So I said something like, ‘The police is
behind us,’ and he said something about, ‘Well, I’m
not going back to jail.’”
A split second later, Moore sprang from the car and sprinted toward
one of Deeminter’s neighbor’s yards. A few seconds later,
after she had lost sight of her boyfriend, Deeminter heard three gunshots.
“It hurts because we know that they’re (deputies) lying,” she
said. “They’re trying to cover up their mistake – he
did not have a gun.”
Deeminter and Moore, who loved fishing, rapping and playing basketball,
had been together for five years, but were “on and off” for
the past decade. The two met at a Laundromat on Central and Rosecrans
when they were both 17.
According to authorities, Moore was a known gang member with a long
list of felony convictions including assault with a deadly weapon.
Deeminter conceded that Moore had been involved in gangs earlier in
his life, but that around age 23 or 24, he put effort into “making
a life change.”
He was most recently attending Chester Adult School to work on his
reading and writing skills in order to facilitate obtaining a job and
actively helped Deeminter out with her foster children.
A child of the streets and a product of the foster care system himself,
Moore was able to reach out to and understand her children in a special
way, she said.
Family friend Tasha Thompson, 27, described Moore as someone who loved
to help others out.
“He loved to be a therapist, wanted to tell everybody what to
do – but
always with a smile. He was a relationship therapist,” Thompson
said.
Brian T. Dunn, an attorney with The Cochran Firm who is representing
Moore’s father, Bryan Moore Sr., said he plans to move quickly
in filing a wrongful death suit.
“This is not going to be swept under the rug,” said Dunn. “We’re
going to file pretty quickly.
“The evidence is clear that this young man was unarmed and shot
in the back. The whole idea of them (deputies) being afraid for their
lives
just doesn’t seem plausible,” he continued. “I can’t
for the life of me understand the justification for something like
this.”
Since 2000, Dunn said he has represented family members of five individuals
killed by Sheriff’s deputies. And he’s represented countless
others who survived incidents involving an excessive use of force at
the hands of deputies.
“We’re seeing these cases come out of the Sheriff’s
Department consistently,” said Dunn.
Most recently, he represented Winston Hayes, the man deputies shot
at more than 100 times in 2005 on Butler Avenue. Hayes was struck nine
times but survived. In March, a Compton Courthouse jury awarded him
$1.3 million in damages.
Those protesting added that deputies who patrol their neighborhood
in West Compton have a total lack of respect for residents.
“We’re not receiving the proper services at all. It’s
like they have no respect for us. They treat us like we’re dogs,” Deeminter
said.
Just the day prior, said Deeminter’s Godmother, Zarell Johnson,
the family was sitting outside Deeminter’s aunt’s home
when three deputies in a patrol car pulled up in front of the house
and harassed Deeminter’s cousin.
Izale Machen, 27, said he was minding his own business when the deputies
jumped from the black-and-white and started patting him down and asking
if he was a gang member or if he had a gun.
“We had just come from the wake. We was talkin’ about PL,
just kickin’ it,” said Johnson. “After they did that
to Izale, it’s an apparent problem they have. I mean, we were
in mourning, and he didn’t have nothing.
“They always try to harass everybody. They gang-bangers within
themselves,” said
Johnson. “They’re legalized gang-bangers.”
Deeminter admitted that had Moore chosen not to run, he would likely
still be alive. But she’s not ready to let the Sheriff’s
Department off the hook.
“It’s sad, because if we don’t speak up, they’re
going to get away with it and keep their jobs,” said Deeminter. “We’re
trying to get into the community and pull everyone together. We need
unity. With unity, we can stop the police brutality.”
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