We demand justice for Bijan Ghaisar, who was killed by two U.S. Park Police Officers in November 2017.
The officers are Alejandro Amaya and Lucas Vinyard. Bijan was unarmed and sitting in his car, when Amaya and Vinyard shot him nine times through the driver’s seat window, including four shots to the head. Bijan died ten days later from those horrendous head wounds. Both men are still on the payroll of the U.S. Park Police.
You can find a good update and overview of the case from the Washington Post here.
Will you help us by filing a complaint against Officers Amaya and Vinyard? We are determined to have these officers removed from the U.S. Park Police.
Here’s how you can help:
- Go to the Park Police web page for filing a complaint.
- Scroll down to this line: “By emailing your complaint. Click here to email your complaint.“
- Click on the link. Fill in the contact information on the form.
- For Subject of your email: Remove Officers Who Killed Bijan Ghaisar.
- In the Your Message box of the form, cut and paste the below message (see below).
- Please email [email protected] and let them know you submitted a complaint so they can document the campaign.
This complaint is filed against U.S. Park Police (USPP) Officers Alejandro Amaya and Lucas Vinyard for the unjust killing of an unarmed young man, Bijan Ghaisar, in November 2017.
I am requesting that these two officers be removed from the force immediately. Officers Amaya and Vinyard’s continued employment with a federal law enforcement agency is a significant and direct threat to the public’s safety, and I would fear for my life if they approached me anywhere in or around Washington, D.C, Virginia or Maryland.
On November 17, 2017, USPP Officers Alejandro Amaya (badge #40) and Lucas Vinyard (badge #642) aggressively pursued 25-year-old Bijan Ghaisar until they cornered him at the intersection of Fort Hood Road and Alexandria Avenue in Fairfax County and shot at him nine times — execution style — as he sat unarmed in his Jeep.
These out-of-control officers pursued Bijan after he was reported to be the victim of a minor traffic accident. A minor traffic accident. Bijan was hit by another driver from behind. No one was injured. Why was he pursued so aggressively? Why did they shoot at an unarmed man nine times?
The shooting was captured on dashboard video camera by the Fairfax County Police Department. The video shows that when he was shot, Bijan was sitting in his car after a chase by Officers Amaya and Vinyard — who approach his vehicle with guns drawn and begin shooting through the closed window.
What Officers Amaya and Vinyard did violated USPP use of force policy which states that force may only be used “when the officer has a reasonable belief . . . that the subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm to the officer or to another person.”
These actions also violate federal law set forth in the Supreme Court decision Tennessee v. Garner (1985), which states that deadly force can only be used when “the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others.”
As the video footage shows, Bijan did not threaten anybody.
Officers Amaya and Vinyard shot at Bijan a total of nine times — hitting him four times in the head, and once in the wrist as he was trying to shield himself. He died 10 days later.
U.S. Park Police have since refused to provide any information to the public, Bijan’s family, or Congress as to why Bijan was killed.
The actions of officers Amaya and Vinyard, the killing of Bijan Ghaisar, and the silence of the Park Police make a mockery of the agency’s stated principles of “integrity, honor, and service.” I am writing to demand that you fire officers Amaya and Vinyard from the force immediately.