S1: Welcome in San Diego. It's Andrew Bowen in for Jade Hindman. On today's show , a police shooting in Imperial County prompts calls for an independent investigation. Our reporter brings us the facts from El Centro. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. Last month , 14 year old Mikey Jimenez was driving in a restaurant parking lot in El Centro when police officers opened fire on the vehicle , killing him. Now his family is calling for an outside investigation of the case. Joining me to talk more about this story is our South Bay and Imperial Valley reporter , Corey Suzuki. And Corey , welcome back to the show.
S2: Hi , Andrew. Thanks for having me.
S1: So I want to start by just remembering Mikey Jimenez. Who was he ? How do his family members remember him ? Yeah.
S2: Thanks for asking. Mikey , 14 years old. Um , a kid from Brawley. He was a pretty energetic and happy person. He loved playing Fortnite , the video game. Um , he loved cooking. Uh , especially seafood , uh , is what his sister remembers. And , um , you know , his , uh , the his family's attorneys do say that Mikey dealt with his own challenges , too. They say he had ADHD , depression , he was bipolar. But by all accounts , I mean , he was really , um , really just a normal 14 year old kid.
S1: We have a clip from Mikey's mother , alma Urania. Alma Urania. Rather , uh , from a press conference that was held this past weekend. Here she is talking about her memory of Mikey at home the night he was killed.
S3: We were just right there playing around , tickling each other , you know , just playing around like a family. And maybe like , 30 minutes later , he went out the door to go spend time with his friends and not even an hour later he died.
S1:
S2: Police say their license plate reader surveillance systems flagged a white Hyundai Elantra passing through the city. They say they flagged it as stolen , and Mikey was behind the wheel of that car outside a restaurant in El Centro. Uh , what we see in the video , which again , is pretty highly produced , is that police surround the parking lot of the restaurant , block the exits , the Hyundai in the clips comes around the corner and moves towards them. And within seconds , officers opened fire.
S1: So Mikey's family and their attorney tell a different version of this story of what happened that night.
S2: Police say that Mikey accelerated towards the exit with two officers in his way , and that was when officers opened fire. But the family and their attorneys see something different in this video. They say Mikey was essentially trying to surrender to officers , that he was already slowing down when they started shooting , and they speak to just the the amount of force that police used. Um , Mikey's family's attorneys say that officers fired 29 shots at the car , at least in total.
S1: So you referred to the footage released by police as highly edited. And I understand there is some footage that they have not yet released.
S2: I mean , the very first press release that the police department put out had almost no information. This was back in early October when the shooting took place , and then last week the department put out this video. It's a little over four minutes , a little under four and a half , and it includes clips from a couple dash cam video , video cameras in the squad cars that were involved , and then , um , clips from two of the officers body cameras. It does not include video from a third officer who was present , notably which who police say was directly in the path of the car. And police have declined multiple requests to release the full , unedited body camera video. We have asked for it several times. Other community organizations have asked for the that video as well , but the department has so far declined those requests.
S1: And that's because they say it's part of an investigation.
S2: First , their attorneys said that yes , it was part of an ongoing investigation and that releasing the footage might jeopardize it in some way. And then separately , the the police department has also cited a state code related to when police take minors into custody , saying that there is some element there that that prevents them or gives them a reason to withhold the footage. Um , that's all of what we know so far when it comes to the the body camera video.
S1: Now Mikey's family is calling for an independent investigation. Somebody outside Imperial County to look into this shooting. What are their concerns with what's being done now and how it's being handled ? Right.
S2: Well , the way that the investigation process usually works when there is a police shooting is that the county district attorney will begin open their own investigation into the shooting and determine whether to bring criminal charges against the officers. And in this case , what the family's attorneys say is that they're worried that the Imperial County District attorney works too closely with police in El Centro to be able to really conduct an independent investigation. They're calling for the state attorney general or a district attorney in another county to take over that investigation , but that would require the Imperial County district attorney making that decision to transfer the investigation from what they say. And just for some context. I mean , Imperial County , it's a really small place. It's smaller than most major cities. It's 180,000 people , which , you know , by comparison , Chula Vista is 270,000. So it's a it's a tight knit community.
S1: And law enforcement agencies are also a major employer in the region. Isn't that right ? How do the economic dynamics come into play here ? Yeah.
S2: That's right. This was something that Mikey's mother , alma , and other folks that I talked to brought up. Law enforcement is a very significant industry in Imperial County. You have police , you have prisons , you have federal immigration enforcement , Border Patrol and Ice. And I spoke to Hilbert Manzanares , a government transparency advocate and a former Calexico City Council member , about this. He says what all of this contributes to is really a strong culture of support for law enforcement , but also a hesitancy in some ways to criticize these agencies because they provide the livelihoods and kind of an economic engine for the community. And also , I mean , in some ways really just feed a lot of people. So there's a kind of a strong power dynamic there.
S1: So the family has asked the state attorney general's office to do an independent investigation.
S2: The , um the AG's office did not respond to my request for comment , so I haven't heard that from them directly. But from what we are hearing from Imperial County officials , the district attorney , the current district attorney says that the state is not planning to step in at this at this point. And I should also note , um , George Marquez , the the current Imperial County District attorney , has also said that his office has not discussed at this point , transferring the investigation to another district attorney outside of Imperial County.
S1: You said Imperial County is a small community.
S2: Um , I drove to El Centro on Saturday for a press conference that his family and friends held. They it was the rain was really coming down. And still , I mean , dozens of people were gathered outside of the the restaurant in El Centro where the , um , shooting took place. And , um , what I was really struck by was just the number of kids who were there. I mean , half of maybe the people who were there were adults , but I would say a really a really large number of the people who were there to remember Mikey and to call for some form of accountability for the way that he was killed , um , were really young. And I think that just speaks to how young that Mikey was and to the community that he was a part of , and who's really feeling his loss right now.
S1:
S2: I mean , the police put out an initial press release , like I mentioned. Very bear didn't say very much. There were also some mentions. I saw some , uh , some flyers floating around on social media that , um , that mentioned , uh , Mikey's age. That didn't include his name from what I remember , but that , um , that said that a 14 year old was , was killed in this police shooting. And , uh , so that was kind of , um , how we approached it early on. I filed a request , a public records request for the full body camera footage and any other documents related to the shooting. And the El Centro police came back and they denied our request. And that was back in October. And so this is sort of , uh , what took place before in the in the weeks leading up to the department's release of their body full kind of , um , pieces of the body camera footage in this , in that edited compilation last week. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. I wanted to ask more about that footage , actually , because it seems rather odd that the police would release some of the footage from some of these angles , but not from that one. Officer Warren body camera that has a different angle. And we know you know. Depending on how these videos are shot , the angle that that you see the incident. It can really change your perspective. What what are our next steps.
S2: And KPBS will continue to push for the release of that body camera footage because , um , like you said , I think it's a it's a critical part in understanding what exactly took place , how the shooting unfolded , and how the public should , should understand the ways that officers acted and whether or not their conduct was , um , adhered to. The El Centro Police Department's policies. Um , and we will also be watching whether the investigation the district attorney will decide to transfer the investigation to an outside law enforcement agency. Um , And then if the officers don't press criminal charges , Alma and Mikey's family say that they are planning on filing a civil lawsuit against the city. So there's still a lot of questions. And I think we'll just , uh , we'll be continuing to keep an eye on what comes next.
S1: And you mentioned the police standards. So , you know , isn't there something in those standards about shooting at a vehicle ? Isn't that quite dangerous ? Yes.
S2: That's right. Uh , in the El Centro Police Department's own policy handbook , uh , they say explicitly that officers should not fire on a moving vehicle unless they are left with no other option. And so I think that's a really significant question right now that , um , the family , Mikey's family and their attorneys and the public are waiting on in terms of , um , whether or not that officers , uh , really that the situation really met that standard , that officers had no other option other than to fire 29 shots at the car and at the 14 year old inside.
S1: Well , I've been speaking with KPBS , South Bay and Imperial Valley reporter Corey Suzuki. You can read his full story and listen to it and listen to it at KPBS. Corey , thank you for joining us.
S2: Thanks for having me , Andrew.
S1: And that's our show for today. I'm your host , Andrew Bowen , in for Jade Hindman. Thanks for listening to Midday Edition. Have a great day.
