Where is the video evidence (recorded on taxpayer funded equipment) and why did it take the DA's office so long to get to this decision, given the stated rationale?

@Transparency --
We've made multiple public records requests for the bodycam video. They always played the "investigatory exemption" card.
The investigation is over. I'll try again.

The Alameda County coroner's report listed the primary cause of death as acute methamphetamine toxicity. Other significant conditions listed were probable mechanical asphyxia while being placed in a restraint device by police, cardiac hypertrophy and morbid obesity.

Gina, please do ask for the video; it has been released to others. I can’t imagine watching it though.

“who died at the hospital less than two hours after the confrontation with police“. A question still unanswered is how this statement is true given the coroner was at the scene.

Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to light.

George Washington

“‘All officers involved described the extreme difficulty they had in controlling Mr. Bauer, which required the use of batons, Tasers, hand strikes and other **pain compliance measures,**’ the report stated.” Other pain compliance measures—why pain? From a police department that knew his family’s concerns about his mental health.

Many local families have a loved one suffering with mental illness and need more from our police department or perhaps, more broadly, the law. At a minimum, and often discussed and dismissed, there should be a local crisis team that can advise (be present where possible) officers during an incident like this (serving Dublin, Pleasanton, Livermore?). Understanding a police officer’s concern over blood-born pathogens (even more evident during the Covid-19 crisis), is there some other means of protecting themselves without potentially smothering another human? Should any sign of blood be reason to immediately stop, reassess . . . de-escalate, and get an ambulance and trained medical professionals to the scene at first sight of any injury? Do other communities have different protocols that we can learn from/use?

I most sincerely hope/wish there are policy changes; they should have changed years ago.

Release the video - ugly as it may be, then at least we can see what actually transpired on our taxpayer's dollar, and make our own assessment. The timing of this release alone is somewhat suspicious and it makes me wonder whether the DA and/or PPD have some amateur "spin doctor" who thought that the passage of time, along with broader concerns about COVID-19, would allow this to pass largely unnoticed.

I'm not sure why everyone is so accusatory to the police. Not particularly on this article but prevent articles on the weekly which covered this. Considering everything was being recorded, why would the officers violate the law? I see that because he was in "mental crisis", the police should have de-escalated. Talking to someone and placing them into handcuffs for safety reasons IS de-escalating. De-escalating does not mean walk away and let the suspect dictate how the encounter is going to go. This attorney is incorrect in several of his beliefs as well. The officers have every right to detain him while they conduct further investigation. Furthermore, they could have had reason to detain him or arrest him for being under the influence of drugs in public as the officers likely could have concluded something wasn't right and possibly drugs were involved. While officers did use force, it sounds like they went up the use of force chain. It mentions verbal, control holds, taser, impact weapons, etc. Those other tools (restraint devices) are to control the suspect and prevent further injury. To the person commenting asking why pain, how else are the cops supposed to gain compliance? They were likely at a point where asking politely was out of the window. Its simply established that pain is the most common way to gain compliance. Its easy to comment on here but none of us have ever been in a situation dealing with someone under the influence of meth. Although I can't say I know what its like, I think we can all agree its common knowledge that it causes super human strength. I personally wouldn't want to fight someone larger than me on meth.

Police are well trained nowadays, much better than in the 70s and 80s or even 90s. They aren't mental health workers though and I think people tend to forget that. Pleasanton cops attend the crisis intervention training (at least I thought I remembered reading that on the weekly) but that doesn't mean they have to jeopardize their own safety. While I don't know if this was truly a mental issue (compared to an altered mental state due to him ingesting illegal narcotics), I am confident the officers did everything as trained. With all the alleged misconduct allegations these days, I really do think they would have been charged had the officers acted criminally.

Hopefully when that video is released, it will clear up some things. I disagree with several of the previous dissertations that the police escalated this. Police and sheriffs (especially Ptown cops) likely have hundreds of cases that don't end like this. 99% of the time, the officers get the person the help they need. It mentions that police couldn't remand him to a mental health clinic. There is a criteria people must meet and if they don't, we can't blame the police and expect them to kidnap someone just to appease the family. I'm sorry but if the police couldn't do anything, why didn't the family seek professional health with a mental health professional?

Its not these officers fault these were the cards that were dealt to them. I'm sorry for the family who lost their loved ones. I'm also sorry for the officers. I support our police officers and am thankful for them.

The guy made the decision to buy a bunch of meth. He then made a decision to take enough meth to kill a horse. These decisions directly resulted in his confrontation with the police. Whatever mental health problems he may have had are unfortunate, but his decisions led to this situation, not his mental health condition and not the actions of the police.

Rather than blaming the police every time something like this happens, the community needs to begin taking responsibility for itself. Get your kids the mental health assistance they need before it becomes out of control. Teach your kids not to take lethal doses of meth (or preferably no meth at all). Teach your kids not to get into violent confrontations with the police. Blaming the police for society's failures is stupid.

@Kathleen Ruegsegger wrote “ Do other communities have different protocols that we can learn from/use? I most sincerely hope/wish there are policy changes; they should have changed years ago.”

Kathleen, you’re amazing. After your long diatribe against the PPD for the way they handled this incident, you openly admit that you don’t even know if other police departments use different protocols in situations like this. But no matter. Self-professed ignorance never stopped Kathleen from insisting that she knows best. You confidently assert that there should be “policy changes” to the way PPD handles incidents like this, policy changes which in fact should have been made “years ago!” you demand as you jump up and down on your soapbox! Policy changes to what, the rest of us wonder? You don’t know. The PPD doesn’t know. And other police departments don’t know. The rest of the world is baffled by your belief that a local crisis mental health team trained to stop and “de-escalate” could have prevented this person from dying from multiple organ failures due to the acute methamphetamine toxicity listed as the primary cause of death by the Alameda county coroner.

Wombat, I have talked in the past about the report (task force) on 21st Century Policing, so the question was rhetorical. Of course there are communities doing better than ours. There are crisis teams in our county, just not near enough to the tri-valley to be effective in a case like this.

There is, of course, an independent coroner’s report. I’ll ask one question, why was Jacob Bauer bleeding? We need the video. I hope Gina Channel is successful this time with her request.

@ KR

Actually, different programs DO exist locally.

Both in San Francisco and Oakland for example.

When a 911 call is placed regarding a person in a suspected state of "crisis", the first contact is NOT made by law enforcement.

First contact is made by a social worker.

Law enforcement's responsibility in these cases is secondary.

Livermore I've heard has a similar response program.

If Pleasanton had a MET program like Oakland does, Jacob Bauer, Shanon Estill, and John Deming Jr. would all be alive.

Time for Pleasanton to acknowledge the need and establish a program.

25% of the population has a diagnoseable mental illness.

Last year Pleasanton had over 500 5150's (Those that were determined to be in imminent danger to themself, or others)

No where in the DA report does it state that Jacob Bauer was EVER in imminent danger to himself, or others.

BTW, the Oakland MET program is a Alameda county run program funded with your tax dollars.

@ Anonymous

Actually CIT training advises that the officers DO walk away. It's the basic, fundamental premise for dealing with a person in crisis.

According to the DA report, the officers did give Jacob Bauer "distance". The DA report then states that the officers approached, with each officer on each side.

Why did these 2 officers break the fundamental, basic premise of CIT?

Do we even know if the Officer Brad Middleton and Detective Jonathan Chin completed CIT, and if so, how long ago was their training?

Why is a Detective responding to this type of call anyway? A Detective's job is to investigate.

Seems that the family feared an encounter with PPD....

Web Link

Bry

@Kathleen Ruegsegger wrote “ I’ll ask one question, why was Jacob Bauer bleeding?”.

Did you not read this article? Jacob Bauer was bleeding for the same reason that PPD officer Chin was bleeding: The officers were in a physical struggle to subdue a big, violent 275-lb man high on meth who was kicking and scratching to avoid arrest.

IF Jacob Bauer had any hope at all of surviving his overdose on methamphetamine, it depended on him being subdued, arrested, and transported to a hospital as quickly as possible. I find it hard to figure out why you would think that inserting a “local crisis” mental health team into the entire process to “immediately stop, reassess, and de-escalate” while critical minutes are ticking by would have helped Jacob Bauer’s chances of survival. In fact, if your hypothetical “local crisis” mental health team had been called onto the scene in this incident they would have declared “Why the heck did Kathleen Ruegsegger call us here?! This guy doesn’t need a local crisis mental health team! This guy is on enough meth to kill a horse! He doesn’t need us! He needs to get to a hospital ASAP!”

@wombat

You need to read the DA report

No where in the report does it state that Jacob Bauer was being placed under arrest at the time he was beaten by Officer Middleton & Detective Chin

@wombat

Have you ever been raped?

According to the DA report , Jacob Bauer thought he was being raped by officer Middleton & detective Chin

Anyone who is being raped would fight back, wouldn’t they?

Wombat, please read what Bryant Annenberg has written. The thing that might have saved Jacob Bauer was to not confront him. To let him walk home (blocks away). Time and distance (crisis teams know this). To have given officers the information the parents tried desperately to make sure the police department had. To lose three lives in a relatively small community and over a short period of time tells me there is more that can and should be done. After one death, review, assess, and adjust. After two deaths, maybe you aren’t looking hard enough. After three deaths, there is a genuine problem.

Sure, let the guy who is out of his mind on meth, acting violently, and mentally ill just prance through the neighborhood. If we're lucky, he'll run into some poor kid! We should definitely put the safety of the meth-head over the safety of the community. *rolls eyes*

Good grief.

urmomz, I understand your skepticism, but time and distance does not mean the police walk away. Family and the crisis team are contacted. Without confrontation and demands to comply, officers do not get hurt, the person in crisis does not get hurt, and the police and others make sure no one else is in harms way.

Kathleen, you really need to stop talking about things you don’t have the slightest grasp on.

Contacting the family? Family is very often a trigger for mentally ill people. They are often looking for an audience with their family and use their family’s presence as an opportunity to kill themselves. Contacting their family is an awful idea, not to mention, probably illegal. You know people suffering from mental health issues have privacy rights, don’t you?

Time and distance? Yes, let’s give the dangerous meth head mentally ill guy distance to... flee from the police and kill an innocent person! That’s a fantastic idea, lol.

The guy was a criminal, was high on meth, and was dangerous. This was clearly a situation that needed to be handled immediately to prevent any harm to the public. Expecting the police to use rainbows and happy thoughts to resolve this is completely unhinged.

urmomz, read what Bryant Annenberg had to say; clearly knowledgeable. Contacting family is not an awful idea, and in this case, would have been the solution. Time and distance is effective. Stop using terms like meth head and stating someone would have been killed. It’s just hyperbole and perpetuates a stigma on those with mental illness and those who are desperate to find them help. There are plenty of resources available to understand mental illness, self medication, effective means of de-escalation, and to see communities that are actively using time and distance and other alternatives to confrontation.

Anonymous is right on. I'd like to add that you can't possibly believe that any officer gets up one day and says "I think I'll go out and take someones life today". Do you really think that? Do you not think that the gravity of taking someone's life lives in the mind of the officer EVERYDAY for the rest of his life.

I just love all the experts that write their opinions on this subject without ever living in the shoes of the police. In real time the situation can go from being a casual conversation to a fight for your life in a snap of the fingers. Call the Family! Are you kidding me, hell you are just trying to survive. While social media has brought us many good things the one bad thing is that everyone seems to think they have the right to know everything that takes place. What they really are is what we used to call busy bodies, just have to know everybody else's business.

The basis of all laws is that the vast majority of the people will obey them. For those few people that break the rules we have what we call the police to deal with them. To make up excuses for the people unwilling or unable to follow the rules of our society is flat out dangerous. Why do people on this thread keep repeating that he was having a mental breakdown, you know this because the parents said it was so? Could it be that the meth in his system was what really made him act out. The NON LETHAL enforcement tactics they used against him had very little effect, which is very common for people on meth. Once the police start backing off then the bad guys have won. Once again is this case, which is the same with all of these incidents, is that the person being detained didn't do what he was asked to do. Someone has to be in charge and society has said it is the police. Once we let the perpetrator dictate the show the rule of law will disappear.

Facts are a very stubborn thing, they never change!!

@CWM

You statement is spot on for a "Police-State".

However,we are not living in the Philippines, China, Russia, Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela or any number of countries which are a police-states.

We live in the USA where individuals have rights.

And people with mental illness are a “protected class”

What you've described is that we are currently living in a police-state, and I believe we are moving in that direction.

Hell..the police are killing people for "jay-walking" (Brisbane), carrying a box cutter (Hayward), or a cell phone (Sacramento).

All killings with No-Guts District Attorney's stating no criminal charges will be pressed due to the unlikelyhood of a conviction (read the DA report on this one)

What we have, is what you have so accurately described is law-enforcement which is out of control, patrolling the streets with impunity, with NO accountability for their actions (yet).

Wake up people. Police are killing people for committing misdemeanors.

If you want to live in a Judge Dredd dystopia, feel free to move to any of the countries listed above.

@CWM


Fact

Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, found Jacob Bauer died as a result of asphyxia during physical restraint by police

Dr. Cyril Wecht is one of the most renowned and respected forensic pathologists in the world. Look him up on Wikipedia to see for yourself.

@CWM
@URMOMZ

You should heed the observation of KR

To lose three lives in a relatively small community and over a short period of time tells me there is more that can and should be done. After one death, review, assess, and adjust. After two deaths, maybe you aren’t looking hard enough. After three deaths, there is a genuine problem.

Been thinking about post by @CWM

@CWM states that it is the responsibility of the law-enforcement to enforce our laws and arrest criminals.

It is precisely this type of attitude which should have society looking at NOT having law-enforcement respond to people in crisis.

In addition to arresting criminals, it is also the responsibility of police to respond to the needs of people in crisis.

This is covered EXTENSIVELY in the PPD policy manual.

Time for a change.

Law enforcement should NOT be the primary response to a person in crisis.

While the DA report does not specifically state it, it seems that the 911 call placed by Raley’s was to get Jacob Bauer help…a person in crisis.

That’s what all the advertising says…call 911 to get help for a person in crisis…its everywhere, even the policy of the PUSD.

Regrettably, this law-enforcement response all too often leads to death in Pleasanton.

RIP:
John Deming Jr.
Shannon Estill
Jacob Bauer

Hopefully your deaths will not be in vain, and positive changes will result.

Bry

Why would I stop calling him a meth head? He literally ingested enough methamphetamine to kill himself. I guess meth body would be more accurate, since his whole body was filled with it.


Dr. Cyril Wecht? The guy is 90 years old, is an attention whore, and a conspiracy theorist. Not to mention he was paid by the family. Clearly an unbiased source, lol. He even managed to blame the police for the death while making no mention of the fact that the amount of meth the meth head ingested WAS A LETHAL DOSE.

As for three deaths in a short period of time...

This one was a suicide by meth. He took a lethal dose of meth and died as a result. Nothing the police can do to stop that.

The prior one was a man who was Interrupted while trying to kill his family and pointed a gun at the cops... twice. Not much you can do there either.

The third one is simply way to complex to work through here. The city paid a nuisance fee of $285,000 to make the family go away. Had there been any wrongdoing by the police, the settlement would have been in the millions.


You all think we live with the care bears or something. Get real, lol.

@URMOMZ

You're dismissed

“Law enforcement should NOT be the primary response to a person in crisis.“

I could get on board with that. I nominate you and Kathleen to be our response team. I’m sure you’ll volunteer to go deal with the next 300 pound meth head smashing everything in sight or the guy trying to kill his family. Don’t worry, the police will be maintaining their time and distance while you ride your unicorns over and throw rainbows at them. Please don’t ask the police for help though, the meth head and the guy pointing guns at you are in crisis and using the police would be completely inappropriate.

Care-a-lot appreciates your service!

I’ll take a unicorn and rainbows anytime. And I hope all your loved ones and friends will always be well and safe.

@Kathleen Ruegsegger
My family and friends will always be safe since they will obey the directions of a police officer.

@Bryant Annenberg
Wow, somebody needs to get back on their meds.

CWM, nice to know you have that comfort in your life; others, however, do not.

At least have empathy for those in different circumstances than yours, and consider trying to understand what that means for those with mental illness and the families that love them. Your comment to Bryant proves why anonymity allows you to say things (a) you shouldn’t and (b) you wouldn’t if face to face (and if you would say it face to face, that says a lot about who you are).

Consider also that someone you care about may someday fail your confidence in them and perhaps through no fault of their own. While I sincerely hope that never happens to anyone, I also hope those in a position of authority can handle the situation without harm to themselves or those they serve.