This was announced on the day after the Chauvin verdict...

Well, it's about time! I guess the DA could not avoid trying to bury Officer Hall's first murder what with his adding another victim to his sorry career in Danville. Now one wonders how long it will take her to complete her investigation into the second death at the hands of Officer Hall. We, as residents of Danville now have to be concerned with the coming payouts to the families of the two who were needlessly killed.
And the Town should have it's own investigation into the "use of force" practices and training employed by the Sheriff's Department, along with consideration being given to creating a home town Police Department as our neighbors in San Ramon saw the wisdom of doing several years ago.

Unbelievable. What is this world coming to.

Paul Clark's murder accusation is way out of line and, once again, indicative of the media lynch mob in action prior to due process. John Burris' version of the "truth" should be taken for what its worth, coming from an ambulance chasing attorney who stands to make millions from these cases, as he has done many time in the past. And, as for the Danville PD switching to a "home town" department, I can only say that my experience has been that Chief Shields has done an excellent job in Danville. The fact is that Danville was recently named the safest city in the state; that didn't just happen by accident.

To Lewis Glenn,

Even the District Attorney mentioned the issue of a charge of murder. I believe that there is something wrong with a system that attempts to sweep under the rug these kinds of investigations. I think Hall's attorney may well have it right, that the circumstances surrounding the second shooting probably "prompted" the DA to change course. From the sound of her presser, she admits that she wasn't doing the job of completing this investigation. Generally speaking, nearly all officer involved shootings are adjudged as "justified," whether or not that decision is justified by the facts. And now Sheriff Livingston is "hiding under his desk" by not making any comments and the same goes for Shields who is simply a Sheriff's Office Captain and takes his orders from the Sheriff and not the Town Government. Danville, on incorporation took the "easy way out" contracting with the Sheriff to form and run our PD. We have levels of law enforcement for a purpose. The Sheriff has responsibility for policing the unincorporated parts of Contra Costa County. He should not also be running a number of the police departments in the county, because in so doing, he takes on the job of what should be local, independent police departments. It's not unlike the situation we would have if the State took over the functions of County Government. We have to wait now for the judicial process to complete, but it is clear at the outset that Hall being returned to duty was a mistake that cost another human being his life. The "system" at the Sheriff's Office failed when it put Hall back on the street before the investigation into the first shooting was completed. They were hoping we wouldn't notice, unfortunately the circumstances proved they were wrong.

@ Paul Clark

Maybe you should watch the video of the incident regarding Officer Hall and the suspect. Hall was attempting to get the suspect out of the intersection. The suspect not only refused, he then took out his knife. The suspect stepped back and then took three steps towards the officer. At that point, Officer Hall fired his weapon.

Just out of curiosity, how would you have handled the incident?

To Malcolm Hex:

Well, if "Officer" Hall's mission was to "clear the intersection," I just imagine that simply killing the guy so that traffic could again flow," would do the trick, right? No use of a Taser, no backup to try and corral the guy! What the hell, I know I'll just shoot the guy so the public won't be inconvenienced! Anyone who would with today's cops, stressed out as they are by our nutball country's antics, offer up a pocket knife in front of one surely must have some sort of mental problem.
But my real issue here is with the Sheriff's Department and the DA, and their putting Hall back into his job before completing their investigation into his 2018 shooting. Becton's mea culpa about not employing resources in a timely manner on what she claims to be "numerous investigations" involving the actions of police officers within the County is indicative of the level of importance these investigations have had within the DA's office. Until now when they can no longer be ignored. It seems to me that since cops interact with all of us, their behavior should be a lot higher on the DA's list of priorities.

@malcolm hex. How about blocking the intersection and getting the team that de-escalates situations involved to calm the gentleman down? Just like they did the day before with the guy who was blocking a neighborhood street threatening to kill himself . Oh yeah that guy was white and had a professional cop first on the scene not Officer Hall. And he also didn’t have people like you calling him a thug

@malcolm hex. How about blocking the intersection and getting the team that de-escalates situations involved to calm the gentleman down? Just like they did the day before with the guy who was blocking a neighborhood street threatening to kill himself . Oh yeah that guy was white and had a professional cop first on the scene not Officer Hall.

What “de-escalation team” team are you talking about? The suspect was in the car, the car was moving. The suspect in the car was attempting to evade police officers.

Oh, I get it! The “de-escalation” team you speak of should have stood in front of the driver as he attempted to evade arrest? I see, that sure makes a lot of sense.

@Paul Clark

Surely you jest. Did you watch the video? Officer Hall was attempting to get the suspect out of the intersection with verbal commands. The suspect refused and took out his knife. Hall had every right to draw his weapon at that point (take a look at the department’s use of force policy).

The suspect took three steps towards Officer Hall when Hall shot him. Watch the video. BTW, do your ignorance a favor and learn about the lethality of a knife. In fact, here is a 2017 statistic about the use of knives:

The 2017 FBI crime statistics reported 15,129 murder victims in the U.S. Of those, 1,591 were committed with knives/cutting instruments, while 667 were killed with firearms known to be rifles or shotguns. Another 3,300 were killed with unknown types of guns, some of which could have been rifles or shotguns.

Malcom Hex,

Here's an idea, let's leave it to the District Attorney to do her investigative work in a more timely fashion, so that whatever evidence is there as regards the "shooting" by Hall last month is available when Hall is tried for the offense with which he is currently charged. If it's exculpatory, good for him, if it's damning, not so much. I just want assurances that he will never "patrol" the streets of Danville again, and I will live with whatever decision his jury decides is proper. Hopefully, included in the trial, will be an in-depth review of "use of force" protocols and training by those who are supposed to be protecting us.

@malcolm hex. I am talking about Mr Wilson. We are all happy Hall has been charged with his first homicide. Unfortunately if it hadn’t taken 2 plus years the second one would have been avoided. But you don’t care about the victims you just want to defend bad cops. If you combine it with the incident in the Martinez jail a few years back I guess for Officer Hall it’s finally 3 strikes and your out.

Here's the press account of the County Jail Incident:

"Public records obtained by the Chronicle show that Hall was the focus of a prior internal probe for an incident in 2014 at the Martinez jail. An inmate told two sergeants that Hall slammed him face-first into a door while he was handcuffed, punched him several times in the face and body and flipped him over so that he landed on Hall and injured the officer’s knee.
The inmate, who was not identified in interview transcripts, suffered a right orbital bone fracture and needed stitches in his lip, according to sheriff’s records. Hall denied the allegations, saying he performed a “leg sweep takedown” after the inmate jabbed him in the shoulder. The investigation exonerated Hall, finding no evidence of unreasonable or excessive force."

These two incidents in Danville are absolutely different from the murder of George Floyd. What the officer did to Mr. Floyd was clearly a crime. At worst, what the Danville officer did was a civil negligent matter, clearly not a criminal offense. Unfortunately, we have a DA in Contra Costa County who never practiced criminal law, was one of the most political Judges who routinely was challenged via 170.6 for her well known bias, was then caught knowingly plagiarized her essay and application for DA, and is a politician, not a fair and unbiased DA. Why do you think she waited over a year for her "investigation" to finish, and coincidentally charged him the day after the Floyd verdict was in? Her long biased record is problematic, as our criminal justice system depends on two conflicting sides, the DA whose primary concern is law and order and the victims of crime, and the defense whose primary concern is the criminal defendant. DA Becton primary concern is the rights of criminals, not the victims and law and order, and she has no business being DA, and should be in the Public Defender's Office.

The sad truth is her buddy, the ambulance chasing lawyer from Oakland, who himself has been in trouble with the State Bar for his conduct as a lawyer, is calling the shots on this one, and turning a civil matter into a criminal matter. All law abiding citizens will suffer from this, as clearly nobody will ever want to work as a police officer in the future, and the end result will be more crime, and our safe town of Danville will turn into Oakland. This DA needs to be recalled, and I am hoping her latest political move on this case will result in her being removed, with common sense and law abiding citizens realizing how dangerous she is to our community.

"These two incidents in Danville are absolutely different from the murder of George Floyd. What the officer did to Mr. Floyd was clearly a crime. At worst, what the Danville officer did was a civil negligent matter, clearly not a criminal offense. "

Huh? So you physically restrain a person you're trying to take into custody and he dies resisting ( with the "help" of a load of narcotics that would in and of themselves likely cause the persons death), and thats murder. But pumping nine rounds into a guy in a car while standing behind it is civil negligence? Boy if I ever need a lawyer, you'll be the last one I'd call.

Local Man,

This, from Local Man: "We are all happy Hall has been charged with his first homicide."

Officer Hall was not charged with homicide (murder). You really need to hit the books and understand the difference between manslaughter and homicide. But here, let me help you out...

COUNT 1 – VOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER

COUNT 2 – ASSAULT WITH A SEMIAUTOMATIC FIREARM

Stop lying and get your facts straight.

Paul Clark,

You and your fellow fibber apparently have trouble separating fact from fiction.

You said: "But pumping nine rounds into a guy in a car while standing behind it is civil negligence?"

Officer Hall did not pump all nine rounds into the driver from the rear. As the driver drove towards Hall, Hall began shooting from the front, side, and lastly, rear.

You attempted a little trickery, but failed to impart what is the truth. Take a look at the video.

Hey. Malcolm. You must be thrilled to death I made an error in terminology. That said we are very excited to see what the charges on the death (I am only calling it a death to please you) will be against Officer Hall.

D if you don’t like Diana Becton vote her out of office She deserves to be DA because the citizens of Contra Costs County voted her in. Unless you don’t believe in democracy she earned the right to be our DA Besides she replaced a white guy who committed a crime and had to resign

At Local Mutt,

Your bias against law enforcement must be the highlight of your day. Moreover, why are you excited about an incident that resulted in the death of someone?

You sound much like the black clad cowards up north.

Malcolm. I am not excited about the incident I am excited about the pending charges of the result I am however excited about the day you encounter a cop whose first inclination is to leave his patrol car with a gun pointed directly at you no matter what the perceived violation is. I am sure as a white guy you have never experienced it

Also what do mean by “black clad cowards up north”? I assume you are talking about the federal agents that were pulling peaceful protestors off the street and holding them in undisclosed places for no damn reason.

@ Local Man,

I can't respond to how excited you would be to know a gun was directed at my person. However, I suspect this line of drivel was born out of raw emotion, or possibly a juvenile mindset at best. Either way, your mentioning of a "perceived violation" is what grabbed my attention.

What "perceived violations" are you talking about? Care to elaborate? Do you know how "perceived violations" applies in law enforcement? Maybe it's the sound of those two words put together that itch your fancy?

As for my comment regarding the black-clad cowards up north, it was directed at Antifa. By the way, I see where left-leaning Portland mayor Ted Wheeler has had enough of the black-clad skinny jeans folk.

@local man- It has been well publicized in the last 9 months that there is an absolute shortage of new recruits wanting to join the police department all over the US. For those of you whose goal is "De-fund the police", i.e., let the criminals run our communities while crime sky rockets, this is great news for you. But for us law abiding citizens who respect the incredibly tough job our men and woman of law enforcement do every day, risking their own lives for complete strangers, this is extremely troubling.

When a DA like Becton makes a political, not a legal decision based on the evidence, to actually charge an officer with a crime, rather than let this play out in the civil arena where it belongs, this only makes it that more difficult to hire and retain police officers.

It is tough enough being a police officer and risking your life every day at work, but now having a politician like Becton gunning for the police with trumped up criminal charges, who in their right mind would ever want to work in that type of climate?

It is time to recall DA Becton, who never should have been appointed DA in the first place when she was caught plagiarizing her application and essays.

To @D:
At least insofar as I am concerned, you are misinterpreting my comments. I am a firm supporter of the police, the Second Amendment, and having decent people in our District Attorney's Office. So when I take issue with the behavior of "officer" Hall, it is with respect to his behavior alone, and not a general indictment of Law Enforcement. In any number of the recent "officer involved" shootings across the country, I take the position of the officer. But that does not mean that I will give carte blanche approval to all of their actions. Somehow, a number of police officers have taken the position that "skirts the use of force rules" that almost any confrontation can in their minds be used to justify the taking of a human being's life. In Hall's two cases, I fail to see that the threshold for the application of deadly force was met. I am also suspicious of DA Becton's behavior with respect to her delays in completing her investigation in to the 2018 "event" in a timely fashion. A lot of what she says is self-serving. But I will wait to see what a jury of his peers has to say, because it's only a short distance from taking someone's life, to be put into prison for say 20 years as has been advanced for Hall should he be found guilty. I just hope that unlike the "jury" in Minneapolis that "convicted" Officer Chauvin, the local jury will do their sworn duty to examine the facts and render a just verdict. As an aside, I think that the personal insults that have been tossed around here need to stop. We should be able to have a discussion without the need for name calling.

To @D and @ Malcolm Hex:

Take a gander at this:

Web Link

Then let me know if you support the cops who were involved!

At Paul Clark,

If your point is that most cops are good and some are bad, then why not balance out your rhetoric by acknowledging the positive actions of police officers?

@ Hex,

My "rhetoric" is discussing what has happened in Danville, and the appearance that our PD and the Sheriff who essentially runs it, did not deal with an officer effectively when it seems very likely from what is public information, that he was not fit to wear the uniform. The "justice system" did not investigate Hall in a timely fashion, and as a consequence, not one but two people are dead. How hard is it for you to comprehend that fact? Someone should be held to account for putting him back on duty after the death at his hands in 2018. It should not matter who the victims were. There is nothing to "balance out!" You don't "overlook" one officer's bad behavior "for the overall good" done by the rest. Unlike the two dead citizens, Hall will get his day in court.

@Paul Clark,

Have you reviewed the video of the first shooting? Have you reviewed the video of the second shooting? Just because the DA has filed charges against the officer does not mean he’s guilty. But according to you, as stated in your April 21, 2021 posting, Officer Hall - in your words - is guilty of murder.

You not only got the charges wrong, you made a rush to judgment and claimed that two people were needlessly - in your words - murdered.

I have dealt with Officer Hall before, His temper is short and he is hot headed. It did not surprise me one bit that it was Hall in the second shooting when I saw it on the news.

So the issue is the young black black man is actually backing away as he pulled the knife and although he does move forward 2 steps He is pretty clear in stating some thing to the effect of touch me and see what happens, So a legal knife being drawn while you keep coming at someone is not de-escalation and would be considered escalation. And a person puling a knife in response to you pulling a gun is reasonable. I am not sure officer Hall identified himself properly and there were several opportunities for Officer Hall to use other tactics to subdue the black gentleman. It just was not necessary to shoot this man.

Given the climate of policing right now I think Hall will be guilty of manslaughter on this shooting and as for the first. I have not seen any video on it but suspect for the DA to charge it she sees something there. Lets hope she does a good job and gets a conviction.

Hall is a poor police officer and should not be wearing the same uniform I do.

@ TonySkala,

You stated the following: “I am not sure officer Hall identified himself properly.”

Fact: Officer Hall was wearing his department issued uniform. Officer Hall also identified himself as working for the Danville Police Department. Officer Hall also gave the suspect clear instructions to vacate the intersection.

You stated the following: “ And a person puling a knife in response to you pulling a gun is reasonable.”

Fact: The suspect took out his “legal” knife BEFORE Officer Hall displayed his department issued firearm. Officer Hall then told the suspect to drop the knife, which the suspect refused to do. The suspect engaged Officer Hall by taking two and a half steps forward. Officer Hall then discharged his weapon.

Also, you never described what “other tactics” Officer Hall should have used. I’m curious, did you actually watch the video of the incident, or are you just making this stuff up?

Lastly, what “uniform” do you wear? Because judging by your observation and report writing skills, or lack thereof, you couldn’t pass a a basic POST (Peace Officer Standards and Training) academy.

The anarchist George Soros is involved here. Web Link

@ Maskedman

You called it. The article stated that once Becton had “the power” that came with being DA, she wasted no time in her efforts to weaken criminal statutes in California. The article went on to state that she founded the Prosecutors Alliance of California (PAC) with fellow Soros-backed DAs Chesa Boudin, George Gascón, and Tori Verber.

I checked out the Prosecutors Alliance website and saw her name listed with the aforementioned judicial activists.

Well it looks like good old Malcolm has reduced himself to insulting people for not agreeing with him but I guess from his last post we now know he is just one of those fringe conspiracy theorists. What’s next George Soros paid Tyrell Wilson to live in the park and drive so he could get shot and cause white people discomfort in our peaceful little Danville. I am signing off before Malcom goes further into crazy town. Maybe we should start commenting on the new Costco gas station. I am sure Malcom believes Soros is behind that as well. After all it is just a globalist ploy to drive small gas stations owners out of business

Facts are not emotions.

So Malcolm is a Soros conspiracy theorist and believe those stories about him are "facts". Well I guess that helps us understand Malcolm's comments about black clad protestors and other "facts" he makes. The only "facts" I know about Soros conspiracy theorists are that they are racists and anti-semitic. Guess that answers everything

Paul must think Soros is funding Officer Hall's defense team with dark money? Eghads!

Of course, all this coming from a guy who made up a story about the incident regarding Officer Hall and a motorist.

What was it? Ah yes, Pauly stated that Officer Hall was behind the driver's car as he shot nine rounds into the rear windshield. And of course, the video (evidence) tells a completely different story.

It's a good thing that Paul is not prosecuting this case.

George? Hear that? LOL!!!

Malcolm.

From your comments, I doubt you could successfully remove a bent dime from a Coke machine. FWIW I have a special bottle of wine in the wine cooler that will be opened and consumed when I read that Soros has finally left this mortal coil for his rightful place in Hell. From your disjointed posts, I can't figure out if your are a Far Out Leftist, or some guy who just blew in from the backwoods of Idaho, and is now spending his nights cleaning his AR.

I understand that insults are often motivated by anger surrounding issues of status insecurity.

Thanks! Web Link