Rocked by accusations that a San Jose police officer used excessive force when he fatally shot a Vietnamese immigrant last week, police have taken their case to Vietnamese-language radio and newspapers to stem growing tensions in the city's sprawling Asian community.
The public relations campaign, which began Sunday, expresses the department's "condolences" to the family of Cau Tran, a 25-year-old mother of two who died July 13 from a single gunshot wound to the chest in the kitchen of her home. Tran allegedly threatened two officers with a vegetable peeler. Police Chief William Lansdowne has also publicly apologized.
The kitchen implement is one of several issues at the heart of a case that both sides say demonstrates long-standing cultural misunderstandings between the 1,400-officer department and a 100,000-member Vietnamese community that is the nation's second-largest, after Little Saigon in Orange County.
"It's not just about a Vietnamese woman with two children who got shot and killed," said Tam Nguyen, an attorney and activist in San Jose. "It's a civil issue about police [use of] force. The community at large has the momentum and wants to use this as an opportunity to raise our concerns."
After last week's emotional march to San Jose City Hall and police headquarters by more than 150 sympathizers, Vietnamese community members planned to meet with Lansdowne and the city's Human Relations Committee tonight.
Community members contend that there are too few Vietnamese-speaking officers in San Jose and that the department has exaggerated the threat posed by the 90-pound Tran. Police at first also identified the implement wielded by the woman as a "cleaver," angering many Vietnamese residents, who say the peeler, or dao bao, is a bladed device found in many homes.
After the shooting, police issued a news release, an action that also irked many. "It listed her name like it was a victory that they shot this terrible person," Nguyen said.
The department decided to launch its public relations move after the Santa Clara County district attorney's office pledged to take the unusual step of impaneling an open grand jury to look into the shooting.
An open grand jury has been used only one other time in recent county history, also in a police shooting, said a spokesman for the prosecutor's office.
Despite police apologies, Kim Manh Tran, the woman's father, said it was little consolation.
