Fleeing California Meth Suspect Crashes Cycle, Has Gun, is Killed

by Phillip Smith
StoptheDrugWar.org
Mar. 17, 2015

A man attempting to elude police on a motorcycle crashed his bike, then allegedly pulled a gun and was shot and killed. James Richard Jimenez, 41, becomes the 13th person to die in US domestic drug law enforcement operations so far this year.

According to a statement released by the Napa Police Department, officers with the department's Special Enforcement Unit were preparing to serve a search warrant for drugs and firearms at a residence in the city's Alta Heights section when Jimenez, the man they were looking for, drove by on a motorcycle.

Police had arrested him a month earlier on charges of possessing meth and ammunition. He recognized police and sped away, the statement said. Police took off after Jimenez in a short pursuit that ended when he crashed his bike.

Officers repeatedly shouted "Police, show us your hands, show us your hands" as they approached, but said Jimenez reached for his waistband for what they "recognized as a handgun." One officer then fired three shots, with at least one of those shots striking Jimenez in the torso.

"Following standard protocol, officers immediately secured the suspect in handcuffs and began CPR and other life saving measures," the statement said. But Jimenez was pronounced dead shortly thereafter at a local hospital.

Police said they recovered a "substantial" amount of cash, methamphetamine, and a gun at the scene.

The officer who fired the shots was later identified as Officer Thomas Keener.

The next day, several dozen of Jimenez's friends and relatives marched through Alta Heights demanding justice after the shooting.

"We want justice for Hyme! He didn't have to die this way!" one relative shouted.

They said he was a family man, not a gang member or violent, and they didn't know why he fled police.

"I'm numb, just numb," said his mother, Janet Jimenez.

His fiancée, Holli Nelson, 26, said Jimenez had made mistakes in the past, but he had paid his dues.

"They're making him out to be a monster, and he's not," she said. "They gunned him down like a dog."












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