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"He demands to know what we are doing at the store at 1 o'clock in the morning and he wants me to prove who I am," said Khalif in an interview with ABC7 News. If I tell you its my store, then what? Khalif asks in the video. Criminal-law experts and civil-liberties organizations say there is no requirement to produce identification even when detained unless youre operating a motor vehicle, which requires state-issued certification, or you have been arrested or booked for a crime. His tone not very like-able. The settlement was announced. The couple met at Dominican University of California in San Rafael. Michael Blasi was the supervising officer on Aug. 21 during the incident at Yema, a clothing store on Main Street. Khalif and Awash said Cronin had not reached out to them directly in the aftermath of the incident. I expressed to him that there was no crime going on and we were going about our business. Whatever the intention of the responding officers, the interchange inappropriately deteriorated from helpful to confrontational, Fredericks said in the statement, adding that Tiburon officers are trained and expected to de-escalate situations such as these. Khalif posted the video to Instagram. This is around 1AM. Is it your store that's all we want to know? While Tiburon Police Chief Michael Cronin and Town Manager Greg Chanis have ordered an independent investigation into the incident, the results of which will be reviewed by the Town Council, Cronin said neither Blasi nor the two other officers involved would be suspended or put on administrative leave amid the investigation. If they had just proved it was their business then that wouldve been it.. The Police Department and Emergency Operations Center are also responsible for developing and maintaining the Emergency Operations Plan for the entire Tiburon Peninsula. Tiburon Mayor Alice Fredericks told the Marin IJ she was not surprised by the announcement, but it came "a few weeks earlier than expected. I look forward to meeting and working with the engaged community members, our town leaders, allied agencies and especially all our town employees who are committed to providing the highest levels of service to everyone who lives, works and visits the town of Tiburon, Monaghan said. At the conclusion of the investigation the report will be provided to the Town Manager for review and appropriate action will be taken based on the findings of the investigator, Cronin said. Awash began recording as Sgt. "This particular day we had just received a huge inventory and we just wanted to come out and put the inventory out before Saturday morning," said Khalif. One of our business friend was visiting us from washing DC so he came with us. Some days we have to work late. As a community, we need to demand change in our public servants when it becomes clear their own unrecognized prejudices can no longer allow them to protect and serve all residents.. In addition to normal police activities, the police station also houses the Emergency Operations Center, which is equipped to manage disaster response for Tiburon and Belvedere. Both Khalif and Awash said they noticed a Tiburon police car driving slowly by their storefront while they were working inside with their friend about 1 a.m. Aug. 21. Ste. Awash characterized the conversation as positive. In it, the officers, who first note that Khalif is in the store at 1 a.m., past the typical 9 p.m. shut-down time for activity on the street, can be heard repeatedly demanding that Khalif prove his ownership of the business, either by showing identification or putting his key in the shops door. It was more like, Who are you guys, what are you doing in this store, you must identify yourselves and prove why you are here, she said. Khalif started the brand with his wife when they were in college. Last night we had a not so good exchange with Tiburon police at our place of work. Blasi will receive three months of salary from Tiburon as severance pay, Chanis said. CNN Pittsburgh has moved to fire five police officers after an internal investigation into the October death of a man involved in the suspected theft of a bicycle, officials said Wednesday. videotaped confronting a Black business owner, Public File for KBCW-TV / KBCW 44 Cable 12. I want to know what you're doing in the store at 1 o'clock in the morning," says the supervisor. The Tiburon and Belvedere council held a joint meeting on Thursday to give the polarized community a chance to weigh in. Meanwhile, Awash estimated she has been stopped in her car three to five times over the past year and a half by the same police officer. Khalif was also a speaker at the 2018 Belvedere-Tiburon Librarys Pop-Up 94920 series. ORIGINAL STORY: Tiburon police demand Black business owner prove who he is, Two videos show an officer saying, "This street closes at 9 o'clock at night and there's never anybody in here. Really? The off-camera speaker presumably makes reference to the June 2020 fatal police shooting of 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks, who was shot after allegedly grabbing a police officer's Taser, following a . The Tiburon Police Department has 12 sworn officers and four other employees, plus volunteer and reserve officers. I do not have any intention of removing them at this time, Cronin said. Yema Protest Speech following the incident at his storefront on August 29th. If this is your store, put the key in the door, Blasi can be heard saying. There's video of the interaction and an investigation underway. I think of all of the very late nights I have worked in those offices and never once did the police come by to see who was there as I sat at my desk clearly visible in the window, she wrote in an citizen complaint to Cronin that was shared with The Ark. In the video, Khalif is at the door of his own store talking with a Tiburon police supervisor. Reporter Hannah Weikel covers the city of Belvedere, as well as crime, courts and public safety issues on the Tiburon Peninsula. Yema Khalif, the only Black store owner in Tiburon, speaks out in front of the police dept. Monaghan accepted a conditional offer in February, Chanis said. While K-9 officer Larry Holladay, Patrol Officer Patrick. We saw him drive around the block like 3 times. The confrontation led to a rally in Tiburon on Aug. 29 against racial profiling. Kevin Hessel is The Arks executive editor. During hours when the department is closed, visitors can be directly connected to our dispatch center via a phone outside our front entrance. All Access Digital offer for just 99 cents! RELATED: Santa Clara University professor, her brother racially profiled by campus guards, In an emailed statement writing, "The Town is engaging the services of an outside, independent attorney to conduct an investigation of the incident involving a local business owner and Tiburon Police Officers on August 21 at 10 Main Street. A percentage of all sales are donated to Road to Freedom Scholarships for the education of orphaned children in Ethiopia and Kenya, a program that was started by Danish actress and part-time Tiburon resident Connie Nielsen. NBCBLK 5 officers fired after Tyre Nichols' death were 'directly responsible' for his 'physical abuse,' police chief says Other officers remain under investigation in connection with a. Were here because we love Tiburon, and we know that Tiburon loves us back, Awash said. DeSantis coming to CA as new poll shows him leading Trump, Ice flies off SUV, smashing windshield: 'You could kill somebody'. You know what, put the key in the door and were outta here., Khalif is seen picking through his keys as he tells Blasi to stand back and not raise his voice at him: Just chill and Ill put my key in the door., Before he can, neighbor Ken Simpson, a part-time resident of a Main Street apartment, yells down twice, Thats his store.. Michael Blasi, was, 2022 The Ark, AMMI Publishing Co. Inc. | 1550 Tiburon Blvd. I cannot fathom how that could happen. Monaghan graduated from Union Institute and University in Sacramento with a bachelors degree in criminal justice management. Thats all we want to know, Blasi says. One of the. Reporter Hannah Weikel and Assistant Editor Emily Lavin contributed to this report. / CBS San Francisco. Owner Yema Khalif said he was insulted by the officer's demand to prove he owned the store and feels Blasi would have behaved differently if he had been white. TIRURON, Calif. (KRON) Tiburon police sergeant Michael Blasi has resigned after video of the encounter between Tiburon police officers and a Black store owner raised concerns, according. Khalif says he wasnt angry, just putting his foot down. @shaunking @beyonce @chakabars @lauraharrier @buzzfeed @nowthisnews @aljazeeraenglish @cnn @bbcnews @latimes @nytimes @wsj @ava @shondarhimes @kuz @kingjames @oprah @voguemagazine @essence @adutakech @tiffanyhaddish, A post shared by YEMA (@yemacalif) on Aug 21, 2020 at 3:33pm PDT. Blasi was hired last year by the department after more than 15 years at the Marin County Sheriffs Office as a SWAT team leader, investigator and gang task-force officer. VIDEO: Man fired after blocking Latino man from entering his own apartment building in SF, "There was nothing suspicious about their activity," says one person. Reach him at 415-435-2652, on Twitter at @thearknewspaper and on Facebook at fb.me/thearknewspaper. Before opening their Tiburon storefront, the couple started selling their clothing online in 2016. TIBURON (KPIX/CBS SF) -- The police chief of the City of Tiburon is stepping down , according to a report in the Marin Independent Journal. The nearly 11-minute recording includes about 5 previously unseen minutes of the incident, which occurred about 1 a.m. Aug. 21 at Yema, the "action . ", The business owner tells ABC7 News, "I did feel racially profiled. On the night of the alleged racial profiling incident, Khalif, his wife, and a business friend, all of whom are Black, were at their store late at night counting inventory, according to a post on YEMAs Instagram account. Another protest is planned at the Tiburon Police Department on Saturday. A Tiburon police sergeant was found dead at the department's headquarters of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, the agency said Tuesday. TIBURON, Calif. - A Tiburon couple who own a clothing store is accusing police of racially profiling them. Japanese Americans won redress for World War II interment camps, now they fight for Black reparations, Civil rights activist Roslyn Pope dies; her Appeal for Human Rights helped launch campaign of boycotts, sit-ins, Letters: Stone is wrong | Unnecessarily complex | Everymans EV | Coaching equity | No infrastructure. Khalif refused. "Had that white neighbor not said anything that night, maybe Yema wouldn't be here with us today and I would let that sink in for a minute," Hawi Awash told ABC 7 News. Blasi then can be heard asking Khalif why he is bringing race into the conversation. Several months later, the store was named Tiburons Business of the Month. It came from knowing that in one split second they could end someones life.. Khalif becomes increasingly frustrated as Blasis requirement shifts: Did you identify yourself? You sure? Persons seeking assistance need only lift the phone to be connected with a dispatcher. Although Ryan Monaghan was not my choice, Im looking forward to working with him to find out what his plans are for community policing, diversity and inclusion, and hiring and promotion within the department, he said. Khalif was also a speaker at the 2018 Belvedere-Tiburon Librarys Pop-Up 94920 series. But this goes to show that when people come together good things can happen.. Ste. "We are extraordinarily sad to report the loss. Blasi made $10,122 a month. I stood my ground that day, but this did not hit me until next day, he said. Khalif said the officer circled the store three or four times before stopping outside the shop and sitting across the street for about 15 minutes. Miss Manners: I shouldn't call because the phone scares people? Should you desire additional information that doesnt appear on the site, please contact us directly at 415-789-2801 or by using the department directory. I can no longer sit idle and watch the (Tiburon Police Department) inhumanely treat the citizens and business owners of our town. The department is open to the public. Police Chief Michael Cronin said the town has engaged the services of an independent attorney to conduct an investigation into the incident. The video which has been viewed more than 30,000 times on the stores Instagram page and shared more than 750 times on its Facebook page triggered an overwhelming community response of concern and outrage, including hundreds of comments on online neighborhood forum Nextdoor.com. Officers from both the Tiburon and Belvedere police departments arrived that August 2020 night around 1 a.m., when Khalif, Awash and a friend were stocking clothes at the upscale boutique on . Michael Blasi resigned after the release of police body-cam video showed Blasi and other officers questioning whether Yema Khalif and his wife Hawi Awash had a right to be in their own downtown store after hours. I had to prove my house, street and number, and I had to prove that I lived in Tiburon, Khalif said. Why would the police believe some white guy yelling from his balcony and not the Black business owner stating he owned the business? she wrote. Tiburon officials have released body-camera footage from the first officer at the scene of a late-night confrontation between police and Black business owner Yema Khalif, who asserts he was racially profiled when questioned at his downtown shop. The incident, early last Friday morning, is now the subject of an independent . Khalif: "If I tell you it's my store then what? Tiburon chief Cronin also resigned effective September 13, in response to the alleged racial profiling incident at YEMA. A video of the incident that Awash recorded was widely shared on social media, and the town released police body-camera footage. In 1999 the department moved into its current location at 1155 Tiburon Blvd. Marin City Matters member Paul Austin said Blasis resignation is a step in the right direction, but there is more work to be done starting from the top down. It sounded like a fist-fight was going to happen, Simpson said. Dear Abby: Why do they imply my husband is a freak? The supervisor demanded Khalif put his key in the door to prove ownership when a neighbor shouted at police identifying him. After Cronins exit, the town arranged for Undersheriff Jamie Scardina to run the police department on a part-time interim basis while a consulting firm recruited a new chief. Then we see Tiburon police car patrolling. According to Khalif, the officer sat in his parked vehicle for about 20 minutes before approaching Khalif, asking him to identify himself, explain why they were inside the store, and informing them that backup was on the way. After the video of the incident was posted on Yemas Instagram and went viral, discussion caught like wildfire across social media platforms. Police officers in a California town have been accused of racial profiling after confronting a Black business owner who . In an Aug. 24 interview, Khalif said he had no doubt the officers confronted him because of his race and said he was still traumatized., I could have been another statistic, I could have been another George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, but I did not take the bait, he said. Blasi offered, and the town has accepted, his voluntary resignation., On the night of the alleged racial profiling incident, Khalif, his wife. Tiburon Town Council & Belvedere City Council Virtual Town Hall & Community Forum 6:30 p.m. Aug. 27. https://zoom.us/j/95644043303 or 669-900-6833, meeting ID 956 4404 3303. "How can we do better as a community? It looked like they were harassing him and I thought, This has gone on for several minutes. It just felt like it was going to progress into something ugly., Khalif called the fact that the situation was diffused by a white neighbor yelling down to vouch for him the icing on the cake., A Black man cannot be in this space in this particular hour and say, Im OK, no need to be talking to you, move along. The town announced Blasis resignation on Tuesday. The newly released footage begins about 6 minutes before that video begins, when Madfes is already parked on Tiburon Boulevard at Main Street and is getting out of his squad car. Community members pointed out Cronin had only issued a warning for the protest in Marin City, which is 61 percent non-white, including 38 percent Black, and had issued no such warnings for similar peaceful protests in other nearby predominantly white communities, including Mill Valley. Our store alarm did not go off, no one called the police, everything was peaceful. An autopsy found cocaine, alcohol, morphine, codeine and a Valium equivalent in his system, as well as signs of coronary disease that could have helped trigger heart failure, a pathologist said. It looked like they were harassing him and I thought, This has gone on for several minutes, Simpson said. ", Others responded with different views, saying that officers were just doing their job. The neighbor, Ken Simpson, lives in his Main Street apartment part-time and said hes also accustomed to hearing noise from patrons and employees of downtown restaurants late at night, but the yelling that woke him up about 1:15 a.m. Aug. 21 sounded like it was escalating quickly. Mayor Alice Fredericks on Aug. 22 sent out an email to the community apologizing to Khalif and Awash. At the 10-minute mark, Madfes chimes in again: Prove to us you have keys or , There you go, thats the perfect thing, Blasi says as Khalif removes something from his pocket. Town Manager Greg Chanis said the council will be holding a special online Town Hall meeting via Zoom later this week to give residents and the public an opportunity to talk about the incident. We welcome and encourage your thoughts and comments. In a year marked by the killings of Black people at the hands of law enforcement, leading to protests nationwide calling for police reform, the conduct of the Tiburon officers is particularly tone . D, Tiburon, CA 94920 | 415-435-2652 | Privacy Policy| Designed by Kevin Hessel. Is it your store? In these conversations, Sergeant Blasi expressed his love for Tiburon and described the deep connection he developed during his time serving the community, Chanis wrote in a message to residents. A Black. Your email address will not be published. The four fired men were Patrol Officer Juan Lugo Perez, Sgt. Nielsen met Khalif on a movie set and later helped him move to California, where he attended Dominican University of California in San Rafael, made the deans list all four years, was his class valedictorian in 2015 and was offered a full scholarship into its MBA program, where he eventually obtained his masters. ", Supervisor: "Then show me that it's your store. 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