The East Bay Express is reporting that analysis of footage from October 25th taken on the streets of Oakland, CA, along with some serious investigative reporting, may well have determined who it was that lobbed a flash-bang grenade into the middle of a group of people who came forward to assist Iraq Veteran Scott Olsen after he had been shot. At the very least the investigative reporter, Ali Winston, seems certain.
One of the most indelible images of the Occupy movement to date is that of Marine veteran Scott Olsen being carried away from a skirmish line of riot police at 14th Street and Broadway on October 25 in Oakland...
The footage of the flash-bang grenade exploding practically on top of Olsen and his rescuers, as well as dramatic video of a stunned and bloody Olsen being carried away from the intersection, went viral within hours, propelling Occupy Oakland to international attention...
...an extensive review of video footage and Oakland Police Department records by this reporter indicates that Robert Roche, an acting sergeant in the Oakland Police Department and member of OPD's "Tango Teams," threw the flash-bang at Olsen and his rescuers.
You will need to read the article to understand the sleuthing that went into this deduction; fair use and all that. But it seems tight and convincing. As it turns out, Sergeant Roche is no stranger to violence.
Police records show that Roche had previously killed three people in the line of duty...
In 2006, he fatally shot seventeen-year-old Ronald Brazier after the teenager fired on Roche... In 2007, Roche shot and killed an unarmed Jeremiah Dye... In March 2008, fifteen-year-old Jose Buenrostro was shot to death by Roche and two other officers while in possession of a sawed-off rifle... Buenrostro's family received a $500,000 wrongful death settlement from the City of Oakland in 2010...
Roche was cleared of criminal conduct in both the Brazier and Dye shootings.
Roche was directly responsible for three fatalities, and even though the Scott Olsen shooting is under investigation by "an independent investigator" who must have access to the same evidence as the East Bay reporter writing the article (if not more), he is still unleashed on January 28th to face Occupy Oaklanders with a shotgun:
Roche was photographed on the street during the January 28 confrontation with Occupy Oakland protesters, shotgun in hand.
We also have this, from the article, from a lawyer who has looked at the evidence:
Rachel Lederman, another NLG-affiliated attorney... ((says that)) ... tossing a flash-bang grenade into a crowd and at a wounded person is "not only improper under [OPD's] crowd control policy -- the guy should be fired,"
Fired? Fired??? The guy should be behind bars. That was a criminal act. Scott could have died, if not from the effects of the tossed grenade, then from delay in getting him out of there and to a hospital caused by the disruption.
The fact is, however, that virtually every investigation of Oakland Police officers for misconduct results in a whitewash. A hand is slapped; someone is put on paid leave. The investigation takes forever, and eventually no one even remembers any more.
It will be a miracle if Roche is ever held responsible for what he did. Sometimes, though, miracles do happen. Even in Oakland.
