Police shooting, gang injunction news conference in Woodland

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Contact: Frank 916/821-6823

ATTN: Daybook/News Desk


Shooting death of Latino in Woodland
sparks new protests as ‘gang injunction'
court case set for yet another hearing Thursday

WOODLAND – Community organizations representing Latinos who feel "harassed"
by Yolo County law enforcement – heightened after the controversial
shooting death of Luis Gutierrez – will hold a news conference here
THURSDAY prior to a hearing concerning the so-called "gang injunction"
sought by the District Attorney's office.

The news briefing will be held THURSDAY, June 11 at 8:30 a.m. in front of
the courthouse in Woodland (3rd and Main Streets).

A hearing on the gang injunction, originally filed in 2005, will be heard
at 9 a.m. Thursday. The community is represented by a dozen pro bono
lawyers, which have submitted more than 100 statements by citizens saying
there is no need for the injunction.

The DA has failed to submit any declarations proving the need for the
injunction.

Citizens claim they don't fear gangs as much as they fear law enforcement
in Yolo County, and that the real reason public officials here have fought
for years to get a so-called "gang injunction" is not to combat crime, but
to seize the property of low income residents for redevelopment.

The groups charge the alleged crackdown on gangs is unnecessary and that
the injunction has led to harassment and racial profiling in the Latino
community. Residents maintain the injunction targets innocent victims and
violates the constitutional rights of everyone.

Residents have also exposed a pattern of harassment by members of the West
Sacramento Police Dept. of residents of West Sacramento who are active in
the anti-injunction battle.

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