Stephon Clark’s Family Urges Criminal Charges Against Police Who Shot Him

A tearful Sequita Thompson pleads for police officers who killed her unarmed grandson, Stephon Clark, to face criminal charges. Thompson was accompanied at a news conference by Clark’s uncle, Kurtis Gordon (left) and attorney Ben Crump (right).

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A tearful Sequita Thompson pleads for police officers who killed her unarmed grandson, Stephon Clark, to face criminal charges. Thompson was accompanied at a news conference by Clark’s uncle, Kurtis Gordon (left) and attorney Ben Crump (right).

Rich Pedroncelli/AP

The family of Stephon Clark, a 22-year-old unarmed black man fatally shot by police in his grandparents’ back yard, on Monday urged the Sacramento, Calif., district attorney’s office to bring criminal charges against the two officers who killed him.

In a press conference held at City Hall, Clark’s grandmother, Sequita Thompson, wailed in mourning over the violent and unfathomably sudden death of her grandson, captured on police body cameras and helicopter video overhead.

Thompson demanded an explanation for why officers fired about 20 shots at Clark, who at the time was holding a borrowed cell phone in his hand. Police said at the time they believed it was a gun.

“They didn’t have to kill him like that. They didn’t have to shoot him that many times,” she sobbed, as Clark’s uncle, Kurtis Gordon, wiped tears from her face.

“Why didn’t you shoot him in the arm? Shoot him in the leg? Send the dogs? Send the taser? Why?” she asked.

Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump is representing the family in the case, and cradled Thompson as she wept on his shoulder.

In recent years, Crump has handled several high-profile officer-involved shooting cases, including Tamir Rice and Michael Brown.

Stephon Clark family attorney Ben Crump:

Florida shooting suspect “was not shot once. But a young black man holding a cellphone is shot 20 times. Young man who was bombing homes in Austin … He wasn’t shot once. But an unarmed black man holding a cellphone is shot 20 times.” pic.twitter.com/IuHVMAJxkj

— NBC News (@NBCNews) March 26, 2018

Crump drew comparisons between the Sacramento police officers’ response when dealing with Clark, a black suspect, and that of law enforcement in other cities pursuing white suspects.

The Florida high school shooter who allegedly killed 17 people last month before he was apprehended, “was not shot once. But a young black man holding a cellphone is shot 20 times,” he said. “Young man who was bombing homes in Austin, [Texas], the police followed him for hours. He wasn’t shot once. But an unarmed black man holding a cellphone is shot 20 times.”

“We will stand up for Stephon, we will speak up for Stephon … until we get justice,” he added.

Alice Huffman and Betty Williams of the NAACP were among nearly a dozen African American community leaders standing with Clark’s family Monday.

After the press conference, Huffman told The Sacramento Bee efforts by the NAACP to reach Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert had gone unanswered but that the organization is in talks with the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division about investigating the shooting at the federal level.

Shelly Orio, a spokeswoman with the district attorney’s office told NPR that members of Schubert’s office are in the process of setting up a meeting with Williams sometime in the near future.

“The meeting being scheduled with the NAACP is at their request, so we are not sure what they would like to discuss,” Orio said in an email. She also added, “The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office reviews all officer-involved shootings that occur in the county which result in injury or death.”

Activists and protesters have been demonstrating in the days since footage of the killing was released last week. A day after the videos went viral Black Lives Matter led a march that spilled onto Interstate 5, shutting down traffic in both directions during rush hour.

As NPR reported, over the weekend protesters merged with the March for Our Lives event against gun violence on school campuses. That drew the attention of Reverend Al Sharpton, who said on MSNBC that he would attend Thursday’s funeral for Clark.

On Sunday night basketball players from the Sacramento Kings and Boston Celtics wore black t-shirts with Clark’s name on the back during a pregame warm up.

Before collapsing into Crump’s embrace Monday, Thompson stared up toward the ceiling and pleaded for justice.

“I want justice for my baby. I want justice for Stephon Clark,” she cried.

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Uber sells South East Asia operations to rival Grab

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Uber is selling its South East Asia ride-share and food delivery businesses to regional rival Grab.

The move marks a further retreat from international operations for Uber, after it sold its China business to local rival Didi Chuxing.

Both firms describe the deal as a win for their passengers, but analysts warn it could mean higher prices.

Grab is South East Asia’s most popular ride-sharing firm with millions of users across eight countries.

Under the terms of the deal, Uber will take a 27.5% stake in Singapore-based Grab. Uber’s chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, will also join Grab’s board.

The value of the deal has not been made public.

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Grab’s chief executive Anthony Tan said the deal “marks the beginning of a new era” in which the merged business would be better placed to serve customers.

Uber’s Mr Khosrowshahi said the deal would “help us double down on our plans for growth as we invest heavily in our products and technology”.

The deal marks Uber’s third retreat after it withdrew from China in 2016 and sold its Russia business to local firm Yandex last year.

Mr Khosrowshahi has been preparing the firm for an initial public offering in 2019.

Uber invested $700m in its Southeast Asia business and another $2bn in China before it sold its operations there.

In November, Mr Khosrowshahi, said the company’s Asian operations were not going to be “profitable any time soon”.

Analysis: Karishma Vaswani, Asia business correspondent

Uber is keen to push the message that this isn’t a retreat from South East Asia – that instead, this is a merger of equals – a partnership of sorts.

But while it’s true that Uber does get a sizeable stake in Grab, it is hard to ignore that this is the third market it is pulling out of. First China, then Russia – now South East Asia.

Look closely at the internal email that Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi sent his staff announcing the deal, and you can see a hint of an acknowledgement that perhaps their global strategy of barging into overseas markets isn’t going as well as Uber had planned.

“One of the potential dangers of our global strategy,” he writes, “Is that we take on too many battles across too many fronts with too many competitors.”

This deal does beg the question what does Uber do next in Asia – because it is only really Japan, South Korea and India that it now operates in – and in all of those markets, it is facing competition of some sort, home grown or otherwise.

If this defeat at Grab’s hands is anything to go by – Uber best be prepared for a tough battle ahead.

Less choice?

Last year, Uber lost $4.5bn (£3.2bn) – and its chief executive – as it underwent a fundamental shake-up following a harassment scandal.

But some fear that its withdrawal from South East Asia could result in higher prices for users there.

“Industry consolidation will mean fewer choices for commuters and fares are likely to trend higher over time,” said Corrine Png, a transport analyst from Singapore-based research firm Crucial Perspective.

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Competition in the ride-hailing sector has been fierce, resulting in discounts and promotions offered to riders and drivers reducing profit margins.

But consolidation in the industry was widely expected after Japan’s Softbank Group made a large investment in Uber last year.

SoftBank is a major investor in several of Uber’s rivals including Grab, China’s Didi Chuxing and India’s Ola.

It is believed to have pushed for consolidation in order to improve revenues.

Grab currently operates in eight countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam.

The deal – which is yet to be approved by local regulators – includes the sale of all of Uber’s operations in the region, including its key food delivery service Uber Eats.

As a result of the merger, the GrabFood service will expand from two to four South East Asian countries by next quarter, Grab said.

The company said the deal would help it move towards profitability, and would also help to increase “adoption of the GrabPay mobile wallet and support Grab’s growing Financial Services platform”.

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