Magdaleno supporters decry police violence, call for mental health services
b'April 5, 2021 \\u2014 A little over a dozen people marched on Civic Center in Ukiah Saturday, calling for an end to police brutality and more mental health services in the wake of Gerardo Magdaleno\\u2019s beating at the hands of Ukiah police officers. On April first, Magdaleno, a schizophrenic bipolar man, took some non-prescription drugs after running out of his psychiatric medications. He was wandering nude on south state street when an encounter with Ukiah Police Officers escalated into officers tear-gassing, Tasing, kicking, and punching Magdaleno multiple times in the head. Videos began circulating online almost immediately. Magdelano was taken to jail after a medical clearance, but returned to the hospital the next morning. By Saturday night, he was at home with his family after his sister posted bail. He was charged with public intoxication, possession of drug paraphernalia, and felony resisting or threatening an officer.\\nEarly Saturday afternoon, protesters broke out signs similar to the ones they carried during last summer\\u2019s Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of George Floyd\\u2019s death beneath the knee of now-former Minnneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. \\n At the head of the procession in Ukiah was Josie Ann Zolata Batiste, expertly steering her daughter Odessa\\u2019s red wagon through the construction on State Street.\\n\\u201cThere\\u2019s no reason for violence, there\\u2019s no reason for two, three, four, five cops on one person,\\u201d she said. \\u201cI\\u2019m pretty much disgusted. And sad. It\\u2019s scary to have a daughter, it\\u2019s scary to be Latin...I love Ukiah, and I\\u2019ll never stop sticking up for Ukiah, but I feel like we\\u2019re spiraling out of control as well as the rest of the country.\\u201d\\nShy, who witnessed part of the incident, came from Philo to participate in the march. \\u201cI put it together once I saw the videos,\\u201d they said. \\u201cI thought perhaps he was sick because I saw the firefighter and thought that he was getting care and was concerned because of the amount of police cars, and seeing the report knew it was not care, it was violence.\\u201d \\nA woman named Ashley wore a cap that said \\u201cYou Are on Native Land\\u201d and carried a sign that said \\u201cDivest and Invest in Solutions.\\u201d She said she had a Native American uncle who was killed by San Diego police while having a mental health breakdown. \\u201cI think Ukiah police could adopt, like my sign says, a crisis response team made up of mental health professionals to respond to these types of mental health crises that we saw on the videos.\\u201d\\nJordan Uggla, too, wants more mental health resources. In early September of last year, the Board of Supervisors approved a recommendation by the Measure B Citizens Oversight Committee to use Measure B money to fund mobile outreach teams that would pair psychiatric workers with sheriff\\u2019s deputies. Thursday\\u2019s incident took place on the border of the city and county jurisdictions.\\n\\u201cI would be happy to pay more taxes to fund support for marginalized people, for disabled people, for mental health services,\\u201d he said; \\u201cand I\\u2019m not very happy that my taxes money is going to pay police officers that beat people that are in crisis when it\\u2019s not necessary.\\u201d When reminded that we are paying more taxes, with Measure B, Uggla said, \\u201cGreat.\\u201d\\nOne of the videos shows Magdeleno being punched in the head for about twenty seconds straight, sometimes simultaneously by two officers who are pinning him to the ground. Ukiah police chief Justin Wyatt had no comment on Friday, but a press release signed by a subordinate described the blows as distraction strikes, which \\u201callowed the officers a brief opportunity to place Magdaleno into handcuffs, and the technique was ceased.\\u201d\\nA man named Cooper believes it\\u2019s time to rethink the budget. \\u201cThe response always ends up with police departments getting a larger budget, and that\\u2019s never going to solve the problem,\\u201d he said, echoing other calls for more money to go toward mental health services. Asked what he thought about the press release that characterized the blows as \\u201cdistraction strikes,\\u201d he said, \\u201cyeah, that was pretty offensive. You could look at it and understand exactly what they\\u2019re doing...it sounds like something made up to justify looking for an excuse to punch the man in the face.\\u201d'