Stories Differ In Shooting

Once again stories differ in the shooting
of a person of color. The police officers
have their version and witnesses have
theirs. One thing for sure is that a man is
dead. Check out the article below and then
draw your own conclusion.


Authorities say the fatal police shooting of a 46-year-old man nicknamed "Uncle Su'e" in North Long Beach was necessary to subdue a violent suspect who was brawling with an officer and had grabbed his baton.

But neighbors and relatives described it as an unwarranted assault on a shirtless, unarmed man as he lay face down on a sidewalk.

On this both sides agree: Many in the largely Samoan enclave are deeply angry over the death of Roketi Su'e on Saturday.

Police said a hostile crowd of about 40 people surrounded the two officers involved, yelling and threatening them, and that the officers called for backup, concerned that the crowd would turn on them.

The crowd dispersed but tensions in the neighborhood remained inflamed on Sunday.

"He had no shirt on. He didn't have a weapon. He never carried a weapon," said Su'e'sniece, Lagilelei Saolotoga, 36, who did not see the shooting but ran down the sidewalk to her uncle's side as soon as she heard shots fired.

A relative described Su'e as terminally ill with cancer. He suffered from schizophrenia, but the relative and others described him as harmless and childlike.

He would dance with neighborhood children and give them money when the ice cream truck came by, they said.

He had been returning home Saturday evening from a neighborhood birthday party when the confrontation occurred.

Long Beach police spokeswoman Nancy Pratt said police were summoned to the neighborhood about 7 p.m. Saturday by callers who said a man was behaving erratically. The confrontation occurred in the 3400 block of 67th Street, a cul-de-sac of modest homes and apartments just southwest of the Downey Avenue exit of the Riverside Freeway

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