Fullerton, CA – On August 19, 2019, the Buena Park Police Department killed 19-year-old David Patrick Sullivan after a traffic stop in Fullerton. As body cam footage of this murder shows, Sullivan was unarmed and attempting to flee when BPPD Officers Bobby Colon and Jennifer Tran shot him seven times. In June, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer cleared Officers Colon and Tran, but Sullivan’s family is fighting back.

This Wednesday, August 19, the one-year angelversary of his murder, Sullivan’s family, Christian Contreras (one of their attorneys), members of Centro CSO, Carlos Montes, and other activists gathered at the site of Sullivan’s death for a rally. Sullivan’s mother, DeAnna, spoke to the press about Sullivan’s personality as well as the pain his absence has caused his family. She explained how David had already missed out on his brother’s wedding and listed all the different moments in David’s own life that he and his family will now never experience.

Deanna Sullivan said her son was becoming the person he was meant to become. She brought pictures from Sullivan’s childhood and a wooden board with a carved fist that Sullivan had made himself. According to his mother, Sullivan had an emerging political consciousness and had even considered traveling to the #NoDAPL pipeline protests. David was proud of his Chicano heritage. David graduated from high school and was part of marching band and drama class. He was working as a cashier at a local gas station and retail store.

After this rally, Sullivan’s family spoke at Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles’ weekly protest of District Attorney Jackie Lacey held outside of the LA Hall of Justice. While D.A. Lacey wasn’t involved in Sullivan’s case, his sister Samantha told the crowd of the importance of the space for the families of police brutality: “We were able to find our voice by coming to your protest and seeing how impassioned all these families are, who reached out to us to let us know that it’s okay to be angry, that it’s okay to want justice.”

Samantha said about her brother and the more than 600 people killed by police during D.A. Lacey’s term, “None of these people were given the chance to have any kind of fair trial, so every single person who was stolen is innocent and that’s a fucking fact.”

The Sullivan family has now joined forces with the community group Centro Community Service Organization (CSO) and will be leading a march contingent August 29 during the 50th Chicano Moratorium anniversary in East LA. For more information on joining the march: https://www.facebook.com/events/1203790706493709 To join or contact CSO: 323-943-2030, [email protected], or @CentroCSO on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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