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Walnut Creek PD Adding Downtown Foot Patrols On Fridays, Saturdays After Weekend Incidents

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Recent incidents at two downtown Walnut Creek bar/restaurants have spurred Walnut Creek police to increase their presence downtown on Friday and Saturday nights.

According to a news release posted to the department’s Facebook page, uniformed officers will patrol the downtown district on foot on those traditionally busy nights.

The release cited two recent incidents, one involving gunfire on the street outside Modern China Cafe and the other a violent confrontation between a bouncer and patron at Dan’s Irish Sports Bar – both of which occurred Sept. 5 – as the driving force behind their decision.

The Modern China incident has been extensively covered by this site. In their release, police reiterated our initial information that the suspect vehicle in that case was a black KIA – a description contradicted by at least one person who posted to our site after we first posted news of the incident Sept. 5.

Not as well known but also under our scrutiny was what police said was a violent altercation between a security guard and a patron outside Dan’s at 12:40 a.m. on Sept. 5.

That incident, we were were told at the time, resulted in the hospitalization of the patron and the arrest of the security person.

Police said the Modern China incident – which ended with three shots being fired downtown – is still under investigation. The incident at Dan’s ended with the arrest of guard Dante Sims, 42, of Antioch after Sims allegedly assaulted an unnamed patron who fell and struck his head. The victim is recovering from his injuries at a local hospital, according to police, and the case is expected to go to the District Attorney’s Office for review.

“While these are isolated incidents, we want to make sure Walnut Creek residents and visitors feel comfortable while enjoying our many restaurants and shops,” the police release stated. “As our community begins to feel more comfortable returning to favorite businesses, you should know that we’re out there with you.”

The exact number of police officers on the street for the downtown patrols was not given.

33 COMMENTS

  1. That is good news!
    Hopefully it will keep Walnut Creek safe and reverse the crime trend that has been starting. I know it will make a lot of visitors feel better on the weekend evenings.
    We however, have kind of given up on evening visits to Walnut Creek and prefer to visit Danville instead. Lafayette also works very nicely. Somehow the character of Walnut Creek has changed in a way we don’t feel comfortable in anymore.

  2. While an excellent idea in concept, it will only be effective if the officers are willing , able, to contact individuals causing a disturbance. In today’s world, smart officers avoid contact, less they be prosecuted by the DA.

    108RS

  3. Oh, where is this overtime money coming from? Using the reserves would be an alternative, but why would they risk being prosecuted for $1 a year. 108RS

      • @Dwight, I few this as a positive as well, just have doubts about the true level of support from the city council and DA once batons are used, tasers deployed, etc. Then it becomes defund the police and send them to jail for excessive force. Forget Miles Hall. 108RS

        • @Jeff, clearly you are t a member of the community. Miles was disturbed but the situation should never have been escalated to the killing of a hs kid. Again, you clearly do not live in WC, can you just move back to the bridge you live under?

          Btw, I was downtown this afternoon and saw 4 separate 3 and 4 person patrols walking around downtown…how about just learning to support the community.

          • Dwight, I urge you to drop the name calling and address salient points.

            Have you watched the police body cam videos of the event? How would you suggest you or your daughter defend yourself against a young man running with a 40-pound, pointed 5′ steel pry bar? Have you ever held one? (I briefly thought, maybe they should have let him escape. But what would be the reaction if he then put a senior citizen or young mother in a coma, or the hospital, if not worse?)

            Great to hear about the patrols, but I believe they’re needed most in the evening, and they could cover a lot more ground (especially bars) if they moved in pairs. I recall in college the local police would ocassionally walk through the two most popular bars. I thought it was very proactive & useful.

        • @jeff – Why would you write “Forget Miles Hall?”

          Irrespective of whether lethal force was justified*, Miles was a child of our community. Though afflicted with the curse of severe mental illness, Miles attended our schools, patronized our businesses, and his classmates, friends and family still live here.

          The incident was a tragic, complicated event that ruptured the neighborhood’s soul and devastated Miles’ loving, attentive parents.

          Your malicious comment reveals a rare brand of deeply ingrained, callous depravity beneath the lowest threshold of human decency.

          *Lethal force was likely permissible as a technical matter, though deescalation and non-lethal restraint tactics could have spared Miles’ life without undue risk to officer or bystander safety. Tough case for all concerned.

          • @108RS – “Forget Miles Hall?” Jesus dude.

            WHO RAISED YOU, and how did they fail so egregiously? Like any decent (current or former) law enforcement official, I am beyond ashamed that someone so crass and insensitive ever wore the badge. We can be relived that you no longer cower behind the disgraced Sheriff Lee Baca’s shield of shame.

            WTF is wrong with your brain?

          • Please share how a LEO is supposed to “deescalate” a young man running with a 6′ steel pry bar which weighs 40 pounds, and has a pointed end?

            I guess you could let him run by, but guess what happens if he knocks down or impaled an elderly person?

          • @Mark Jones – Four-plus officers — there were four on the scene of the Miles Hall particular fatal officer involved shooting — with body length riot shields and batons can contain most non-compliant subjects, barring the presence of a firearm. Officers can subdue a single mentally ill or irrationally intoxicated subject with the same tactical crowd control techniques deployed to deter, repel and contain unruly, violent mobs during civil unrest events — even mobs composed of angry men wilding potentially deadly, sharp implements as others pelt officers with rocks, partially shattered glass bottles and even crude incendiary devices. (Miles Hall was acting alone and not lobbing Molotov cocktails). As with any tactical crowd control situation, a lethal force overwatch (ideally armed with a scoped rifle, though a sidearm will suffice in most close-range civilian confrontations) can decisively dispatch the subject if non-lethal compliance methods fail.

            I’ll defer to mental health experts to educate you as to deescalation best practices.

          • Cougar: We were under the impression officers approached Hall because they were familiar with him and were trying to talk him down. We also believe less-lethal ordnance was on hand and used with no effect (something we have seen happen in other scenarios FWIW)… leading to the simultaneous discharge of firearms as he got closer. A very sad case and, obviously, there have been others.

        • @news24-680 – I’ve read varying accounts, and the official report is consistent with your synopsis. This is a particularly fraught case.

          I didn’t mean to second guess the officers on the scene. I would not want her to have risked the possibility of never hugging her loved ones. I was responding to Mr. Jones’ abstract rhetorical question.

          Fortunately, I was never confronted with circumstances that could have warranted deadly force, though had I ever faced a bona fide threat to my life or a civilian’s, I wouldn’t have hesitated to neutralize said threat with lethal rounds.

  4. I hope this works out. In Missouri, an entire police department just quit. If the defund the police idiots keep it up, we won’t have any officers. We’ll all be screwed.

      • David,

        All police departments are having trouble recruiting, who wants the job when the media and public make the police out as the bad guys.

        108RS

      • Oakland may fall below a minimum officer floor, meaning Oakland will lose some tax monies. Hence, a local politician is proposing 2 police academies. Crime also way up, even Senator Barbara Boxer was assaulted at Jack London Square.

  5. Folks –
    Donning our referee togs here to remind everyone again to refrain from needling the other person and to keep on point, please. Thank you.

  6. It’s too late. As long-time residents of Walnut Creek, we used to dine in downtown almost on a nightly basis, and would attend the KKSF concert nights, parades, and art shows. Then it all changed, the street environment became rough, dangerous, and no longer sophisticated. The smell of urine and drug paraphernalia were a turn off, as were the drunken bar patrons and prostitutes. We moved on; other cities still prefer to host elegance and fine dining with little risk of getting shot at, held up, or carjacked.

    • Unfortunately, (high powered) marijuana now legal, even though it can lower an adolescents IQ by up to ten percent! Nobody ever mentions it. A big California problem.

  7. @Evee – I suspect most of the “prostitutes” you see are actually scantly clad sorority girls or equally attractive unaffiliated coed who took a chauffeured livery service from mommy dearest’s Happy Valley estate. (Indeed, I eventually married one such coed; best down payment assistance program ever!)

    If I’m mistaken, please share where you found these lovey ladies of the night. It would be great to procure their services on this side of the tunnel for a change!

    • Campo – We caught that reference, too, and have to say we’ve never come across any active femmes du pave working downtown. That’s not to say we haven’t heard of some enterprising ladies – and some young guys – making house calls or office visits. And while WC may get a little grubby from time to time it’s a far cry from the inner city.

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