The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

His courageous parents, Julio Sr. and Mirna Ayala, first generation Salvadoran immigrants, are desperately looking for answers about the murder of their only son, a gentle, children-loving man who was not given time to give them grandchildren.

According to a “local brief” in the San Mateo Daily Journal on April 16, “The San Mateo County Coroner’s Office reported Tuesday that it is still trying to determine what caused a man to die Sunday while in the custody of South San Francisco police.

Julio Ayala
“An autopsy was performed Monday on Julio Ayala, 26, of San Francisco.

“’There are no gross findings that would have solely contributed to his cause of death,’ said San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault. The coroner’s office is awaiting toxicology results, Foucrault said.

“Ayala died after a confrontation with police …. (He) was allegedly ‘immediately combative,’ police reported. Additional officers were called to the scene to assist in Ayala’s arrest.

“After a 15-minute struggle, five officers restrained Ayala in a ‘body wrap restraint device.’ Officers noticed Ayala was not breathing. Paramedics began lifesaving efforts but were unsuccessful, according to police.”

No further mention of this bizarre, tragic death has appeared in the news media since, not even in the Latino press.

What the Daily Journal failed to mention is that Brother Julio did not just stop breathing while in a “body wrap.” He was beaten to death by 13 South San Francisco police officers after the occupant of the adjacent room complained about excessive noise.

Did Julio, cranking up his music and thus annoying his neighbor, know that by doing so he would sign his death sentence?

Julio’s friend Tony went by the funeral parlor before the undertaker started prepping the body for the wake and took detailed pictures of Julio, who sustained multiple lacerations and contusions, was covered with blood, his nose 3and arm broken. You guessed it: when the police beat you to death, you eventually stop breathing.

Julio’s family was not authorized to identify his body at the coroner’s office, due to the “lack of appropriate facility.” Nor were they given any preliminary report from the police department, the paramedics or the fire department, though all were at the scene of the homicide.

Hotel employees have been intimidated by the authorities, who forbade them to share any information with Ayala’s family. A shady character, falsely claiming to be the lawyer in the Rudy Cardenas and Ricky Escuvedo cases, called the Ayalas, pushing to find out how much they knew, offering to represent them. But the Cardenas and Escuvedo families have two different attorneys.

We are familiar with the list of Black brothers and sisters slaughtered by Bay Area police; among them Idriss Stelley, Richard Tim, Gregory Hooper, Cammerin Boyd, Gus Rugley. But the press has not often covered the murders by law enforcement of our Brown brothers and sisters: Marcos Garcia, San Francisco; Sheila Amaya, Union City; Rickie Escuvedo, Redwood City; Rudy Cardenas, San Jose; Cau Tran Bich, San Jose; Fernando Caseres, San Jose.

All were innocent victims of the Men in Blue, puppets of the Men in Black, city government officials feeding their official version to the corporate press about “suicide by cop” or yet another “excited delirium casualty.”

These tragedies bring us together. In this tragic turn of events, the Ayala family lives on Jamestown in Bayview Hunters Point, only a few houses away from our house. Surely Julio and Idriss knew each other.

Although in an inconceivable vacuum, the Ayalas are bravely stepping up to the plate, launching the Justice4JulioAyala Campaign. They have spoken out on KPOO and at the “Enough is Enough” community forum on race and civil liberties violations at the Bayview Opera House on April 30, where they built support in their Bayview community.

Crying out for justice and extending their support to other families and victims, the Ayalas received an outpouring of support that night from Assemblyman Mark Leno, Barbara Becnel, producer of “Redemption” on the life of death row prisoner Tookie Williams, Charlene Smythe from the Green Party’s People of Color Caucus, Sandra-Juanita Cooper from the Bayview Coalition to End the Death Penalty and Bayview ACORN, Donna Wallace from the End Police Brutality Network, Pam and Ramona Africa from the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Campaign, the mother of Brother McLaine on death row, Black Panther Kiilu Nyasha, Critical Intensive Response Team Program Coordinator Cati Hawkins and a multitude of peace activists.

On the 30-day anniversary of Julio’s death, some 60 people gathered in front of the Airport Inn and silently built an altar to honor his life and mourn his death. Co-sponsoring the Justice4Julio campaign with the Idriss Stelley Foundation are the October 22 Coalition Against Police Brutality, the Ella Baker Center and staff from SF Carecen and Coleman Advocates.

The Ayala family attended the first anniversary march and rally for Cammerin Boyd in the Fillmore Thursday and are bravely joining the rank of families whose loved ones have been killed by law enforcement in the Bay Area, struggling for justice. On Friday, May 13, at 7 p.m., there will be a traditional 40-day mass at St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church on Third Street and Jamestown in Bayview Hunters Point.

The community is organizing a press conference and protest on the steps of the South San Francisco City Hall on Wednesday, May 18, at 5 p.m., and is scheduling a special hearing with the San Mateo City Council in June.

For more information, log onto http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Justice4Julio/. Please post a message of support to Julio’s grieving mother, father and sister. You may send your message to iolmisha@cs.com, and it will be posted on the site and transmitted to the family on the same day. Or call the Idriss Stelley Foundation’s 24-hour bilingual crisis line at (415) 595-8251.

A fund for Julio has been set up. Donations may be sent to First National Bank of Northern Caliornia, 1450 Linda Mar Shopping Center, Pacifica CA 94044, Ayala Family Fund #9118985.

We will obtain Justice 4 Julio Ayala! Black and Brown brothers and sisters, you did not die in vain!

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