Family Files Five Hundred Million Dollar Federal Lawsuit Against San Jose State University

Since November 22, 2008, Denise Johnson and Gregory Johnson, Sr. have been searching for answers regarding the death of their son, Gregory Johnson, Jr. Gregory, a thriving, popular, motivated 20 year-old African American male who studied Kinesiology at San Jose State University and served as chaplain of the Sigma Chi fraternity, was allegedly found dead, hanging in the basement of the San Jose State Sigma Chi fraternity house. The reported circumstances of Gregory's death were questionable at best, and throughout the investigation, a number of Denise and Gregory Johnson, Sr.'s civil rights were violated. The cover-up still persists to this day, since the FBI ruled the investigation of Gregory's death a "matter of national security", and refused to provide Denise Johnson with even half of the report from the investigation findings. The family has filed a lawsuit in hopes of obtaining the findings to the investigation and calling for a new, independent, and fair investigation into the inconsistencies surrounding the death of Gregory Johnson, Jr.

Two of the SJSUPD officers, Santos and Van Der Hoek, were also named in the recent federal lawsuit Laurie Valdez filed against SJSU and SJSUPD for the death of Antonio Guzman Lopez on February 21, 2014. Valdez filed the lawsuit on behalf of her and Antonio's 5 year-old son, Josiah Lopez, who is also the face of the Justice for Josiah campaign. According to police reports, Officer Dote--one of the officers who responded to the emergency call about Gregory Johnson, Jr.'s death, was also involved in the most recent San Jose shooting on Wednesday, February 11, in which SJPD killed 25-year-old Phillip Watkins after he placed a 911 call for help, due to psychological distress.

San Jose State University has a history of so-called suicides among Black men, but many of these cases involve suspicious circumstances. In Gregory's case, there were no ligature marks on his neck, but reports claim Gregory hung himself. A dead body doesn't bruise, meaning that if Gregory was actually found hanging--as reported--somebody hung him after he was already deceased. Reports also fail to mention the crack in the back of his skull that was still leaking brain matter when Gregory's body finally arrived at the morgue in Clearlake, CA.