NEWS > 12 November 2005

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San Francisco Chronicle - USA
12 November 2005

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OAKLAND - Man who died during

Oakland police said Friday a man who died during his arrest apparently had choked to death after swallowing drugs to conceal them from officers.

Still, the death of Patrick Gaston in his West Oakland neighborhood Thursday night has inflamed a community already mistrustful of police in the wake of the Riders scandal, in which a band of police officers is said to have harassed people and planted drugs to make arrests.

Gaston, 34, died near Eighth and Campbell streets after a struggle with police who arrested him during a stakeout in an area near the Campbell Village housing project known for drug dealing.

Police officials remained tight-lipped about the death Friday and referred questions to a department spokesman who did not return phone calls or e-mails from The Chronicle.

But three knowledgeable police sources, speaking anonymously because all media inquiries were to be answered by the chief's office, said Gaston apparently had choked to death after swallowing what investigators believe were plastic packages containing heroin. The sources said paramedics and officers who tried to revive Gaston had found several small packages lodged in his throat and few bruises on his body.

The case is under investigation by the homicide squad, the police internal affairs division and the district attorney's office. The Alameda County coroner's office is trying to determine exactly how Gaston died.

Several people told The Chronicle Friday that officers had thrown Gaston to the ground and beaten him though he offered no resistance.

"I saw the police grab him, pull him off his bicycle and beat him," said Clara Simpson, a volunteer in a nearby church-run thrift shop. "They beat him. They choked him. I didn't see him fight back at all."

Seth Robinson gave a similar account of the incident, in which Gaston apparently lost consciousness during his arrest.

"It was straight up police brutality," Robinson said. "There was no way that they needed to be that rough with him, even if he was carrying something."

On Friday evening several dozen people gathered around an impromptu shrine dedicated to Gaston. The curbside shrine included candles, teddy bears and other stuffed animals. There were dozens of written tributes to Gaston, who grew up in the area, on cards and placards. Other notes denounced the police.

Wardell Rogers was among several people at the shrine who compared the incident to the Riders case, in which four police officers were fired and charged with falsely arresting people, planting drugs and writing false reports in West Oakland in 1999.

The criminal case, which deeply damaged the department's reputation in the city, was dismissed in June after two mistrials. But the city paid $10.5 million to settle a civil case that also left the Oakland Police Department under a court-ordered consent decree.

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Article sourced from

San Francisco Chronicle - USA12 November 2005

OAKLAND - Man who died during

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San Francisco Chronicle - USA
12 November 2005