At the conclusion of the investigation the report will be provided to the Town Manager for review and appropriate action will be taken based on the findings of the investigator, Cronin said. You can contact staff from the Police Department and get information about their divisions: Tiburon Town Hall | 1505 Tiburon Boulevard, Tiburon, CA 94920 | Phone: 415-435-7373 Hours: Administration: 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Planning: 8 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Building: 7:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Public Works: 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.Town Hall is closed on Fridays. I want to know what you're doing in the store at 1 o'clock in the morning.". I confirmed that I am the business owner, but they wanted me to prove it. In the post. It first operated from 80 Main Street before moving in the late 70s into surplus military housing near its present site. Michael Blasi arrived and an officer asked her husband to take his hands out of his pockets. It just felt like it was going to progress into something ugly., Khalif called the fact that the situation was diffused by a white neighbor yelling down to vouch for him the icing on the cake., A Black man cannot be in this space in this particular hour and say, Im OK, no need to be talking to you, move along. A Black man can not say that, but a white man can.. The recording shows a Tiburon officer, identified as supervising Sgt. However, Linda Emberson of Tiburon countered. Tiburon Town Council & Belvedere City Council Virtual Town Hall & Community Forum 6:30 p.m. Aug. 27. https://zoom.us/j/95644043303 or 669-900-6833, meeting ID 956 4404 3303. Grime, 47, was placed in a hobbling device, binding his handcuffs to ankle restraints behind his back. Awash was born in Ethiopia and lived as a refugee in Kenya before moving with her family to Minnesota. Marin resident Chelsea Ialeggio, who was raised in Tiburon, said she is disgusted by the incident. What is it that theyre fearing?. Despite resigning, Blasi will cooperate with an independent investigation led by a lawyer the town retained, Chanis said. TIBURON, Calif. - A Tiburon couple who own a clothing store is accusing police of racially profiling them. Theyre the ones with the guns, theyre the ones with the badge, theyre the ones with the authority, she said. Tiburon resident Nicole Wolf said she would like town officials to take it a step further and fire the officers in the video, as well as Cronin. We all want this to resolve in a positive way, she said, noting she hopes the incident sparks conversation about police reform and real policing that uses empathy to police our community.. Based on this belief, Sgt. The department is open to the public. I, kindly, explained that we didnt have to prove anything and asked for a supervisor. There's video of the interaction and an investigation underway. About 6 minutes of cellphone footage of the encounter with the supervisor, Tiburon police Sgt. Khalif: "If I tell you it's my store then what? Although Ryan Monaghan was not my choice, Im looking forward to working with him to find out what his plans are for community policing, diversity and inclusion, and hiring and promotion within the department, he said. Check out Bay Area safety tracker, Tracking the drought: Map shows conditions across SF Bay Area, Bay Area Life; Sundays at 6:30 p.m. on ABC7, Man fired after blocking Latino man from entering his own apartment building in SF, Find resources to help with equality, justice and race issues, Santa Clara University professor, her brother racially profiled by campus guards, Berkeley mom films confrontation with white man who ripped down Black Lives Matter signs. The neighbor, Ken Simpson, lives in his Main Street apartment part-time and said hes also accustomed to hearing noise from patrons and employees of downtown restaurants late at night, but the yelling that woke him up about 1:15 a.m. Aug. 21 sounded like it was escalating quickly. Cronin declined to directly comment on the Aug. 21 incident until the investigation has concluded, but he confirmed Blasi and the other officers involved would continue coming to work through the investigation. At one point he stopped across our store for a good minute. Officers from both the Tiburon and Belvedere police departments arrived that August 2020 night around 1 a.m., when Khalif, Awash and a friend were stocking clothes at the upscale boutique on . Chief Michael Cronin is resigning after 12 years amid a blacklash over his handling of the George Floyd protests and a recent incident involving an officer and the only Black clothing store owner in Tiburon. There's video of the interaction and an investigation underway. Laurie Nilsen is the Emergency Services Coordinator for both towns. I expressed to him that there was no crime going on and we were going about our business. Police officers in a California town have been accused of racial profiling after confronting a Black business owner who . Community members pointed out Cronin had only issued a warning for the protest in Marin City, which is 61 percent non-white, including 38 percent Black, and had issued no such warnings for similar peaceful protests in other nearby predominantly white communities, including Mill Valley. One of several discussion threads on Nextdoor.com had racked up 234 comments by the Arks press deadline. Use tab to navigate through the menu items. Cronin denies his departure is linked to the incident. A virtual Tiburon town meeting was held Thursday night to discuss an interaction that took place over the weekend between police officers and the only Black store owners in the town. Matthew Tom is a Homepage Editor at SFGATE. D, Tiburon, CA 94920 | 415-435-2652 | Privacy Policy| Designed by Kevin Hessel. The nearly 11-minute recording includes about 5 previously unseen minutes of the incident, which occurred about 1 a.m. Aug. 21 at Yema, the "action . In it, the officers, who first note that Khalif is in the store at 1 a.m., past the typical 9 p.m. shut-down time for activity on the street, can be heard repeatedly demanding that Khalif prove his ownership of the business, either by showing identification or putting his key in the shops door. Tiburon officials have released body-camera footage from the first officer at the scene of a late-night confrontation between police and Black business owner Yema Khalif, who asserts he was racially profiled when questioned at his downtown shop. In 1999 the department moved into its current location at 1155 Tiburon Blvd. In the video, Khalif can be seen wearing a protective mask and engaging with the initially maskless police supervisor, identified as Michael Blasi, who repeatedly asked Khalif to prove his identity as the owner of the store. Nearly all the comments expressed outrage with Tiburon police with calls to hold the officers accountable. Khalif spoke at the rally. Davina Adjani, a protest organizer, said the might be postponed in light of the resignation, but that Cronin is still a problem for hiring Blasi despite the red flags in his past. Moments later, a neighbor awoken by the yelling can be heard telling police that Khalif was the store owner. Even after the supervisor walked away, the officer who first approached the store said, "Can you put the key in the door please?". This is around 1AM. The county settled a lawsuit by Grimes family for nearly $1 million. Thats when we knew he had already called for back up. Blasi will receive three months of salary from Tiburon as severance pay, Chanis said. The video which has been viewed more than 30,000 times on the stores Instagram page and shared more than 750 times on its Facebook page triggered an overwhelming community response of concern and outrage, including hundreds of comments on online neighborhood forum Nextdoor.com. The police denied a racial motive and said they were doing their jobs. Really? An autopsy found cocaine, alcohol, morphine, codeine and a Valium equivalent in his system, as well as signs of coronary disease that could have helped trigger heart failure, a pathologist said. Thursday the City of Tiburon and City of Belvedere held a joint virtual community meeting about an incident where officers questioned a Black business owner, who was working late in his store last week. All Rights Reserved. Whatever the intention of the responding officers, the interchange inappropriately deteriorated from helpful to confrontational, Fredericks said in the statement, adding that Tiburon officers are trained and expected to de-escalate situations such as these. Khalif said he wasnt particularly impressed with that statement. A Tiburon police sergeant has resigned following a confrontation with a Black merchant that critics say stemmed from racial profiling. He went on to say that both he and Awash have been stopped numerous times by Tiburon police, both in their cars and walking down the street. A Change.org petition, signed by nearly 500 people by The Arks press deadline, called for the immediate suspension of Blasi and an investigation into the officers involved. Tiburon Town Manager Greg Chanis announced the resignation in a newsletter saying [Sgt. Michael Blasi was the supervising officer on Aug.. Tiburon Town Hall | 1505 Tiburon Boulevard, Tiburon, CA 94920 | Phone: 415-435-7373. ", Others responded with different views, saying that officers were just doing their job. There are three Black people in the store whats the problem with that?, Watch the video on Instagram at instagram.com/p/CEKwyUrJIdl. I dont have to show anything to you, Khalif can be heard saying. , and a business friend, all of whom are Black, were at their store late at night counting inventory, according to a post on YEMAs Instagram account. After the video of the incident was posted on Yemas Instagram and went viral, discussion caught like wildfire across social media platforms. Other downtown business owners rallied around the couple, saying theyve never been questioned by police while working late into the evening, past closing time, including Chelsea Ialeggio, a real-estate agent who said she has had offices in town with both Frank Howard Allen and now at Vanguard Properties. Would dismantling Interstate 980 repair damage to Black neighborhoods? Reporter Hannah Weikel covers the city of Belvedere, as well as crime, courts and public safety issues on the Tiburon Peninsula. Criminal-law experts and civil-liberties organizations say there is no requirement to produce identification even when detained unless youre operating a motor vehicle, which requires state-issued certification, or you have been arrested or booked for a crime. California Attorney General Rob Bonta launched an independent investigation Wednesday into the Torrance Police Department after evidence emerged that officers were sharing racist and homophobic . CNN Pittsburgh has moved to fire five police officers after an internal investigation into the October death of a man involved in the suspected theft of a bicycle, officials said Wednesday. Monaghans collaborative approach and demonstrated commitment to creating meaningful community engagement really set him apart from other candidates, Chanis said. Pac-12 media rights: Our (final) predictions for the revenue, media partners, expansion decisions and more, Denver gang member gave 14-year-old permission to open fire on woman with AR-15 after fender-bender, DA alleges, In 4 years, Lori Lightfoot went from breakout political star to divisive mayor of a Chicago beset by pandemic and crime, Florida lawmakers to consider expansion of so-called dont say gay law, Drone crashes at Disneyland after hovering over visitors heads See video, Rapper Travis Scott wanted for assaulting Manhattan club sound engineer, destroying $12K in equipment, Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. In addition, Fredericks said the council plans to hold a special meeting within the next week to discuss the incident, though a date and time was not set by The Arks press time. Im like, wait, did this happen in Tiburon? On Aug. 21 at about 1 a.m., police officers confronted the couple, who were inside their shop. I look forward to meeting and working with the engaged community members, our town leaders, allied agencies and especially all our town employees who are committed to providing the highest levels of service to everyone who lives, works and visits the town of Tiburon, Monaghan said. A Black. Dear Abby: Why do they imply my husband is a freak? We saw him drive around the block like 3 times. In addition to normal police activities, the police station also houses the Emergency Operations Center, which is equipped to manage disaster response for Tiburon and Belvedere. "Had that white neighbor not said anything that night, maybe Yema wouldn't be here with us today and I would let that sink in for a minute," Hawi Awash told ABC 7 News. Japanese Americans won redress for World War II interment camps, now they fight for Black reparations, Civil rights activist Roslyn Pope dies; her Appeal for Human Rights helped launch campaign of boycotts, sit-ins, Letters: Stone is wrong | Unnecessarily complex | Everymans EV | Coaching equity | No infrastructure. "Had that white neighbor not said anything that night, maybe Yema wouldn't be here with us today and I would let that sink in for a minute," says Hawi Awash. In 2004, Blasi was one of the deputies involved in a wrongful death lawsuit after a 47-year-old man named Cary Grime was arrested and hogtied in Novato. At least three large posters of Khalif and Awash modeling their clothes are visible on the rear wall throughout the footage. In the video, Blasi eventually says Khalif should be grateful that the officers are looking out for his shop. Khalif and Awash said Chanis, the town manager, reached out to them after the incident, and the three met on Aug. 23. 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