Death by Cop 2021-2025
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Robert Anderson
Age : 38
Gender : Male
Race : Black
Date : 08/25/2021
Location : Unknown
City : Del Norte
County : Del Norte
State : California
Agency : Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office, California Highway Patrol
Officer(s) :Deputy Mulch; California Highway Patrol Officer(s) Not Disclosed
Cause of Death : Gunshot
Event : Killed by police during traffic response
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :
On 08/25/2021, at approximately 2:45 p.m., California Highway Patrol officers and Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to Parkway Drive and Sherwood Lane north of Crescent City after receiving a report of a disabled vehicle blocking the roadway. Police encountered 38-year-old Robert Anderson barefoot along the side of the road with a large kitchen knife. Anderson, a Black father of three who had moved from Michigan to Crescent City approximately seven months earlier, appeared to be experiencing a severe emotional or mental health crisis.
Body-camera footage later released by the Sheriff’s Office substantially expanded upon the initial police account. A CHP officer told an arriving deputy that Anderson had a large kitchen knife and that a woman at the scene appeared injured. Police said Anderson acknowledged being involved in a domestic violence incident the previous night. Video showed the woman near a van with a black eye and visible facial bruising.
Despite possessing the knife when police initially encountered him, Anderson eventually placed it on the grass. At that point none of the three officers visible in the body-camera recording had their firearms drawn. Anderson repeatedly asked police not to approach him and spoke in a confused and distressed manner about his life, control, truth and the world around him. Police repeatedly attempted to persuade him to move farther away from the knife.
The recordings show that Anderson remained unarmed for several minutes while speaking with police. He repeatedly directed comments toward the woman farther down the road and asked whether she was recording the encounter. At one point she told Anderson that he was going to jail. Anderson then looked toward the knife lying on the ground.
Anderson suddenly picked up the knife and ran toward the officers. The body-camera footage shows him pass extremely close to one officer while holding the knife before continuing down the road toward the woman. Officers then opened fire from behind Anderson. At least 10 gunshots can be heard on the recordings before Anderson collapsed in the roadway.
Police handcuffed Anderson after shooting him and began providing medical aid. Officers counted at least seven apparent gunshot wounds while reporting that Anderson still had a faint pulse. Paramedics subsequently arrived and continued treatment, but Anderson died from the police gunfire.
Anderson’s wife, Sequoia Annette, witnessed the shooting and publicly disputed the Sheriff’s Office’s initial characterization that Anderson had simply advanced toward police. She said Anderson was shot while running toward her and alleged that race played a role in the decision to kill him. The subsequently released body-camera footage confirmed that Anderson passed the officers and was moving in her direction when much of the gunfire occurred, although the footage also showed Anderson picking up the knife and moving directly past an officer with it immediately beforehand.
The Sheriff’s Office released two body-camera recordings on 09/11/2021 after journalists submitted California Public Records Act requests for the footage. The two recordings, approximately 14½ and 16 minutes long, provided different perspectives from deputies standing near one another and captured approximately four minutes and 45 seconds of the police interaction immediately preceding the shooting. CHP initially withheld its own video evidence, saying premature release could interfere with the investigation.
The criminal and administrative investigation involved the California Highway Patrol Northern Division Critical Incident Investigation Team, CHP Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team, Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office, Del Norte County District Attorney’s Office and California Attorney General’s Office.
A deeper search for the officers produced one important lead missing from the original reporting. Contemporary local coverage discussing the body-camera recordings identifies a Del Norte County sheriff’s deputy as Deputy Mulch and describes Sheriff Erik Apperson expressing concern for Mulch immediately following the gunfire. The available searchable material does not provide Mulch’s first name, and I could not establish the identities of the CHP officers who fired with sufficient confidence to add names that may be incorrect.
Anderson had previously worked as a bus driver in Michigan. Before moving to California, he had received public attention for helping locate a missing 13-year-old girl. Friends described him after his death as caring and devoted to his family.
SOURCE LINKS :
https://wildrivers.lostcoastoutpost.com/2021/aug/25/officer-involved-shooting-crescent-city/
https://wildrivers.lostcoastoutpost.com/2021/sep/11/video-dnso-releases-body-cam-footage-last-months-o/
https://www.times-standard.com/2021/08/25/one-dead-after-officer-involved-shooting-in-crescent-city/
https://kymkemp.com/2021/08/25/man-killed-in-officer-involved-shooting-in-del-norte-county/
https://www.triplicate.com/news_free/black-man-killed-in-officer-involved-shooting/article_43fccdb4-06da-11ec-84ea-37cde00b43ec.html
