Officer Hector Jimenez is serving in the Oakland Police Department with full pay and benefits after killing two, unarmed African-American men. Jimenez is a murderer, and is one of many OPD officers who have not faced lasting consequences for their crimes. Mayor Libby Schaaf, the Oakland City Council and its prosecutors continue to set a hypocritical precedent by reinstating and celebrating officers who have killed innocent people. 

Jimenez shot Mack “Jody” Woodfox, 27, in July 2008 after Woodfox led officers on a short vehicle chase in the Fruitvale neighborhood. When Woodfox pulled over, a witness said, he got out of the car with his hands up, but ran when officers “started shouting.”

The Woodfox shooting was the second time in seven months Jimenez had shot and killed an unarmed man.

On New Year’s Eve 2007, he and another officer shot and killed 20-year-old Andrew Moppin after a traffic stop, when Moppin ran and hid and then shouted and swore at officers, police officials said.

This is a case where it’s astonishing to me that a guy who killed two unarmed people in a seven-month period could continue to be a police officer. We are keeping a dangerous police officer in the force, who will no doubt continue to use his biases and prejudices to kill innocent people. We need to get him off the streets.

Jimenez’s termination sent the right message, that police have the right to use deadly force to defend themselves only when their lives are at risk and that police officers will be held accountable for their actions.

Jimenez’s reinstatement sends the exact opposite message.

FIRE KILLER, MURDERER HECTOR JIMENEZ.