Rochester, NY Police officer Antonio Gonzalez, one of two RPD officers who Shot Man being Evicted, has a History of Shooting and Making Fun of Mentally ill People

By Davy V.

One of two Rochester, NY Police officers who shot a man being evicted from his apartment for owing $2,080 in back rent, has a history of ridiculing, and shooting mentally ill individuals, even killing a Rochester man just last year.

On Tuesday, Gonzalez and officer James Ott shot Timothy Powell, when at first they said Powell was armed with a bottle of bleach.

Since the incident, in order to spin their story and justify shooting Powell, Rochester, NY Police Chief James Sheppard now says Powell also had a knife, something the RPD had made NO mention of.

Rochester, NY Police officers had accompanied Court Marshal Joseph Polizzi to evict Powell from a Volunteers of America housing complex.

Powell was taken to Strong Memorial Hospital.

Rochester, NY Police officer Antonio Gonzalez has a history of being a trigger-happy cop.

He also has a history of showing he has a problem dealing with the mentally ill.

On June 21, 2012, Rochester, NY Police officer Antonio Gonzalez, was one of 7 officers who opened fire on Israel ‘Izzy’ Andino, a mentally ill young man, on his 20th birthday.

Andino was holding a BB rifle and despite RPD officers having several opportunities to subdue him without using deadly force, Gonzalez and 6 officers all shot Andino in unison, in what was described by neighbors as a firing squad execution.

Andino was hit at least 11 times.

Bullets also hit several houses where young children were sleeping.

Other bullets penetrated vehicles parked in a driveway.

Andino’s body was left uncovered on the sidewalk for hours, while several RPD officers joked about the shooting.

Just as Tuesday’s incident, Rochester, NY Police Chief James Sheppard justified Andino’s execution.

In 2009, Rochester, NY Police officer Antonio Gonzalez made a video which he posted on he Internet titled “Name that Crackhead!”, in which Gonzalez along with other RPD officers make fun of a mentally ill man who is seen on the video dressed in a martial arts uniform.

At one point in the video, RPD officers are heard singing the song “Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting”, as the man performs some martial arts moves.

Later, after Gonzalez posted the “Name that Crackhead!” video on the internet, Rochester, NY Police officers Josue Traverzo and Luis Hernandez, posted comments as to the man’s whereabouts.

One comment, left by RPD officer Josue Traverzo reads: “Hint, can find him at 580 Jeff,” referring to Jefferson Ave., on Rochester’s west side.

Another Rochester, NY Police officer who uses tax payer dollars to ride around and ridicule innocent Rochester citizens, is officer Nelson Soto, who took the photo to the right from within his warm police cruiser, and found the need to ridicule a couple of handicapped persons struggling with their motorized scooters through snow covered streets.

Soto took the photo, uploaded it on the Internet, and titled it “4-Wheel Drive Wheelchairs.”

As an activist exposing police misconduct and corruption for the past 17 years, I have always said that there are certain ‘problem officers’ who should not be on the Rochester, NY Police department.

More than Rochester, NY Police Chief James Sheppard or Rochester Mayor Thomas Richards care to admit in public.

Officers like Antonio Gonzalez, and Nelson Soto.

After all, what kind of an officer, who has sworn to an oath to ‘serve and protect’ and to do his or her job ethically, would ridicule a mentally ill person by recording them then posting the video on the internet for laughs?

What kind of police officer would see two disabled persons struggling in winter and take a photo, making fun of them?

Are these officers we want on Rochester’s streets interacting with the mentally ill and the disabled?

Chief Sheppard, where in the Rochester, NY Police department’s Code of Ethics does it say that it is ok to make fun of the mentally ill and disabled, instead of helping them?

Is this what you instruct your officers to do?

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Rochester, NY Police officer Antonio Gonzalez, one of two RPD officers who Shot Man being Evicted, has a History of Shooting and Making Fun of Mentally ill People is a post from Cop Block – Badges Don’t Grant Extra Rights