Efrain DePaz died after being shot in the neck by police Sergeant John Pielow April 28. DePaz, 21, was a restaurant and landscape worker who came to Minneapolis from Mexico to help support his family.

Police say they began chasing the car in which DePaz was riding after it sped past them in the southwestern part of Minneapolis. The car hit three parked cars, flipping one onto its top, and then crashed head-on into a second parked car on the other side of the street. According to witnesses the impact of both crashes was substantial.

The cops say that Sergeant Pielow went to the car with his gun drawn and told De Paz to get out. Allegedly DePaz began to reach under the seat and the sergeant reached inside the car, supposedly to pull DePaz out. At that point, according to the cop version of the story, Pielow's gun fired. A police search of the car failed to find any weapon.

Another witness told a very different story, according to an article in the Black community newspaper the Spokesman-Recorder. A young person who lives near the scene said he heard the crash and came out to see what was going on. "The car came to a stop, and out of nowhere a cop walked up and shot him. I didn't hear the police say anything--he just walked up and shot him."

Neighbors also reported that medical aid was not offered to DePaz until emergency personnel arrived on the scene 15 to 20 minutes later. DePaz's older brother has told the media here that the cops have told him little besides "they let a shot go by accident."

The demonstration May 16 was called by leaders of St. Stephen's Church. Attending were a number of Mexican and other Latino working people. Joining the action were some young people who had been involved in protests against the cop killing of Alfred Sanders, a Black worker, a few months earlier. The protest also included a delegation of four workers from United Food and Commercial Workers Local 789 at the Dakota Premium Foods beef slaughterhouse, and members of Isaiah, a church-based community organization.

The action was called to pressure the cops to conduct a complete investigation. Participants at the demonstration conducted an impromptu discussion outside the police headquarters and decided that it was important to demand the indictment of Pielow and his jailing. In the discussion a number of participants referred to the slap-on-the-wrist indictments of the cops who killed Timothy Thomas in Cincinnati and the need to bring the police to justice for similar crimes. Another demonstration has been called for May 26.  
 
 
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