Henry K. Lee
6/21/09
An Oakland police officer who shot and killed two unarmed men in separate incidents within a year has been fired by the city for violating department use-of-force policies in the more recent shooting, his attorney said Saturday.
Officer Hector Jimenez was terminated earlier this month in connection with the 2008 shooting death of Mack “Jody” Woodfox III, 27, in the city’s Fruitvale District, said Jimenez’s attorney, Justin Buffington. Woodfox was shot three times in the back, his family said.
The department said Jimenez violated use-of-force policies because Woodfox no longer posed a threat to the officer at the time of the shooting, Buffington said. But the attorney said the firing was “completely inappropriate” and that Jimenez will appeal.
“I don’t think the department wanted to terminate him but had to terminate him for political reasons,” Buffington said, referring to the public outcry that resulted because Jimenez had shot and killed two people within seven months.
Officer Jeff Thomason, department spokesman, said he could not comment because it was a personnel issue.
Oakland police have said that Jimenez, who graduated from the police academy in February 2007, fired numerous shots at Woodfox on July 25, 2008, hitting him in the back. Jimenez said he believed Woodfox, a drunken-driving suspect, was reaching into his waistband for a gun when he jumped from his car and ran from police. The chase ended at East 17th Street and Fruitvale Avenue.
Woodfox was not armed, however, and his family filed a $10 million federal civil rights suit against the city of Oakland and Jimenez that is still pending. The complaint cited a previous fatal shooting involving Jimenez as evidence that the officer was poorly trained.
On New Year’s Eve 2007, Jimenez and Officer Jessica Borello shot and killed 20-year-old Andrew Moppin-Buckskin at 47th Avenue and International Boulevard in Oakland after he ran from his car following a traffic stop, police said. Moppin-Buckskin was not armed, but the officers told investigators that they believed he had been reaching for his waistband. The officers did not violate any policies, the department said.
John Burris, an Oakland attorney representing the families of both men killed by Jimenez, said Saturday that he was gratified by the officer’s termination.
“His conduct was egregious. A young man is dead who should not be dead,” Burris said. “Maybe two young men are dead who should not be dead. We thought this case not only warranted termination, but certainly warranted prosecution.”
Buffington disagreed, saying his client is “confident in his actions on both occasions, and he certainly felt that he was put in a position where he had no other choice. It’s every cop’s nightmare to have to use deadly force and, unfortunately, he was confronted with circumstances that required it.”
