Activism

Assembly Bill AB 767 Eliminates Barriers to State Support for Victims of Violence

Published

6 years ago

August 13, 2020

Kiki

In a virtual press conference on Aug. 6, legislators announced Assembly Bill 767, which will make it easier for victims of violence, including by police, to get state compensation.

AB 767 is authored by Assembly members Tim Grayson (D-Concord), Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), Buffy Wicks (D-Berkeley), David Chiu (D-San Francisco), Sydney Kamlager (D-Los Angeles), Rob Bonta (D-Oakland), Cristina Garcia (D-Downey), and Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco).

Present at the press conference were survivors of violence, including members of community organizations Youth Alive! and Californians for Safety and Justice, who are co-sponsors of the bill, and the family of Sean Monterrosa, who was killed by Vallejo police.

Monterrosa, a 22-year-old Latinx man from San Francisco, was fatally shot by Vallejo police officer Jarrett Tonn on June 2.

According to Youth ALIVE! Policy and Advocacy Manager, Gabriel Garcia, the bill “would address numerous barriers that have disproportionately denied survivors of color compensation. Among other things, A.B. 767 would:

• make victims of police brutality and their families eligible for victim compensation

• not require applicants to make statements to law enforcement at the scene of the crime or while recovering at the hospital in order to qualify for compensation

• prevent the state from denying applications or labeling the victim as uncooperative just because the survivor delayed reporting the crime

• not require a police report to be filed or an arrest or conviction to be made in order to establish that a crime occurred

“We cannot continue to let the police decide who is a ‘deserving’ victim,” said Youth ALIVE! Intervention Director Kyndra Simmons. She adds “[t]his has prevented many survivors and victims, including victims of police violence, from accessing the resources and support they need to heal.”

Tonya Lancaster, trauma survivor and Youth ALIVE! Client, said “[v]ictim support is so needed for everyone who has lost a loved one, suddenly, from violence. Qualifying for victim compensation was life-changing for me after my son Jordan Holmes was killed—I want to see that support for everybody who needs it.”

Oakland attorney John Burris is representing the Monterrosa family, which is suing the city of Vallejo and Tonn in federal court for wrongful death. Burris said Tonn was “a trigger-happy officer and potentially a homicidal officer,” and added “clearly not a person who should be in a Black and Brown community. . . . This officer in my view was a panicky guy . . . scared to death of any little thing. . . . That is unconscionable to me. . . . [it’s] flat-out murder.”

Tonn has shot at people four times in five years: Monterrosa in 2020, two others in 2017, and one in 2015.

On June 17, Tonn was named in a federal lawsuit for excessive force in an incident of mistaken identity on Nov. 4, 2018.

Monterrosa’s family also called on state Attorney General Xavier Becerra to investigate the Vallejo Police Dept. for what they said is a culture of ignoring injustice in police shootings.

Monterrosa’s shooting was the latest police killing in Vallejo, which include the rapper Willie McCoy, aka “Willie Bo,” in February of 2019; Ronnel Foster in 2018; and Angel Ramos in 2017.

The District Attorney of Solano County, Krishna Abrams, recused herself from both the McCoy and Monterrossa cases, deferring to Becerra.