For the last year national media attention has focused on cities around the country and the shootings and killings of American citizens, mostly African Americans, by police. Some of these shootings have rightfully resulted in police officers being charged with murder, but most importantly it has shined a bright spotlight on many police departments’ racism and discrimination problems, especially in Chicago and some Southern cities where corruption and racism have been going on for decades, including homophobic and anti-LGBT incidents. I myself participated in an early Black Lives Matter demonstration because some of these murders of black men by police officers in other cities have indeed outraged me, including the bias and discrimination within our justice system when it comes to Americans of color and the poor.
The LGBT community should never forget that our very own civil rights movement began over police brutality and harassment at the Stonewall Inn in New York and that in the 1960s and ‘70s almost every LGBT community in any city was subjected to police harassment and brutality including San Diego. To this day, many LGBT murders/killings remain unsolved across the nation because they were always a very low priority. In the 1960s and ‘70s I helped organize anti-police demonstrations in both Hollywood and San Diego and along with other local LGBT activists have kept my eyes on and been interacting with police officials for decades.
So when last Friday on New Year’s night a 30-year-old gay man was shot and killed by a San Diego police officer, over a domestic violence call, my phone starting ringing all weekend by concerned LGBT leaders. But you see, San Diego is not like other major cities and our police department is one of the best in the nation, especially under our city’s first woman police chief.
I immediately called Police Chief Shelly Zimmerman and also Assistant Police Chief Terry McMans (homicide department) and talked to them about the shooting and they answered all of my questions. Because of the ongoing national media attention on police shootings many Americans immediately jump to conclusions before getting all the facts and it seems at times all police officers and departments are painted over as murderers and racists.
Let me tell you about this police shooting in Hillcrest last Friday night. 30-year-old Joshua Sisson was a felony prison parolee who had an arrest warrant out for him. He had a very violent record and was in prison for “attempted murder.” Last Friday night he choked his boyfriend and attacked him with a big kitchen knife. His boyfriend managed to call the police and he fled on foot. When a lone 13-year veteran police office tried to stop Mr. Sisson and told him to drop the knife, he refused and aggressively started going after the police officer and was shot. In time we will have a coroner’s report to inform us if he was likely on drugs or drunk. This man had a violent criminal past and was trying to kill his boyfriend.
San Diego’s police department is in my opinion one of the very best in the nation and has an outstanding record of community outreach including with the LGBT and people of color communities. It is one of the first to have an LGBT Advisory Board and to recruit and welcome LGBT police officers.
Our LGBT community has one of the best relationships with the San Diego police, and that is why their police contingent gets one of the highest cheers and applause at our annual Pride parade. I am very glad that Mayor Faulconer and our City Council are working on getting our police officers a long overdue pay raise as San Diego has one of the lowest salaries in the nation.
Yes, there are always some “rotten apples” in any police department, but I am proud of our police chief and officers and have full confidence in this department.
I suppose a dead man cannot defend himself in court, that saves the tax payer money.
With that said, denying this man his due process serves nobody.
Why didn’t the cop use a taser to subdue him?
Why is deadly force always the go-to means of stopping someone.
Liz
When presented with a large and muscular man brandishing a weapon and with his record it made ever bit of sense to use his gun. I want to add one more thing as well. In the military and with the police they do not teach you to shoot to wound, its always shoot to kill. If the situation has become that violent then the police officer has to make the decision to not only defend himself, but the rest of the community as well. If the man was on meth or bath salts a taser probably wouldn’t have even slowed him down.
I couldn’t agree more, Liz. Also, I hardly see how this man’s criminal history is relevant. Am I supposed to feel better that the man is dead? Am I supposed to believe he deserved it?
Liz,
How about this. Let me get a knife and charge you with it. Let me know how that taser works out. I’ll answer it for you since you will be dead. You won’t live long enough to deploy your taser.
It is very unlikely I would die in such a situation.
Liz
Liz, your supposition is on point.
My take, this “dead man” forced the responding Police officer to defend himself because he came at him with a knife. I would like to see your reaction when you have someone chasing you with a knife with only one intention…” TO KILL YOU”
Secondly, lets not forget he choked and was trying to kill his boyfriend with that knife not to mention during these split second moments one needs to react quickly and this officer responded to prevent his life from being taken as well.
Lastly, considering this criminals violent past and attempt at murder not only of his boyfriend but also the responding police officer he got what he brought on to himself. As far as your quip on saving the tax payers money. You know what? I am grateful, lets not waste anymore money on someone who just couldn’t keep it together, its a better city for it for goodness sakes!
So sick and tired of hearing about pacifist crying foul when the police do their job. When I grew up, i was told to respect the police, respect the law, respect other people, don’t lose your temper etc, etc. It’s about damn time people start showing some emotional intelligence and start being their own custodian and use restraint by just taking a deep breath and walking away when you lose your temper. NO EXCUSE!
This criminal is right where he got himself…..6 feet under, and being judged period!
GREAT JOB SDPD!
Unlike You; I have been chased by an ex-roommate with the largest knife in the house. I disarmed her without so much as a scratch on ether of us.
The police know the risks in the job, they are trained to escalate the use of force. It looks like in this case the cop didn’t follow his training. A Taser would have been the first choice, and at the very least would have slowed down the attacker. Had the attacker not been subdued then lethal force would be called for. Well Ozzie I am sure you would feel differently had this man been your partner, brother, or just a friend.
I agree with Liz about the tazers. Those things are strong! They put people out!!! Stupid cops should just use those things, and call it a day. Either that, or if they have to use their stupid guns…shoot people in the feet. Why do they always go for the chest??? Whoever wrote this article Provided me with no facts at all that I didn’t already hear on the news. Except for that he/she likes the cops here. Lol The cops here are pretty much assholes. Like everywhere. There’s a fact for ya. Lol
Yea “facts” comical…See post above then maybe you can come back to reality
Do you know what they say about rotten apples? They spoil the WHOLE BUNCH! Good cops aren’t good cops if they cover for the misbehavior of their corrupt coworkers. Google ‘Bonnie Dumanis Brady Index’ for a real eye opener. Why are crooked cops still on the beat in San Diego? How many more suspects will be denied not only a fair trial but life itself. James Bond’s licence to kill is #007. He is one of nine agents allowed to do that. In our town there are thousands of police officers who’s trigger happy gun slinging has lead to hundreds of deaths. Judge, jury, and executioner. It’s also interesting to see the close relationship between the Chamber of Commerce and the SDPD. You can’t have big business without a powerful police presence. The fact that the head of the chamber, the former mayor, and the former police chief are all one man in Jerry Sanders is a major clue for anyone studying how things work around here. Don’t forget- Capitalism Kills.
I’m sorry but I’m happy that the police put this loon 6 feet under. Less wakos running around.
People want to add the dead man’s criminal record into the reasoning (justification) for being shot and killed. I have not seen any report that states that the responding officer knew what the knife wielder’s criminal history was. As to whether or not there was time to tase him, that gets very murky. It would be against their training to pull the taser instead of the pistol…maybe therein lies the problem.
I like how you took the time to get the facts before calling the police bigots and anti gay. now take a few minutes and review these other cases where you call the police departments racist. #copslivesmatter
I agree with Nicole on every point! We support our SDPD completely.
MAYBE you should have written in this article that the 13 counts of attempted murder that my brother had against him was for an arsen case. and as per CA state law, when a fire is started in a house and it is an arsen case, you are charged with a count of attempted murder for every person residing in the house. my brother lit a COUCH on fire. Which put itself out. and the family themselves didn’t want to press charges. the State pressed the charges. so instead of making my brother look like a complete fucking psycho path, GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT. all of you piece of shit media reporters make him out to be such a heartless piece of shit when he wasn’t. and half of you dim witted assholes can’t even get your stories straight. Did any of you think that maybe my brother was the victim ?! and that this scenario got turned around on him ?! I fucking doubt it. because what the police say goes. doesn’t matter what they know, what they don’t know and whether or not they bothered to investigate the fact that the boyfriend is telling the cops a completely different story then what he told our.mother. not to mention that there are people who are important within the LGBT community that don’t agree with the situation, and knew my brother personally, and say that his boyfriend isn’t as innocent as everyone seems to want to believe. none of you so called fucking journalists even do your job anymore. you all work off and feed off of each other, you don’t even bother to gather your own information on the situation. that’s NOT what journalism is, that’s NOT how a reporter is supposed to do their job, but what do I know.
Good points regarding journalism and the sorry state it is in both locally and nationally. That is why the alternative media is taking the place in many households as the prime source of information, they get the facts and get the story right.
It has been my experience in dealing with SDPD that they are lazy, more concerned with protecting their own and after listening to the scanner for years I have come to the conclusion the cops on the beat are most interested with covering their own asses, and racking up as much overtime at OUR EXPENSE as they can.
It would be an eye opener for some of you to listen to the police scanner once and a while. especially the slurs they use to describe gay and TG/TS people when they think nobody is listening.
Liz
Nice fluff piece extolling your activism, Nicole, and patting the SDPD on the back so you can keep sucking a living off the taxpayer’s dime. I applaud you for accusing Josh of attempted murder of his boyfriend, which never occurred. You just did what the rest of the media does. Create public fear of criminals then calm their fears by announcing their deaths from police shootings. Facts? NONE of the media have them regarding this case. Someday the whole story will be told. In the meantime, maybe you can look into doing something with that mayor’s office position for the homeless, the addicted, the jobless, the criminalized, the traumatized, all things Josh was dealing with.
I knew Josh and one thing that it seems to be left out about him is his history with mental health issues. He was bipolar and I never knew him to drink or do drugs. He might have stopped taking his meds again when he was shot. Just because someone is acting oddly isn’t any reason to say that they are drunk or under the influence of drugs.