A high-speed chase down Highway 101 in South San Francisco ended with police killing a man believed to have beaten his spouse. It all took place last week when Kamal Lal punched his wife Shelly in the face following a dispute over a pile of trash. Shelly called 911, and Kamal fled from the scene in his truck. When authorities tracked him down, Kamal led them on a chase at speeds as high as 100 mph. His car eventually ran off the road and into a ditch. Kamal emerged from it and began throwing rocks at CHP officers. When he threatened them with a concrete slab, they pumped him full of bullets. Court records show that Kamal had a history of domestic abuse, and had plead guilty to misdemeanor battery against his wife in 1996. Like many battered spouses, Shelly defended her husband of 16 years:
“Everyone has their problems, but where this went, it totally doesn’t make sense,” said Lal, 37, of her husband. “I’m just mad that he was killed in such a barbaric way”…Lal described her husband as a warm, generous man who loved playing with his son and often bought homeless people meals. She said their relationship was strong enough, she thought, to withstand Sunday’s domestic violence. “It just seemed like a little dispute between husband and wife,” Lal said. [San Francisco Chronicle]
San Francisco Chronicle: ‘It doesn’t make sense,’ says wife of man shot by CHP, Man killed by CHP had battery record
He obviously didn’t pick the right piece of concrete
this guy should have watched that chris rock video: “How NOT to get your ass beat by the police”.
sounds like classic battered wife syndrome. really sad… fatherless child, though they may be better off this way.
No matter what a scoundrel this husband was, I still think there needs to be an investigation into whether the level of force used by the cops was proportionate to the threat posed by this guy. Otherwise, the community’s silence condones what may be (I emphasize may – b/c we don’t know enough) another racial or ethnic motivated display of might, a la Amadou Ahmed Diallo in NYC.
What do y’all think?
What do y’all think?
I think you are a racial demagogue.
A wife beater who leads cops on an hour long, 100 mile per hour car chase & then throws rocks at them and attacks them with a concrete slab is not the sort of person you want to start crying “no justice, no peace” over. Save that for genuine instances of police brutality/innocent persons.
Save that for genuine instances of police brutality/innocent persons.
There’s a difference between questioning, investigating, inquiring and blind condemnation. Granted, even asking lends the air of suspicion, but given the track record of American police and people of color, they might have earned it. The police have responsibilities, regardless of how nice or mean the person they’re beating or shooting is.
It’s also a pretty fine line from abusing “bad” people to abusing everyone.
That Chris Rock video.
touche, manish.
I know the family and Kamal & Shelly never had any incidences in 1996…Shelly has spoken to channel 5 news regarding this and she was told that court documents had the “name KAMAL LAL”…did you ever think that more than 1 person can have the same name???….I’m quite sure that if something so serious had happened that ONE WOULD REMEMBER..(esp the wife)….
referring to “WELL”…comments…perhaps you should not judge people…we are not here to do that..a man is dead here, he was someone’s father, somebody’s husband and somebody’s youngest child……no person should ever get killed in the manner that Kamal died in. He was a peaceful and very helpful person, he was the kind of man that would go out of his way to help a person in need, whether he knew you or not. It takes a lot to just sit there and write stuff about instances where you have no knowledge of the situation…here people say things like Shelly was hit in the face, etc etc…yeah like has anyone asked her personally, the media has had their field day and mosts of the stuff they print is totally crap…they twist words and just write whatever sells.
Ultimately we should have some respect for the dead person and his family and they should be left alone…Kamal & shelly were married…it says for better or for worse…they were trying to make things right or work for them for the sake of their child who is now left with no father and I think it would be appreciated if a little respect was shown. thank you
I agree with you that one should not judge and that one should not be happy that an alleged abuser was killed down.
however, i don’t know if its all crap and that we, as a society, should decry partner abuse (regardless of sex). Just because its “for better or worse,” doesn’t mean a wife/husband or same sex partners should be in abusive situations.