Liberation interviews Perry Grays, who was brutalized by Long Beach police
on Super Bowl Sunday 2011.
Liberation:
Tell us a little
about yourself.
Perry Grays: My name is Perry Grays. I was born and raised in East Long
Beach, California. I work as a security officer. I’m 24 years old.
I’m a father of two. I have a wife. I’ve been married since the
age of 21 and I have a child on the way.
Liberation:
What was it like growing up in Long Beach? Have you ever had any
run-ins with the police here?
PG: Growing
up in LB was pretty cool. There are a lot of different cultures here
in Long Beach. A lot of people come from different backgrounds. I
went to Burnett Elementary, Washington Middle School, and I graduated
from Long Beach Poly High.
I’ve
never had any run-ins with the police whatsoever. I have a
squeaky-clean background, which is essential to have in my line of
work because if you have anything on your record they won’t hire
you.
Liberation:
Could you tell us
why we are here today? What happened?
PG:
We’re here today because on Feb. 6, Super Bowl night, I was
brutalized by the Long Beach Police Department.
Liberation:
Can you describe
the incident for us from beginning to end? What happened that night?
PG: On
Feb. 6, me and my friend were upstairs playing music and my two
neighbors downstairs were having Super Bowl parties. The police
responded to a noise complaint from the apartment next to me.
I get a
knock at my window and the police said, “This is the Long Beach
Police Department, keep the music down.” So I go and turn down my
music and the officer hits my window again with the flashlight and
says “Keep it down.” I said, “Alright, don’t hit my window
again with the flashlight.” So he hits it again and I said, “Okay
I’m going to come get your badge number,” and he says, “Come
down and get it.”
I’m
in my shorts, t-shirt, and socks. I don’t even put shoes on. I just
grab an envelope and a sharpie pen. Me and my friend went to go
downstairs and there’s two officers and I ask, “Who hit my
window?” and one officer said, “I did,” and I asked, “Can I
get your badge number,” and he says, “No, I’m not giving you
anything,” and I said, “Isn’t it illegal to deny me your badge
number?” and he says, “I’m not giving you anything.”
So then
his partner asked, “What is your name?” and I said, “Sir, I
didn’t come down here to give you my name, I came down here to get
your partner’s badge number and he’s being unprofessional.” So he
asks my friend what’s his name and my friend says, “Sir I don’t
even live here”. So the officer who hit my window with the
flashlight pulls out his taser and I said, “Okay, are you going to
tase me?” He says, “Are you going to give me a reason to?” I
said, “No, I didn’t say that, you’re putting words in my mouth”
and he says, “Well you’re putting words in my mouth”.
Then at this
point his partner grabs me by the wrist out of nowhere and like tries
to pull me and I get off balance and as soon as I’m on one foot I
get shocked with a taser so I go down screaming in pain, “I have a
heart condition, can you please stop tasing me.” Another officer
comes and shoots me in the back around my neck with another taser. At
this point I couldn’t even scream or vocalize any words I was just
hanging on to my last breath. I urinated and defecated on myself and
I was just thinking ‘I’m going to die,’ and they stop tasing me
and I’m trying to catch my breathe and they’re telling me,
“Breathe, breathe.”
So I’m in
the ambulance with the officer and she hand cuffs me to the gurney
and I said, “I feel like I’m bruised all over from being tased,”
and she says, “No, you were on the ground, you were trying to kick
us so we had to beat you with flashlights,” and I asked her, “How
am I trying to kick you guys when I’m on the ground being tased?”
She didn’t
answer me so we get down to the emergency room and the officer who
tased me comes in and he says, “Yo bro, why were you tripping out?”
and I said, “I was trying to get your partner’s badge number and
you tased me. Why was I tased?” and he says, “Oh, well, you were
resisting arrest.” I said, “How was I resisting, no one read me
my Miranda rights, no one indicated I was under arrest,” and he
says, “Well you were being detained.” I said, “I didn’t break
any laws, I didn’t do anything wrong.”
He thinks
about it and he leaves the emergency room and the sergeant comes in
and he tries to justify why I was being tased. After that I stayed in
the emergency room for a little while and then they took me to the
downtown police department to a holding cell. I’m pleading with the
people in there if I can have a shower. I still have the urine on me
and the feces in my pants. They wouldn’t let me shower in the
emergency room or anything. And they charged me with threatening a
police officer, resisting arrest, and having a loud party. They
released me after two days. I guess the charges were dropped because
after their investigation they couldn’t prove any of those things,
so they let me go.
Liberation:
Have you heard of
any cases of police brutality cases in Long Beach before?
PG: I have
heard of a lot of them, a lot of them don’t really reach the news.
I heard of one case where a guy in North Long Beach was handcuffed
face down and shot in the back execution-style by the police. Another
where there was a woman riding a public bus and I guess the police
were rolling by and she looked at the police in a funny way. I guess
they got upset and they actually pulled the public bus over and asked
her if she had a problem, they arrested her for no apparent reason. I
hear about police brutality all the time.
Liberation:
You are now a part
of the ANSWER Coalition’s city-wide movement to end police
brutality here in Long Beach. How do you feel about that?
PG: I feel
pretty good. I feel the movement is very essential to the community
to get people aware of what’s going on and what the police are
doing, to bring justice to the victims of police brutality.
