A prior flyer I posted on Santa Cruz Indymedia & the HUFF e-mail list, and distributed at two rallies erroneously identified Officer Frank Azua as the SCPD off-duty officer who drew a gun on Jasmine Byron and her family at the Salvation Army Thanksgiving meal in 2013. They reported Hernandez was menacing them for “taking a plate of food outside” as others were doing. I apologize for any confusion caused by this error and further discuss it below. I also include the corrected flyer for those who want to read and/or distribute it. –Robert Norse
Officer Frank Azua has been accused of racial profiling downtown. (See “Santa Cruz Police Racism by Officer Azua and Unidentified PO ” at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYa65BTWrHU&feature=youtu.be and “Selective Enforcement of Smoking Ban, Obstruction of Video Reporting–Report to the Chief!” at
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/08/02/18759451.php ).
He has also been identified in numerous incidents in radio interviews with those who reported abuse: (search for “Azua” at http://www.huffsantacruz.org/brb-descriptions.html ). However, my apologies for a mistaken reference to him in this incident.
Officer Joe Hernandez was identified by Jasmine Byron, her partner, and her mom as the man who drew a gun on her for taking a plate of food out of the Salvation Army Thanksgiving meal last year. In radio interviews on November 28, 2013 and December 8, 2013, Hernandez was described as the gun-pointing and subsequently taunting individual. (See http://www.huffsantacruz.org/brb-descriptions.html and search for “Hernandez”).
The flyer included with this comment is a corrected version with the proper information.
