Kuanchung Kao's political legacy

The cop said the 5-foot, 7-inch Kao menaced him with a stick.  He feared that the pudgy, lachrymose and clearly soused little man would lay him low with some sort of "martial arts" move.

This is unpersuasive, to say the least.  It's hard to imagine cops assuming a white man was a martial arts expert posing such a threat that lethal force was warranted.  Need it be said that not every Asian is a Jackie Chan?

Kao wasn't a genuine threat to anyone but himself.  There should have been a better way to deal with him.  But the Sonoma County district attorney's office didn't think so, and it cleared the cop, Jack Shields.  A federal probe hasn't been completed.

Kuanchung Kao's political legacy

While the results of [an] initial field trip were inconclusive regarding whether the Kao incident was a case of racial bias, the picture that emerged suggested that there was a serious deterioration of police-community relations throughout Sonoma County.  Between April 1, 1995, and September 25, 1997, eight citizens within the county had been killed by law enforcement officers, and all were found to be justifiable homicide.  In addition, community spokespersons alleged there were three deaths at the county jail in 1997.

Community Concerns About Law Enforcement in Sonoma County, Chapter 1 (Introduction)

Tanya Brannan, victim advocate, Purple Berets, agreed, suggesting that the police unnecessarily escalate some incidents to a shoot or don't shoot situation. [In the Kao incident], it would have been very easy for the officer to do what his fellow officer, the first on the scene told him to do back up, wait for backup, don't get out of your car, Brannan said. Nancy Wang, president, Redwood Empire Chinese Association, added, I think the officer created his own problem. If he stayed in the car until backup arrived, maybe a life would have been saved. Brannan alleged, [t]here is no doubt that the second officer escalated that situation unnecessarily.

Community Concerns About Law Enforcement in Sonoma County, Chapter 2 (Community Concerns)

(See the entire California Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights report at Community Concerns About Law Enforcement in Sonoma County.)