Skip to content
CapRadio

CapRadio

listen live donate
listen live donate
listen live
donate
  • News
    • News

    • State Government
    • Environment
    • Health Care
    • Race and Equity
    • Business
    • Arts and Lifestyle
    • Food and Sustainability
    • PolitiFact California
    News
    • News

    • State Government
    • Environment
    • Health Care
    • Race and Equity
    • Business
    • Arts and Lifestyle
    • Food and Sustainability
    • PolitiFact California
  • Music
    • Music

    • Classical
    • Jazz
    • Eclectic

    • Daily Playlist
    Music
    • Music

    • Classical
    • Jazz
    • Eclectic

    • Daily Playlist
  • Podcasts & Shows
  • Schedules
  • Events
  • Support
    • Support
    • Ways to support
    • Evergreen Donation
    • One-Time Donation
    • Corporate Sponsorship
    • Vehicle Donation
    • Stock Giving
    • Legacy Giving
    • Endowment Support
    • Members
    • Member Benefits
    • Member FAQ
    • Member Newsletter

    • Fund drives
    • Drawing Winners
    • Thank You Gifts
    Support
    • Support
    • Ways to support
    • Evergreen Donation
    • One-Time Donation
    • Corporate Sponsorship
    • Vehicle Donation
    • Stock Giving
    • Legacy Giving
    • Endowment Support
    • Members
    • Member Benefits
    • Member FAQ
    • Member Newsletter

    • Fund drives
    • Drawing Winners
    • Thank You Gifts
  • About
  • Close Menu
 We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter 
 We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter 

After Declining To 'Second Guess' Cops Who Killed Stephon Clark, Sacramento Mayor Calls Shooting 'Just Plain Wrong'

  •  Nick Miller 
Sunday, March 25, 2018 | Sacramento, CA
Listen
/
Update RequiredTo play audio, update browser or Flash plugin.
Andrew Nixon / Capital Public Radio

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg at a press conference discussing the Stephon Clark shooting March 22, 2018.

Andrew Nixon / Capital Public Radio

After the Sacramento Police Department released video footage of Stephon Clark’s shooting last Wednesday, Mayor Darrell Steinberg put out a statement, his first official remarks about the killing of an unarmed black man, who police shot at 20 times in his grandparents’ South Sacramento home.

“I viewed the videos carefully,” read an excerpt from the statement. “Based on the videos alone, I cannot second guess the split-second decisions of our officers.”

Since the videos’ release and his comments, protesters have spilled into Sacramento’s streets, shutting down a freeway, blocking thousands from a Kings game, and marching through Clark’s neighborhood of Meadowview for hours.

In fact, protesters were zig-zagging through the streets of downtown last Friday afternoon during Steinberg’s chat with Capital Public Radio inside his fifth-floor City Hall office.

“It can take a day or two to find your voice as you really reflect what is happening,” Steinberg mentioned during the interview.

The mayor says he still feels very strongly that people should “not to prejudge the results of the investigation about the death of Stephon Clark.” But he added that he wanted to be clear: “Regardless of those questions and the results of the investigation — the outcome — what happened Sunday night was just plain wrong. It’s just plain wrong.”

These are words Steinberg did not include in his initial statement on Wednesday.

Words will continue this Tuesday: City officials have scrapped the scheduled agenda for that night’s city council meeting and instead will hold a “community dialogue” to discuss the shooting. A spokesperson with the local Black Lives Matter chapter, in addition to activists who coordinated some of this past week’s protests and marches and clergy groups, said they intend to show up at the meeting in numbers.

The following is an edited version of the interview with the mayor:

Capital Public Radio: The city has never experienced protests like this in recent memory. What is your response when you see video of people roaming these streets, shutting down freeways and blocking folks from Kings games?

Steinberg: Well, this is a horrible situation. But the question is: What are we going to do about it.

I have a bit of a different reaction to what occurred last night [Thursday] in Sacramento. I know it was chaotic, and walking the freeway is not necessarily a safe thing to do. But what I’m pleased about is that, with all the understandable anger, and all the pain and all the grieving — that between the late-afternoon march and the protest at the Golden 1 Center to all the activities that went on last night — that it was really mostly peaceful. There were no arrests, and nobody got hurt. And I think that speaks to the strength of Sacramento. And the fact that — we got to knock on wood that it continues — that the community responded in an appropriate and strong fashion. …

The police could have arrested people for trespassing at the Golden 1 Center. The Kings could have asked people be arrested for trespassing. They made the right decision in not arresting anybody. Let people vent their understandable outrage and feelings about the death of Stephon Clark.

There are members of the community, especially people of color, who are skeptical of the investigation into the shooting, and doubtful that there will be justice. Do we need an investigation led by an agency outside the Sacramento law-enforcement ecosystem?

Well, I know this: The public, the press, and the city council is looking at every bit of this shooting. And will continue to do so. And there will be an insistence from all of us that, within the law — and there are some state laws that make it difficult to release information — we will be transparent and public as we can be in letting the public know what we know.

I understand the distrust and the skepticism. What I can do is ensure transparency. ...

Would you at least explore or have a conversation about an outside agency conducting the investigation into the shooting?

Of course, I think that’s a discussion that should be had.

When I’m out in the streets covering the protests, what I hear is people saying things like “This wouldn’t happen in East Sacramento,” or “This wouldn’t happen in a white neighborhood.” And not just that this shooting wouldn’t happen. But that, were somebody to report, say, a smash-and-grab of an automobile in a white neighborhood, would police even dispatch officers, let alone a helicopter, for a quality-of-life crime such as that. I know we don’t have the data at our fingertips right here. But I think you understand the sentiment.

But you know what, I think the basic sentiment is true.

So, as a community, how do we proceed? Where does this conversation go?

This is a moment. It’s up to us to choose what to do with that moment. And I choose — and I know our community will choose — to pursue change and reform with our police department, with our community very aggressively.

Another criticism by activists is the information and communication that comes from the Sacramento Police Department. Specifically, there is frustration over how the police disseminated information in the initial hours after a shooting: That Clark had a gun, that he had a “tool bar.” And I’d like to discuss this.

In the 24 hours after a horrible thing like this, it’s not uncommon for there to be a lot of misinformation from any source, as people are trying to gather the facts and really understand. But I do want to say this: We now have a police chief, and I’ve rarely met a finer communicator among police chiefs and the public officials I’ve worked with over the years. He really understands the importance of communication. … I go back to the fact that he could have waited 27 [more] days to release the video. And that a year-and-a-half ago our policy was not to release any video. And he released it right away.

When those videos were first released, you put out a statement, obviously with condolences to the family, but also a comment about not second-guessing the officers that shot Stephon Clark. And I wanted to revisit that.

I appreciate it. Because what I admitted yesterday [Thursday], what I spoke or wrote inartfully, what I meant was that the video alone doesn’t allow me or us to render a conclusion about legal culpability, or legal liability. And that’s what I meant to say. I just didn’t say it very well.

And so, what I’m clearly saying — and it can take a day or two to find your voice as you really reflect what is happening here — that regardless of the legal conclusions … the outcome was just plain wrong. This young man should not have died. And we need to change all that occurs around not just police community issues, but the broader issues of race, of poverty, of the way we interact with one-another, to try and make change. 


Follow us for more stories like this

CapRadio provides a trusted source of news because of you.  As a nonprofit organization, donations from people like you sustain the journalism that allows us to discover stories that are important to our audience. If you believe in what we do and support our mission, please donate today.

Donate Today  

    More about Stephon Clark

  • Family courtesy photo via AP

    The Latest: Shooting Of Stephon Clark

    On Sunday, March 18, 2018, Stephon Clark was shot and killed by two Sacramento police officers in the backyard of his grandparents' house in South Sacramento. Check back here for the latest updates, conversations and analysis.

    Related Stories

  • Andrew Nixon / Capital Public Radio

    Stephon Clark Marches, Vigils Planned Across United States

    Tuesday, March 27, 2018
    The death of Stephon Clark has had reverberations far beyond Sacramento, spurring media attention and organized events across the country.
  • Rich Pedroncelli / AP Photo

    Stephon Clark's Family Wants Sacramento DA To Charge Officers With Murder

    Monday, March 26, 2018
    More protests are expected this week as a the local Black Lives Matter chapter is set to rally for three straight days outside DA Anne Marie Schubert’s offices.
  • Andrew Nixon / Capital Public Radio

    Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg Expands Comments On Police Shooting Death Of Stephon Clark

    Monday, March 26, 2018
    Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said in an interview with CapRadio's Nick Miller this weekend that the police shooting of 22-year-old Stephon Clark was "just plain wrong."
  • Andrew Nixon / Capital Public Radio

    Sacramento Police Chief On Stephon Clark Shooting: ‘We Never Said He Had A Gun’

    Friday, March 23, 2018
    Protesters have criticized the Sacramento Police Department for putting out what they say was inaccurate info about Clark possessing a firearm. Chief Daniel Hahn told Capital Public Radio on Friday that his department isn’t to blame.
  • Andrew Nixon / Capital Public Radio

    Protests Grip Sacramento: Demonstrators Overtake Freeway, Block Fans From Kings Game As Police Shooting Of Stephon Clark Draws National Headlines

    Thursday, March 22, 2018
    Hundreds of demonstrators spilled into downtown Sacramento’s streets, where they briefly shut down the freeway in both directions before blocking entrance to a Kings game before tip-off.
  • Sacramento Police Department

    ‘Gun! Gun! Gun!': Body Camera Video Shows Sacramento Police Officers Shooting Unarmed Stephon Clark

    Wednesday, March 21, 2018
    The release includes video footage from the body cameras worn by the two officers who shot Stephon Clark, in addition to video from a Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department helicopter.

 darrell steinbergStephon Clark

Nick Miller

Managing Editor, News and Information

Nick Miller is an award-winning editor with more than 15 years of newsroom experience. Previously he was editor-in-chief of the East Bay Express in Oakland, and worked as an editor for 12 years at the Sacramento News & Review.  Read Full Bio 

 @NickMiller510 Email Nick Miller

Sign up for ReCap and never miss the top stories

Delivered to your inbox every Friday.

 

Check out a sample ReCap newsletter.

Thanks for subscribing!

Thank you for signing up for the ReCap newsletter! We'll send you an email each Friday with the top stories from CapRadio.

Browse all newsletters

More Stories

Andrew Nixon / CapRadio

California will try to limit solitary confinement — again

February 7, 2023

Kenneth James/California Department of Water Resources via AP

California snowpack levels soar after back-to-back atmospheric rivers

February 1, 2023

Yolo County Resource Conservation District

How a new law is bringing more attention to natural carbon sequestration

February 6, 2023

Most Viewed

How a new law is bringing more attention to natural carbon sequestration

10 new California laws that go into effect in 2023

In Turkey and Syria, outdated building methods all but assured disaster from a quake

California ends plans for kids’ Covid vaccine mandate

Still testing positive after day 10? How to decide when to end your COVID isolation

We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter

Most Viewed

How a new law is bringing more attention to natural carbon sequestration

10 new California laws that go into effect in 2023

In Turkey and Syria, outdated building methods all but assured disaster from a quake

California ends plans for kids’ Covid vaccine mandate

Still testing positive after day 10? How to decide when to end your COVID isolation

Back to Top

  • CapRadio

    7055 Folsom Boulevard
    Sacramento, CA 95826-2625

    •  
      (916) 278-8900
    •  
      (877) 480-5900
    •  Contact / Feedback
    •  Submit a News Tip
  • About

    • Mission / Vision / Core Values
    • Stations & Coverage Map
    • Careers & Internships
    • Staff Directory
    • Board of Directors
    • Press
  • Listening Options

    • Mobile Apps
    • Smart Speakers
    • Podcasts & Shows
    • On-Air Schedules
    • Daily Playlist
    • Signal Status
  • Connect

    •  Facebook
    •  Twitter
    •  Instagram
    •  YouTube
  • Donate

  • Listen Live

  • Newsletters

CapRadio stations are licensed to California State University, Sacramento. © 2023, Capital Public Radio. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Website Feedback FCC Public Files: KXJZ KKTO KUOP KQNC KXPR KXSR KXJS. For assistance accessing our public files, please call 916-278-8900 or email us.