PRESS AVAIL FRIDAY MAY 7, 2021 AT 1 PM Walnut Creek City Hall
WHAT:
Civil Rights Attorney John Burris and parents of Miles Hall to give public statements and take questions following the anticipated release of the Contra Costa DA's Investigation and Report on Friday May 7.
The Contra Costa District Attorney's Office (DA) informed the Hall family earlier this week that they have concluded their investigation into the police shooting of Miles Hall, son of Scott and Taun Hall of Walnut Creek, CA who was killed by Walnut Creek Police Officers on June 2, 2019.
Members of the DA's office said they will be releasing their report to the family and to the public tomorrow morning, Friday May 7, 2021
Burris and the Halls will be speaking to the press and a group of supporters on Friday May 7 at 1 pm in front of Walnut Creek City Hall. Community members will be there to show their support for the Halls and to continue to call for justice and accountability in the death of Miles Hall.
WHO:
Attorney John Burris, Scott and Taun Hall, parents of Miles Hall, Gigi Crowder, Executive Director of NAMI Contra Costa, and members of the FOSATH (Friends of Scott, Taun, and Alexis Hall) community, as well as family members and supporters of other victims of police violence in Contra Costa County
WHEN: FRIDAY MAY 7. 2021 at 1:00 PM
WHERE: Outside of Walnut Creek City Hall 1666 N. Main Street, Walnut Creek, CA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Release Date: Thursday, May 6, 2021 9 PM PST
Hall Family Media Contact: Patty Mitchell, mobile (408) 429-4032, admin@justiceformileshall.org
Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office To Release Investigation Report. Doesn’t Charge Officers Involved in the Death of Miles Hall, Killed by Walnut Creek Police June 2, 2019
Walnut Creek CA---
The Contra Costa District Attorney's Office (DA) has concluded their investigation into the police shooting of Miles Hall, son of Scott and Taun Hall of Walnut Creek, CA and will be releasing their report on Friday May 7. According to the Hall family attorney, John Burris, the DA has decided not to charge the officers involved in the death of Miles Hall.
Burris and the Halls will be speaking to the press on Friday May 7 at 1 pm in front of Walnut Creek City Hall. Community members will be there to show their support for the Halls and to continue to call for justice and accountability in the death of Miles Hall.
Taun Hall, Miles’ mother said, “After nearly two long years of waiting anxiously for the conclusion of what we had hoped would be a thorough, unbiased, factually accurate investigation, we learned that there will be no justice and no accountability for the indefensible actions that resulted in our son’s death -- at least not today.”
The City of Walnut Creek and the District Attorney of Contra Costa are out of sync with the rest of California and the rest of the country when it comes to ensuring accountability in police practices and policies, especially as pertains to responding to mental health crisis calls.
Taun Hall added, “We are heartbroken, yet still determined to fight for justice for Miles and for everyone who has been harmed by police brutality and denied justice in a system that stigmatizes and criminalizes people with mental illness, especially when they are Black and Brown.”
Since Miles death in June of 2019, the Hall family has worked tirelessly to advocate for non-police response to calls for help when someone is in a mental health emergency. Currently, the “Miles Hall Lifeline Act”, Assembly Bill 988 is making its way through the California legislature to fund an alternative to 911 for calls for help that do not need a police response. The Miles Hall Lifeline Act will save lives and decriminalize individuals who need help, not handcuffs.
With the decision not to charge the officers who killed Miles with a crime, the Contra Costa County DA’s office has reinforced the dangerous and stigmatizing idea that those living with mental illness, especially if they are people of color, are the criminals and that violence and gun fire are appropriate responses to their calls for help.
The Hall family is calling on the California Attorney General and the US Department of Justice to do their own investigation into the killing of Miles Hall. Miles should be alive today. The Hall family fully anticipates, given the decision not to charge or discipline the officers, that the Contra Costa DA’s report is inaccurate, inadequate, and is not what justice looks like.
John Burris, attorney for the Hall family said, “Given DA Becton’s decision not to charge these officers in Miles' death, the next step for the Hall family will not be an easy one, but it will be to ask California’s new Attorney General, Rob Bonta, and the new AG with the Department of Justice, Merrick Garland, to step in and review this case. We are not finished fighting for justice and accountability in the killing of Miles Hall.”
Please read the full statement from the Hall Family here.
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