Justice 4 Desmond Phillips Rally

On Friday March 17th, 2017 in the city of Chico, CA, police used excessive/deadly force and killed Desmond Phillips who was a 25 year old Black man who struggled with mental health issues. His father David Phillips had called 911 for medical assistance, which he had done before with good results. Twenty-one minutes later Desmond was dead after being shot 16 times in front of his father by officers Gagnebin and Fliehr in his apartment. No mental health professionals were ever called to assist. Less than one month later, Butte County District Attorney Michael Ramsey closed his investigation calling Desmond’s death “justified” and those officers are back to work. Desmond suffered from PTSD, memory loss, and seizures after being beaten by Sacramento police one year ago, which was the first police contact he had ever had.

The District Attorney’s ruling was supposedly based off of statements from the officers & neighbors and the physical evidence. The D.A.’s story changed several times in public, documented reports. The neighbors agree with David’s account of what happened and the physical evidence shows that what the police claim about Desmond being a threat to them when they opened fire is not possible. Butte Sheriff Captain Andy Duch resigned from his position as Critical Incident Training facilitator because the Chico Police and District Attorney lied about what training the officers had. The Phillips family, supported by the Chico and Sacramento communities, is seeking justice including an independent investigation and criminal charges for the officers who killed Desmond. David Phillips is working with Civil Rights Attorney John Burris. A petition through Color of Change to fire the officers has 46,000 signatures.

On Friday June 9th at 3:00pm, Desmond’s family, friends and community will rally at the State Capitol in Sacramento. The community will then march to the State Attorney General’s office as part of the campaign to get an independent investigation. Desmond Phillips died in a county where fatal interactions between law enforcement and the mentally ill are double the national average, and in a city where the population is less than 2% black and over 70% white. Black males are 6% of the population of the U.S., but 40% of people killed by police. People with mental illness are 16 times more likely to be killed by police.