Eight years ago next month, police responding to a report of a potential hit and run accident in the Safeway parking center in South Davis came to the home of the Buzayans. The evidence that an actual accident occurred was sketchy, at best. Nevertheless, when Davis Police Officer Pheng Ly appeared at the Buzayans’ home at nearly 10 pm on a school night to arrest then 16-year-old Halema Buzayan, her father Jamal Buzayan offered to bring her down to the police station in the morning.
Officer Ly refused that offer and proceeded to arrest her, in her night clothes, for a misdemeanor, and bring her down to the police station. What followed is questionable, at best, for Ms. Buzayan appears to have been questioned by Officer Ly despite her request for counsel. And to make matters worse, former Officer Gina Anderson appears to have attempted to have tried to use the internal investigation process to question the defendant and get her to acknowledge guilt.
The story gets worse from there, because when an irate Jamal Buzayan complained to police and city leaders about his daughter’s treatment, he was brushed aside and given excuses and rationalizations.
What should have been a minor incident led eventually to a police chief moving to Antioch, after resigning from Davis’ police department and issuing forth a letter blaming it all on the Davis Human Relations Commission, which would be disbanded. The city, under siege from angry people on both sides of the issue, ultimately would hire a police ombudsman to oversee the citizen complaint process and, eventually in 2007, would hire a new chief.
While a lawsuit pending from that incident has not been resolved, it remains my belief that if the city had simply offered Mr. Buzayan a heartfelt apology for the clear errors that occurred in that case, much of the next year’s drama might have been avoided. Instead, both sides dug in and things got unnecessarily contentious and downright ugly.
Last night, Naomi Davis, the daughter of Eli Davis spoke at a public meeting sponsored by the Vanguard Court Watch Council. She, her daughter, and her in-laws all spoke about the impact that this incident has had on Eli Davis.
Mr. Davis has lived in this community for nearly 30 years. Raised in Georgia during the Jim Crow days of the 1940s and 1950s, he is a former Vietnam vet who was wounded with a gunshot to his face during his time of combat.
She related an earlier story which also appeared as a letter to the editor last week from Bill Cavins.
Mr. Cavins wrote, “Did you know that Eli Davis was arrested or detained by the county sheriff many years ago when he was giving driving lessons to his son or daughter in the abandoned lot of the former site of Sutter Davis Hospital?”
He continues, “He used to be a much-loved Safeway checker. You can understand his sensitivity and outrage. He remains a meek, kind, upstanding Davis citizen who has unfortunately been targeted twice simply for the color of his skin.”
Ms. Davis relates that both Mr. Davis and his son were arrested on that day.
Eli Davis was related to the public as a quiet, assuming and very shy and private person. He did not attend this meeting and people who know him said he was so shy that he, in fact, would not even attend school functions for his kids.
Ms. Davis told us of the incident of Mr. Davis mowing his lawn and being approached by police. He was wearing typical gardening clothes, a torn shirt and pants.
Most of all – she told us this often fighting back tears – she was angry, and the family was clearly very hurt by incident. She said that in the month since that time, Eli Davis has been very depressed and has had difficulty sleeping.
Other people spoke before the panel. There was a very real sense by members of the African-American community that this was a deeply troubling event for them. One lady said that her daughter was planning to move back with her son and she said now she does not know if she wants her grandson to grow up in Davis and have to be exposed to some of the treatment that comes with being a black male in Davis.
But, most of all, I sensed hurt and disbelief.
There was a very real sense of why was this still happening here, in this day and age.
As Naomi Davis said, people’s homes are their sanctuary. You turn your key and you enter inside, you let you hair down and change your clothes and symbolically you let your guard down. So when someone invades that personal and private space, it is a very real violation.
The point that Ms. Davis made over and over again is that they have not received an apology from the police. I am not going to say that will heal all wounds. She did say that Police Chief Landy Black came by, but Mr. Davis was at work.
The sense I get is that a personal apology is fine, but Mr. Davis really needs a public apology.
Eight years ago, it seems to me that the Buzayan situation might have been diffused had the police and city officials at that time stopped worrying about appearances and whether they believed they acted properly, and issued a heartfelt apology.
Now we can correct a wrong from our recent past, while addressing a contemporary wrong.
There has been much progress that has occurred in the last eight years, but there is much work to be done. We are in the process of asking to gather data on traffic stops by race to assess the extent to which the perceptions of people of color – that they are disproportionately targeted – is correct.
Despite the progress, there is still a real sense in this community by people of color that Davis still targets them disproportionately.
I think everyone involved recognizes that this incident could have and should have been handled better. At the very least, the officer should have better explained to Mr. Davis why it was he was being asked for ID as he mowed his lawn.
Until an apology is issued, the healing process cannot begin. We cannot fix this problem until then.
Again, I am not going to say it will fix all problems here, but I can tell you from listening to the hurt and the anguish, it will go a long way.
My message for Chief Landy Black and Mayor Joe Krovoza is simple: do the right thing, apologize and make it sincere.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
David wrote:
> Despite the progress, there is still a real sense
> in this community by people of color, that Davis
> still targets them disproportionately.
This is the big problem, many “people of color” really do think that the police don’t arrest white people when they are involved in a hit and run or bother whites to ask them questions when looking for a white suspect…
Almost every time a friend with skin darker than mine is pulled over (even when pulled over for a cop of the same skin color) they will tell me “it was because I’m _____”
I’ll ask them “were you speeding” or “did you roll through the stop sign” and they will say yes, but point out that they still think they were targeted due to their race.
I don’t believe your assessment here is accurate of what people think.
Almost everyone (of every color) have had some bad interactions with law enforcement (or bad service at Denny’s).
The problem is that most of the time the whites say “that cop (or Denny’s waiter) was a “jerk” while most of the time people of color say “that cop (or Denny’s waiter) was a “racist”,
We all know that there are some truly racist cops (and Denny’s employees) but it is sad when so many people of color blame racism on most bad behavior (and poor service) they experience.
SOD
“but it is sad when so many people of color blame racism on most bad behavior (and poor service) they experience. “
Yes, it is sad. And would it not be sadder still if the assumption that there is racial disparity and not your assumption that there is not, we’re the correct one. It seems that the only way to sort out these assumptions would be actual data about the number of stops, race of the person detained, purported reason for the stop, and then comparison to the percentage of that ethnicity in Davis. Only with such data can decisiona be made regarding the applicability of either claim.
Without getting into the unresolved Buzayan case, your reporting provides a real service in helping people understand why our minority members are so affected by encounters with police. Even though Naomi Davis wasn’t involved in this incident, the fact that her father had to deal with the encounter no doubt will affect her views of Davis and our police forever.
The Court Watch Council did a good job of putting the incident in a realistic context. I’m pleased that the police chief tried to personally discuss the matter with Mr. Davis. From everyone’s descriptions of Mr. Davis, I suspect that that outreach would have gone a long way with him if they’d connected. But, as you’ve reported, they still haven’t gotten together, and Ms. Davis was left to repeatedly note the absence of an apology.
Once this private encounter went public–and it might be that the main reason it did was that Mr. Davis felt the officer had been untruthful because his call to the station provided him with misinformation–maybe you’re correct that private apologies are inadequate to the public need.
Has the Vanguard obtained a first hand account from Mr. Davis?
Being a young man in Davis has its problems and challenges. Stops by police are frequent. For black young men, it is likely even worse. This also applies to discipline in local schools.
Mr. Davis has not spoken to anyone from what I can tell other than friends and family. We only have his written description and what he told his family.
There is a lot of mistrust for the police today across all demographics. Apologizing in public for mistakes made seems like the least that should happen.
I guess the problem with an official apology is that it can constitute evidence of an admission of wrongdoing, which can then be used to launch a lawsuit? Is this correct?
In theory yes, in this case, the family isn’t going to file a lawsuit and even if they were inclined to do so, it’s hard to imagine damages.
jimt
[quote]I guess the problem with an official apology is that it can constitute evidence of an admission of wrongdoing, which can then be used to launch a lawsuit? Is this correct?[/quote]
Over the past thirty years in which I have been in medicine, there has been major change in thinking around this point. When I first entered training, the predominant thought was exactly this. To apologize was seen as admitting guilt which then could be used as evidence in sometimes extremely costly law suits. The thinking has changed over time. At least in my area, the predominant advice is to give an accurate accounting of what happened that led to an adverse outcome, apologize for any harm incurred, and make such medical restitution as is possible. What is found is that when people are given an honest accounting, sincere expression of regret, and offer of such restitution as is possible, there are actually fewer lawsuits.
Which makes sense Medwoman – lawsuits are time consuming, stressful, costly, and most of the time fruitless. Most people do not file lawsuits because they want to get rich (some do), but because they feel wronged and if the entity that wrongs them owns up to it and makes them feel whole and respected, they are less likely to file one. Like I said, I honestly believe that a lot of the problems of 2006 would have been avoided with a simple and sincere apology.
medwoman–that’s good to hear of this trend in the area of medicine; and David I do agree in spirit with the power of an apology and simple civilities like this. Part of a trend I perceive (maybe erroneously) in law enforcement is increasing militarization and increasing attitude of “us” (the police) vs. “them” (the civilians); where in essence to some degree all civilians are treated as potential criminals, in contrast to the actual situation that most citizens are law-abiding and would like to help the police catch the bad guys. Good police-community relations start at the grass-roots level, where individual citizens and patrol officers treat each other with civility and respect (then it makes it easier to give allowance to someone having a bad day!)