Sign the petition to drop the charges against John Cabrera.
On Jan. 26, Long Beach, Calif. resident John Cabrera, 20, will begin his criminal trial. He is facing two felony charges concocted by the Long Beach police: resisting arrest and failure to comply with an executive officer. These phony charges are nothing more than an attempt to cover up an incident of extreme police brutality. Cabrera is not guilty of any crime. In fact, he was the victim.
Here is what happened: On May 14, 2011, just a few minutes after 11 p.m., Cabrera answered a loud knock at his door to find a gun pointed in his face. He instinctively shut the door, moved to the back of the apartment, and told his fiancée Elizabeth Bustamante to get dressed. The man on the other side of the gun was Officer Sturgeon of the Long Beach Police Department. Cabrera’s decision was rational, especially since the LBPD is responsible for an average of a dozen officer-involved shootings each year, most targeting people of color. Long Beach has a higher per-capita rate of shootings than New York City.
The gun-wielding officer never announced a reason for his presence, never showed a search warrant, and did not give any cause as to why he was at the house. Cabrera was fully within his rights, especially since he was greeted with a gun in his face without any warning. Within five minutes, Officer Sturgeon had moved behind a car in the front of the apartment building and fired the first shot into Cabrera’s and Bustamante’s home through a window. What followed was a hail of gunfire from at least a half a dozen officers into the apartment. Over 30 bullet holes were found in the apartment, and Cabrera was hit twice, in his arm and torso. Officers shot Cabrera through the apartment from a distance of nearly 50 feet, endangering the lives of Bustamante and those living in the three surrounding units of the complex.
Bustamante told Liberation News, “I was in the room and he was in the very back of the hall when they shot John. He fell forward into our bedroom and he started bleeding profusely from his side and arm.”
Bustamante slowly crept out of the house with her hands up in her bra and underwear to dozens of officers and squad cars that covered three blocks in every direction. Bustamante said, “They shut down the entire neighborhood and tried to keep media away. They never went in to get John or see how he was doing, and they never tried to make any verbal contact with him.”
Cabrera was forced to stand up and walk out of the apartment, despite massive loss of blood. When he came to the front of the apartment, the officers made him get on his hands and knees and crawl for an entire block before grabbing him by his injured arm and dragging him to an ambulance.
Bustamante continued, “The cops kept me outside in the cold without offering me clothes for hours. They detained me at the police department for nearly 24 hours, despite repeatedly telling them that I wanted to leave.”
Cabrera remained handcuffed to his hospital bed for days before being put in jail and was prevented from seeing his loved ones. To this day, Cabrera has not regained the feeling in his arm. There is a chance he may be permanently damaged due to the LBPD’s vicious assault.
Police practice domestic terrorism
At the time of the shooting, it was not clear to Cabrera or Bustamante why the police came with guns drawn to their door. Later, it was discovered that the officers were responding to an anonymous domestic disturbance call. This became the “official” police line, parroted by media outlets like the Long Beach Press Telegram, which went out of its way to paint Cabrera as an abusive partner.
But Bustamante repudiated these claims as outright lies. She told Liberation News, “There was never any domestic violence. We have a very wonderful and loving relationship. We had just gotten home from a great day with our pastor and we weren’t even fighting. At no point did the officers involved try to contact me, see if I was okay or even ask me if anything had happened. I didn’t realize they believed it was a domestic violence issue until afterward when they took photos of my entire body—and there wasn’t a single mark on me!”
In responding to an alleged domestic disturbance call, one would think the police would be first tasked with figuring out what is happening, if anything, and then ensuring the safety and security of the alleged victim. But this is not how the LBPD works. The fact that the officers made no contact with Bustamante, came at her apartment with guns drawn, and then fired over 30 shots at her and her partner certainly is evidence that crimes took place—assault, excessive force and attempted murder by the police. Cabrera and Bustamante were the unfortunate victims.
Why did the police act this way? Since Cabrera feared getting killed by notoriously trigger-happy cops and shut the door, the police became enraged that he allegedly refused their orders. To cops, this is the ultimate crime. Their authority to intimidate, beat, shoot or kill anyone is considered by them—and the capitalist system they protect and serve—to be sacrosanct. Police have the need to send a clear message to all working people that if they refuse to recognize their supreme authority, they will be subject to harsh punishment or bodily harm.
The position and role of police under capitalism explains how a response to alleged domestic disturbance can become an act of domestic terrorism perpetuated by the police—a force employed to terrorize poor and working communities on a daily basis.
Arrest the cops—Let Cabrera walk!
Within two days, members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, ANSWER Coalition, and the Campaign to Stop Police Violence were on the scene gathering photos and taking interviews of Bustamante in order to launch a justice campaign.
Bustamante quickly became an outspoken activist with the Campaign to Stop Police Violence, speaking at press conferences, demonstrations and Long Beach city council meetings; doing interviews, organizing volunteer meetings, and much more.
Bustamante told Liberation News, “When they opened fire on our apartment, I lost all faith and all hope in the police here. When we started building the movement and especially when we held a protest at the 43rd Annual Long Beach Police Award Ceremony and I was able to confront the perpetrators, I regained that strength. Now I’m determined to fight until the end.”
After speaking to the media and becoming active in the justice movement, LBPD officers have attempted to intimidate and harass both Bustamante and Cabrera. The cops regularly park in front of their apartment for long periods at a time. Police are spotted circling their block and doubling back when they are on the front porch or outside of the apartment complex. At one point, in an unrelated incident involving a neighbor harassing Bustamante and Cabrera, over half a dozen police surrounded Cabrera with their hands on their weapons.
These attempts to intimidate have not succeeded. They only illuminate the obvious fear harbored by the LBPD as their victims lose their fear and join a struggle-oriented movement to stop police violence.
On the day Cabrera’s trial begins community supporters will fill the Long Beach Superior Court to support Cabrera and demand that all charges be dropped immediately. Cabrera is not a criminal. He works two jobs, is active in his community church and has a loving relationship with his partner, Bustamante.
The real criminals continue to patrol the streets of Long Beach armed and ready to shoot. Not only should Cabrera walk, but the cops responsible for attempting to kill him and Bustamante should be fired and face charges immediately. The fact that officers face no consequences for shooting at working people gives them the green light to do it over and over again, often leading to tragedy. Just months later, LBPD officers shot and killed Ismael Lopez, who had committed no crime, but as a young Latino man, he “fit the description.”
Cabrera is standing strong in the face of his upcoming trial, and Bustamante is continuing her work with the Campaign to Stop Police Violence. “We want to get these charges dropped and win this case. My fiancé is a good man; an innocent man,” said Bustamante. “We also want to make sure that no one in Long Beach will be harassed, beaten, shot or killed by the police again.”
Drop the charges against John Cabrera now! Sign the petition circulated by the Campaign to Stop Police Violence and ANSWER.
