upper waypoint

Stephon Clark's Family Pushes for Change One Year After His Death

01:44
Save ArticleSave Article
Failed to save article

Please try again

Stevante Clark, Stephon Clark's brother, in Sacramento on March 18, 2019. (Katie Orr/KQED)

One year after two Sacramento police officers shot and killed 22-year-old Stephon Clark, his family is still looking for some kind of justice. They're turning their attention to the California Legislature and a bill that would further restrict when law enforcement officers could use deadly force.

Stephon's brother, Stevante Clark, said it's been a tough year, but he's hopeful some change will occur.

"Things have to change if we want things to get better," he said.

The proposed legislation, Assembly Bill 392, would only permit an officer to use deadly force in self-defense, defense of another or when a dangerous felon is fleeing.

Neither Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert nor California Attorney General Xavier Becerra decided to press charges against the officers who shot and killed Clark.

Sponsored

Right before the March 18 shooting last year, witnesses called 911 to report someone smashing windows in Sacramento's Meadowview neighborhood. The police who responded ultimately confronted Clark in his grandparents' backyard and fired at him 20 times. They said they thought he had a gun, but he was only carrying a cellphone.

Follow KQED's Coverage

While announcing she wouldn’t charge the officers, Schubert cited texts and phone calls Clark sent in the days leading up to the shooting indicating he might be suicidal. Stevante Clark said her words were particularly difficult to hear.

"The last few weeks has been pretty hard for the family because of the way the district attorney dehumanized my brother," he said.

Clark family attorney Benjamin Crump said the case reflects the double standard African-Americans face in the justice system.

“When we are accused of a crime they do everything to lock us up and throw away the key," Crump said. "When someone is accused of a crime against us, they try to do everything in their power to try to justify.”

Crump said the family also wants more transparency in police shooting cases.

“What we’re asking to do as part of the legacy of Stephon Clark is to compel district attorneys in the state of California to present the circumstances involving all police shootings to the grand jury,” he said.

Crump said he’s talking to several lawmakers about crafting that legislation.

The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether Clark's civil rights were violated in the shooting. Clark’s family is suing the City of Sacramento for wrongful death. His supporters are also calling on the Sacramento Police Department to fire the officers involved.

Background on the Shooting

The officers who shot Clark were responding to reports of a man breaking into cars in a South Sacramento neighborhood. A sheriff's department helicopter spotted the suspect in a backyard and reported that he broke a sliding glass door on a house before he ran into a neighboring backyard — behind his grandparents' home.

The officers confronted Clark there at approximately 9:30 p.m. One of them said, “Show me your hands! ... Gun, gun, gun!” just before both officers fired a total of 20 rounds at Clark.

Clark's family, including his two sons, his parents and his grandparents, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in January seeking more than $20 million from the city and the two officers, alleging that the officers used excessive force and that Clark was a victim of racial profiling.

One of the officers who shot Clark is black and the other is white, police said.

Passions became more inflamed by conflicting autopsy results.

Police said Clark was facing officers when he was killed, moving forward with his arms extended and an object in his hands. The object was a cellphone.

Police video of the shooting does not clearly capture all that happened after Clark ran into his grandmother's backyard.

The official Sacramento County coroner's report, released in early May 2018, contradicted some of the medical findings and most of the opinions of a private forensic pathologist hired by Clark's family, who announced to a bank of news reporters that the unarmed black man wasn't facing the officers when they opened fire.

lower waypoint
next waypoint