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originally published at: http://www.petaluma360.com/article/20091221/COMMUNITY/912219996/1362/COMMUNITY01?Title=Petaluma-teens-with-toy-guns-trigger-robbery-fears

Petaluma teens with toy guns trigger robbery fears

By PAUL PAYNE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Published: Monday, December 21, 2009 at 3:00 a.m.

Petaluma teenagers playing with air-soft guns Saturday night prompted an emergency police response after neighbors reported someone was being robbed at gunpoint outside of their homes, police said.

At least eight patrol cars responded to Alhambra Court just before midnight, only to discover that the neighbors had mistaken the teens’ game as a holdup, Police Lt. Matt Stapleton said. Air-soft guns fire non-lethal, plastic pellets.

“The witnesses saw it as a real crime in progress,” Stapleton said.

During the investigation, Christian Vaughn, 49, father of one of the youths, was arrested on suspicion of possession of a switchblade knife, Stapleton said.

The teens were cited playing with the guns, which is a municipal code violation, he said.

He didn’t know if the guns, which look real but have orange tips, were confiscated.

originally published at: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091223/NEWS/912239997/1349?Title=Fourth-Street-closed-due-to-brawl-at-downtown-SR-club

Fourth Street closed as brawl at downtown Santa Rosa club escalates

By MARY CALLAHAN
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Published: Wednesday, December 23, 2009 at 7:43 a.m.

A Rohnert Park man who was among an estimated 80 people involved in a fight at a downtown Santa Rosa bar late Tuesday night was arrested for suspected assault on a police officer after he allegedly head-butted one.

Jesse James Crowder, 24, bailed out of the Sonoma County Jail early Wednesday after posting bond for $5,000 bail, jail personnel said.

Police said Crowder punched an officer in the chest after multiple police were called to try to break up the melee at the Cantina Bar and Restaurant on Fourth Street, then head-butted another officer.

Crowder is the same man who suffered serious injuries in a Sept. 10 vehicle crash on Stony Point Road that resulted in the death of his mother, Alma Crowder, 42.

Jesse Crowder’s brother, Ryan Crowder, 22, was driving the minivan in which his other family members were riding.

Ryan Crowder was severely injured in the collision, but later was charged with vehicular manslaughter in the case. Authorities say he had cocaine and methamphetamine in his system at the time of the crash, and was driving with a suspended license.

Santa Rosa Police say his brother, Jesse, was in a large group of people at the Cantina shortly before midnight Tuesday when multiple people – including club security – called for law enforcement assistance because of huge fight they estimated involved 80 people.

Those fighting in the upstairs portion of the club included Jesse Crowder, who resisted efforts to break it up, police said.

Authorities described the crowd as “hostile and belligerent” and said a police dog was called to assist with crowd control. A block of Fourth Street was closed to allow for dispersal of the crowd.

Crowder eventually was subdued and was arrested for alleged fighting in public and two counts of assault on an officer, police said.

originally published at: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091213/ARTICLES/912139962/1350

Sonoma County weighs mental health response team

By BLEYS W. ROSE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Published: Sunday, December 13, 2009 at 3:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, December 13, 2009 at 10:10 p.m.

With support from law enforcement officials, Sonoma County is studying creation of a SWAT squad of mental health professionals and substance abuse counselors that would respond to crisis situations.

That would revive in the county a shortlived approach of a decade ago.

The idea, forwarded most recently by Supervisor Shirlee Zane, is aimed at creating a rapid response team that would be called to step in during situations involving people in mental health crisis like the one that ended in the shooting death by police of 17-year-old Jeremiah Chass in Sebastopol.

That March 2007 shooting — which led to a $1.75 million settlement by the county — renewed calls for just such response teams.

“We need some type of help for law enforcement that doesn’t involve using more weapons,” Zane said.

Advocates for the mentally ill welcomed the development, saying the strategy has proved effective nationwide.

“When we heard the news about the study, we were crying and jumping up and down in our office because we were so happy,” said Rosemary Milbrath, executive director of the Sonoma County chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Nearly three years after it happened, the Chass shooting — which stirred months of angry debate and led to a series of often fractious meetings between mental health advocates, residents and law enforcement — reverberated in Zane’s proposal.

“The Jeremiah Chass shooting got the community engaged,” said Sherman Blackwell, who owns residential care homes for mentally ill adults and in the wake of the teenager’s death became a prominent critic of police tactics involving mentally disturbed subjects.

“If it wasn’t for his death, the community would not have been looking at mental health issues in the way we are now,” Blackwell said.

Last Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors approved spending $25,000 on a feasibility study for development of “an intervention team” composed of experts in handling mental health, alcohol and other drug cases.

“That’s a great step,” Blackwell said.

County mental health services director Michael Kennedy said the study will be completed by early next summer and his department would return to supervisors with a recommendation by July. Kennedy said the intervention team would be compatible with the four-day crisis instruction that about 120 law enforcement officers have undergone over the past two years.

“The training has been a great success, but it is time for the second component of it, a mental health intervention team,” Kennedy said.

Milbrath said such an approach would not only “be the most intelligent and humane solution to mental health crisis situation” but “it’s also going to pay off in the long run” by reducing societal costs in health care and law enforcement.

She and Blackwell credited Kennedy’s department and local law enforcement officials with working collaboratively and supportively with advocates for the mentally ill.

Kennedy said the team response “is for various nonviolent behavioral problems.” According to a staff report he presented: “In cases where the individual exhibits violent and/or dangerous behavior, MIT staff would wait until law enforcement personnel have mitigated the situation prior to providing on-scene mental health and alcohol and other drug services.”

In the late 1990s, the county had a similar mobile crisis unit that paired mental health workers with police officers — but it went under after six months when grant funding ran out.

Although Berkeley and San Mateo have similar intervention teams, Kennedy said Sonoma County’s would probably only operate during hours when law enforcement experiences the heaviest load of such cases.

County Sheriff Bill Cogbill and Santa Rosa Police Chief Tom Schwedhelm told supervisors that they welcome assistance from a professional crisis intervention team.

“It gives our officers more tools to deal with this community issue,” Schwedhelm said.

Cogbill said: “Even though it will not be available 24-7, it will prevent us from having to go to these calls to begin with.”

In the immediate aftermath of the Chass shooting, Cogbill said critics were second-guessing his deputies’ actions without knowing all the facts of the case. He also said that the tragic shooting probably prevented the death of Chass’s younger brother and possible injury to other family members.

But he also was credited with being a leading official voice in favor of finding ways to strengthen law enforcement’s ability to respond effectively to calls involving the mentally ill.

The county may undertake the program in order to reduce costs that get incurred when incidents escalate and result in jail time, court appearances and even lawsuits, Zane said.

“These cases can have a tragic outcome, whether it is the family of Jeremiah Chass or the family of the officers who suffer for years and years after these incidents,” Zane said.

Under the proposal, teams would consist of licensed clinicians such as marriage and family therapists, clinical social worker and certified substance abuse counselors. The team would have authority to place people on a 72-hour hold in a psychiatric facility.

Police calls often signal the first onset of serious mental illness, Milbrath said. Effective intervention at that point might not only save lives but make it easier to treat and help people with mental illnesses in the long term.

“We think there’s going to be a much, much better outcome,” she said.

Staff Writer Jeremy Hay contributed to this report. You can reach Staff Writer Bleys W. Rose at 521-5431 or bleys.rose@pressdemocrat.com.

originally published at: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090114/NEWS/901140327/1350

County to pay $1.75 million in Chass death
Family attorney, officials split over acknowledgment of blame in deputies’ shooting of 17-year-old

By DEREK J. MOORE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Published: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at 4:21 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at 8:18 a.m.

Sonoma County supervisors on Tuesday agreed to pay $1.75 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of a Sebastopol teen who was killed in 2007 by sheriff’s deputies.

The payout is one of the largest on record by the county. But what it signifies in the death of 17-year-old Jeremiah Chass is being disputed.

Chass’ family filed a federal lawsuit against the county, Sheriff Bill Cogbill and the two deputies involved in the shooting, claiming wrongful death and civil rights violations, and alleging that the deputies used excessive force.

Pat Emery, the Santa Rosa attorney representing the Chass family, said the settlement is a “significant acknowledgment” by the county that the events leading up to the teen’s death were “excessive and unnecessary.”

But Cogbill said in a statement that the deputies’ actions were “legal and reasonable,” and that the county decided to settle the case for economic reasons. He also suggested that an impartial jury could not be found to hear the case.

“Because of the naturally sympathetic nature of this case and the unpredictability of the civil legal process, our best judgment was not to risk additional taxpayers’ dollars during these difficult fiscal times,” Cogbill said.

The county did not admit any wrongdoing as part of the settlement, which was announced Tuesday after supervisors emerged from a 90-minute closed-door session.

It was a relatively quiet ending to a case stemming from chaotic events that began unfolding shortly before 9 a.m. March 12, 2007, when Mark and Yvette Chass called 911 for help with their troubled son.

Authorities contend that when Deputy John Misita arrived, he found Chass holding his 6-year-old brother, Isaiah, hostage inside the family minivan while the teen wielded a Leatherman-style tool with an open 2½-inch blade. Jeremiah’s stepfather, Mark Chass, was attempting to restrain him, police reports said.

After a 6½-minute struggle, and two minutes after Deputy Jim Ryan arrived, Chass was shot seven times. Ten minutes later, he was pronounced dead.

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Cogbill said the deputies’ actions saved Isaiah Chass’ life and likely prevented injury to other family members.

But Emery said Tuesday that assertion is “absolutely and completely false,” and that at the time Jeremiah Chass was shot, his younger brother was inside the house. The family contends the deputies exacerbated the conflict by their actions.

“The family called for help dealing with a medical emergency,” Emery said. “Instead, they got a violent response, which escalated into a life-ending situation.”

Emery said the litigants met in late November to discuss a possible settlement. He said one of those meetings included Cogbill, the two deputies and Mark and Yvette Chass.

U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney approved the deal, which includes $100,000 of the settlement amount being set aside for Isaiah Chass’ college education, Emery said.

Yvette and Mark Chass did not return a call Tuesday seeking comment. Emery said the couple’s hope is that the settlement leads to changes in the way law enforcement responds to those who are experiencing a mental health crisis.

“It’s important that families feel safe calling for help and that they don’t have to fear an excessive response,” Emery said. “If the settlement helps make that point, that’s a good thing.”

But in his statement, Cogbill suggested no such changes will be forthcoming.

He said after reviewing the facts of the case, the internal affairs investigation involving the two deputies and after consulting with mental health experts, he concluded that Sheriff’s Department “training, practices, policies and procedures” are “up to date and relevant.”

Sonoma County District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua cleared the deputies of any criminal wrongdoing in the case. A grand jury agreed with that decision, stating in its 2007-08 final report that “all officer-involved protocols were followed and that no wrongdoing was found.”

“On the positive side,” Cogbill said Tuesday, “this settlement allows the Chass family, the deputies involved, the community, and the department to move forward from this tragic incident.”

But the case is likely to reverberate for years to come, as the issues involving officer-involved fatalities in Sonoma County continue to engender passionate community debate.

Since Jeremiah Chass’ death, nine people have died in Sonoma County in encounters with police.

The amount paid to the Chass family is not a record payout by the county. In just one example, a jury in 2006 awarded a Santa Rosa man $6.5 million in an employment discrimination suit against the county. That amount was later cut in half after a judge ruled that the non-economic damages were excessive.

“Our county, generally speaking, will take these matters all the way,” County Counsel Steven Woodside said. “We’re not quick to settle unless it’s very, very clear that we should. But in a case like this, there’s a lot that’s happened where the result, no question, is a tragedy.”

Woodside said $1 million of the settlement amount will come from a county insurance fund and the remainder from an insurance pool funded by some of the state’s 58 counties.

Woodside said the settlement will not affect county programs or services at a time of budget crisis — at least in the short-term.

“It still has consequences long-term,” he said. “Anytime we have a judgment, or are sued, that costs money that could be spent on programs or facilities that would have a benefit to the public.”

The county still has a pending lawsuit against Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital related to the Chass case. The suit alleges that a hospital employee was negligent when she advised Yvette Chass not to bring her son to Memorial for psychiatric treatment, despite the advice allegedly given to the employee by a psychologist that the teen needed prompt care.

Jeremiah Chass died the following morning.

“We have an active cross complaint,” Woodside said. “They (Memorial) were not willing to participate in the settlement. We’re moving forward.

A Memorial spokeswoman, however, described the county’s lawsuit as a waste of money.

“Despite the settlement, the county is pursuing a cross complaint against the hospital at considerable cost to both the county and the hospital,” Katy Hillenmeyer said. “The hospital believes the cross complaint has no merit and should be immediately dismissed.”

Staff Writer L.A. Carter contributed to this report. You can reach Staff Writer Derek J. Moore at 521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com

originally published at: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20070606/NEWS/706060328/1350

Mental crisis training proposed
Sonoma County sheriff will ask supervisors to fund 5-year, $360,000 program for deputies

By KATY HILLENMEYER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Published: Wednesday, June 6, 2007 at 3:42 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, June 5, 2007 at 9:00 p.m.

Sonoma County Sheriff Bill Cogbill has proposed a five-year, $360,000 program to improve deputies’ crisis-intervention skills when they confront mentally disturbed subjects.

The program, modeled on tactics that police in Memphis, Tenn., have used during the past decade, follows months of community debate about two fatal officer-involved shootings involving mentally ill males.

Cogbill announced the proposal at a meeting Monday night with citizens who have called for more law enforcement training in the wake of those shootings. However, he said the primary motivation is not the recent cases, but the need to prepare his deputies for cutbacks in community-based services for mentally ill homeless people, juveniles and those needing psychiatric hospitalization after the county’s Norton inpatient facility closes.

“The more mental health is cut and people aren’t getting their treatment or their medications or aren’t able to see somebody, the more likely they are to be in crisis,” Cogbill said Tuesday. “When people are in crisis, it’s typically beyond the point of talking.”

He said he intends to submit a formal funding request to county supervisors this summer.

The sheriff unveiled the training proposal Monday night at Santa Rosa’s Finley Center, where for a third time Mayor Bob Blanchard convened law enforcement officials with mental health advocates, civil rights representatives and minority leaders. Those private meetings arose from citizen concerns after two sheriff’s deputies fatally shot Jeremiah Chass, an armed 16-year-old who resisted his parents’ and deputies’ efforts to control him, and Santa Rosa police shot and killed Richard DeSantis, a 30-year-old bipolar man who fired a gun inside his house and later charged Santa Rosa police outside the home.

The county chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness welcomed Cogbill’s proposal, reaffirming its support for local adoption of the Memphis crisis-intervention method.

“We’re very, very excited about it,” said local alliance President Jennifer Hedgpeth, who recently wrote law enforcement leaders urging more training. “It will involve family members and (mentally ill) consumers . . . so we can help reduce stigma and enhance an educated view of the mentally ill.”

County Mental Health Services Director Art Ewart and Cogbill said it’s doubtful crisis-intervention training would have saved Chass or DeSantis, who were reported to be armed and threatening violence before officers arrived. It is focused on better acquainting police with firsthand experiences of the mentally ill and their symptoms and verbal de-escalation techniques best used before a crisis spirals out of control.

“Particularly when there’s a weapon involved and violence has already started, police officers and deputies have to react and stop that violence,” Ewart said. “I don’t care if it’s someone who’s mentally impaired or on drugs, they’ve got to stop that violence.”

Ewart said his department has been planning with law enforcement for 18 months to slowly roll out this training countywide. The county’s initial Mental Health Services Act funding, from Proposition 63 tax dollars earmarked last June, included partial funding to put on the training, Ewart said. But the bulk of the costs would fall to individual police agencies.

The expected decline in funding to serve mentally ill homeless people and mentally ill juvenile offenders and the closure of the Norton psychiatric inpatient facility in Santa Rosa have accelerated that process.

A five-year program that allots $72,000 annually would train 30 deputies each year, Cogbill said.

“I don’t have enough discretionary funds to fund this,” Cogbill said. “(But) I don’t want to wait another five years to train everybody because the (mental health) cuts are happening in July.”

The Memphis crisis-intervention model, a collaboration with mental health “consumers” and their family members, was launched in 1988 following a 1987 police shooting involving a mentally ill person.

Bay Area counties including San Mateo, San Francisco and Santa Clara have implemented similar training — including a San Mateo program last month attended by Sonoma County Sheriff’s Sgt. Mark Essick and Mental Health Services staffer Mike Kennedy.

Essick, a field services supervisor with the county’s patrol division, said the five-day training included realistic role-playing that mimicked mental health emergencies, and introduced him to families who gave their views on officers’ successes and failures in disarming their endangered relatives.

“It’s not a cure-all,” said Essick, who praised the program for bringing together doctors, mental health professionals, social workers, police and other professionals. “But it will give us tools to better handle situations we deal with every day and get a different perspective on mental health consumers.”

Two hundred of the nearly 1,200 inmates housed in Sonoma County’s two jails have mental health issues, Cogbill said, and he foresees a growing burden on law enforcement.

Santa Rosa Police Chief Ed Flint said he and his training coordinators are evaluating the benefits and costs of the program.

“We’re very interested in teaming with the local jurisdictions to cut costs and provide a greater level of training for our officers,” Flint said. “This is not Johnny-come-lately because of these shootings. This is ongoing — about how do we get additional training and how do we better deal with the increased contacts we will have with the mentally ill.”

County Supervisor Mike Kerns, who spent more than 20 years on Petaluma’s police force, said he looks forward to reviewing the plans Cogbill, Ewart and others have developed.

“There’s probably real value to this kind of approach,” Kerns said Tuesday. “I’m sure we’ll look and try to find the money to do it. It might mean he (the sheriff) will have to cut elsewhere in his budget to make this happen.”

Sebastopol resident Sherman Blackwell, a former state psychiatric social worker who has two mentally ill sons, praised the crisis-intervention training as a “great” first step.

“It’s an answer,” he said during Monday’s roundtable at the Finley Center. “At some point, the community needs to do its job about helping to identify some more funds.”

News Researcher Vonnie Matthews contributed to this report. You can reach Staff Writer Katy Hillenmeyer at 521-5274 or katy.hillenmeyer@

pressdemocrat.com.

originally published at: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20070313/NEWS/70313016/1350

Lawyer: Sebastopol teen shot in van

By JEREMY HAY & RANDI ROSSMANN
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Published: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 at 7:07 p.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 at 7:07 p.m.

New details have emerged Tuesday in the shooting death of a Sebastopol teenager by Sonoma County sheriff’s deputies, with a lawyer for the boy’s family saying the 16-year-old was shot in a parked van at the family home.

Authorities have said Jeremiah Chass, an Analy High School junior, was armed with a knife and threatened to kill his younger brother before dying Monday in a “violent struggle” with the two deputies.

“The mother got the brother away, then the police went in the van to try and disarm him, and he was shot inside the van,” said Eric Safire, a San Francisco civil rights attorney.

Safire was was retained Monday by Chass’ aunt Diane Greene of Massachusetts. He has said the family, which hasn’t spoken publicly, has questioned the shooting.

He said he was told by the county Sheriff’s Department that Chass was shot in the van, but he was waiting for more details from investigators.

“The police are playing it pretty close to the vest,” he said, referring to the Santa Rosa Police Department, which is investigating the shooting under a county protocol for handling officer-involved shootings.

“It takes time for these investigations. I get it, but we’d like to get some more information,” he said.

Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Lisa Banayat said investigators and police officials were working to determine what details could be released.

In their initial account of the shooting, authorities said the two deputies were sent to the Chass home — a large house with a well-kept garden — after someone at the house called 911 for help.

Chass lived at the home with his mother, stepfather and stepbrother.

As they were on their way, several phone calls to and from the home were made through the county dispatch center, and recordings of those calls captured what was believed to be a “very violent altercation occurring, with a child frantically screaming, and a male subject chanting and threatening to kill the child.”

Dispatch tapes also captured the deputies pleading with Chass to drop a knife.

Among details not made public are how many times Chass was shot, an exact timeline of the events and the names of the two deputies, who suffered minor injuries while struggling with Chass. The nature of their injuries also has not been released.

Sheriff Bill Cogbill said the decision to release a transcript of the dispatch tapes and the deputies names was up to Santa Rosa police.

As for the deputies’ identities, he said: “I believe that the releasing of the deputies’ names at this point, won’t jeopardize the investigation …

but we don’t control what Santa Rosa puts out, it’s their investigation.”

Earlier Tuesday, in anticipation of students grieving the death of their classmate, Analy High Principal Marty Webb said the school’s “entire administration and counseling staff is organized to meet the students’

needs right now. I think they have a lot of questions.”

“Traffic accidents, that sort of thing, we get that occasionally. This was just completely out of the blue,” Webb said.

Poster boards and photos of the teen were in place in the school hallway and in the library for people to leave messages or memories.

Webb called Chass an “academically oriented student” who had talked of wanting to go to a four-year college from high school. His classes included trigonometry, pre-calculus, college level language arts, physics and third-year Spanish, Webb said.

You can reach Staff Writers Jeremy Hay at 521-5212 or jeremy.hay@pressdemocrat.com and Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 521-5412 or randi.rossmann@pressdemocrat.com.