At last night's Oakland City Council meeting, the Mayor of Oakland announced that she would be making an announcement today about the promised investigation into the disasterous events of October 25th that resulted in Scott Olsen being nearly killed by the Oakland Police.
Today, Mayor Quan did not announce that she was firing everyone in the chain of command responsible for that brutality. The Mayor did not announce that the City of Oakland would apologize to Mr. Olsen, and make sure that all his treatment is covered. The Mayor did not announce that investigators had figured out who had shot Scott, who had fired the subsequent flashbang round dispersing people who were trying to help him, or who had failed to order medical attention be provided to him as demanded by protocol.
No, the Mayor did what every self-respecting politician does. She managed to put off saying anything about anything for who-knows-how-many-more months by announcing an "independent investigation."
OAKLAND, Calif. Oakland Mayor Jean Quan has appointed an independent investigator to evaluate the police use of force in responding to Occupy demonstrations.
At a news conference Tuesday, Quan and police Chief Howard Jordan said a team led by consultant Thomas Frazier would conduct the investigation.
Critics say Oakland police used excessive force when they fired tear gas and bean bags at protesters on Oct. 25 and Nov. 2.
KGO-TV reports the investigation would take about three months and cost the city up to $100,000. The investigators will issue a report that will be made public.
The move comes as Quan faces two campaigns to recall her by opponents who have criticized her handling of Occupy protesters who spent weeks camping in front of City Hall.
It's already been almost two months since the night Scott Olsen was almost fatally injured. Now it is to be three months more before even a whitewash report is to be issued. If I were Scott I'd be speed-dialing my lawyer right now.
Last night's Council meeting was a wonder to behold. Occupy protesters, union leaders and union members waited six hours to speak their piece in front of the City Council, but speak it they did, with blistering attacks against a proposed Council resolution to instruct the Oakland Police to use any means necessary "whatever lawful tools we have" to prevent further shutdowns of the Port of Oakland. The proposal, advocated by four members of the Council in response to last week's shutdown of the Port, needed six of the eight Council members to recommend that it be considered because it was brought as an emergency measure. It failed to get the votes for consideration by a tally of 4-4. That did not stop the fireworks.
Unfortunately the UStream videos shot by OakFoSho (twitter OakFoSho) are not embeddedable (or at least the standard embed code is not working), but you can watch them here, and here, and here.
Pay particular attention to the first video I link to in which Occupy Oakland finds a new voice, tweeting under the moniker BellaEiko. This young woman was on fire! In fact, that video does not do her justice, being noisy and a side view; the live feed of her from the City Council's camera last night was beyond awesome, but it is not available yet.
There were dozens of speakers, all except two by my count -- the manager of the Port of Oakland and a trucker -- speaking out against the resolution, decrying the prior use of force against peaceful protesters, and noting that this resolution would auger further violence.
For example
The speakers, who included several union leaders, warned that the resolution would lead to more violent confrontations between police and demonstrators.
"It's clear that police brutality is an institutionalized fixture of the Oakland Police Department," said Scott Campbell, who police shot in the leg Nov. 3 with a beanbag projectile.
One of the most poignant moments came very late, after all the speakers had finished and Council members were given a chance to express some thoughts. Councilwoman Nancy Nadel, one of the strongest advocates on the Council against police violence and (to some extent) Occupy Oakland, was saying what an awful position the Mayor had been put in, and "how, from both sides -- both sides! -- she had been heavily attacked." Someone in the crowd, most likely an Occupier, shouted out
With tear gas?
Which just about sums it all up.
2:04 PM PT:
marymad mary mad
Oakland's "independent" investigator is a Heritage Foundation homeland security expert, former #PERF president, already working w/ OPD. #OO