Korean Community groups Want DA to Charge Dublin cops in Fatal Police Shooting

Leaders in the Bay Area Korean community voiced outrage Monday about the district attorney's decision not to pursue criminal charges in the fatal police shooting of two Korean men last year. The angry words came four days after the Tri-Valley Herald — a sister paper of the Oakland Tribune — obtained a copy of a report by the Alameda County District Attorney's Office justifying the deadly use of force by two Dublin Police officers Aug. 11. "As we have predicted, the results are not surprising," Sang Hyuk Shin, a representative of the Bay Area Korean American Justice Coalition, said in an interview with the Korea Daily and the Korea Times in Oakland. "I am very sad and disappointed that no one will be held responsible for the deaths of the two victims." Officers responding to reports of a loud argument in the 3000 block of Innisbrook Lane shot and killed Kwang Tae Lee, 61, after they said he threatened them with a knife. Lee was shot five times, according to autopsy reports. One round passed through Lee and a closed bedroom door, striking homeowner Richard Kim, 49, in the left arm and left eye. Lee died at the scene. Kim — who had been hiding behind the door for his own protection — died at Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley three days later. "Although the result is tragic, there is insufficient evidence to prove criminal liability against Dublin Police Deputy Tara Russell and Dublin Deputy David Taylor," Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff wrote in a letter dated March 14 to Dublin police Cmdr. Gary Thuman. Cheol Kim, a pastor and executive director of the Korean Churches Association, called the district attorney's findings an "absurdity." "The Korean community will continue to fight back until we get a fair judgment," said Hon Ik Kim, president of the Korean Community Center in the Bay Area. ". [MORE]