16 Dec Family Calls for Charges in Death of 72-Year-Old Yolanda Ramirez After Brentwood Arrest

Rudy Ramirez and extended family and supporters hold signs honoring his late wife, Yolanda Ramirez, during a rally outside of the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office.

Story and photos by Denis Perez-Bravo

The family of Yolanda Ramirez and their attorney are calling for criminal charges against Brentwood Police Officer Aaron Peachman and a yet-to-be-identified female officer in the arrest and subsequent death of the 72-year-old.

Their calls are fueled by their own private investigation findings that detail physical trauma.

“A private medical examiner discovered blunt force injuries to her face and head, in addition to a fracture on the base of her skull,” family attorney Melissa Nold of Nold Law wrote in a letter to District Attorney Diana Becton.

Nold is requesting an in-person meeting with Becton and the family.

“We’re not going to go away until somebody leaves in handcuffs,” Nold said outside the DA’s office. “It’s going to be one or both of those officers that day.”

Rich Ramirez, Yolanda’s son, said delays in getting answers about the meeting over email prompted them to plan a rally outside the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s main office.

Since then, the family said Becton has responded, but the rally was still held to call attention to their demands: Release the body camera footage of the events and charge the two arresting officers.

Around two dozen people showed up to the rally and held signs as Nold, Rich and Yolanda’s husband, Rudy Ramirez, spoke.

The family called for a private investigation from the DA’s office, something they say is not happening.

“We’re slowly learning all the truths,” Rich said.

He compares his mother’s case to an onion: His family is peeling away layers of lies and disinformation to get to the facts.

“Release the damn video footage, the body cams, the dash cams. Release the police reports and give us the information,” Rich said.

Instead, weeks of waiting have turned into months, and he said there is still no response from Brentwood PD as to when the footage will be made public.

The family is also asking Becton to reassign the case to an investigator who would interview the multiple eyewitnesses who say they saw police brutality.

As of now, Nold said she does not know of any DA’s office investigator that has spoken to the neighbors who saw the events unfold.

“The city of Brentwood needs to change,” Rudy said. “They need to have the police be held accountable.”

For Rudy and his son, that accountability includes taking Peachman and the unidentified female officer, whose name has not been disclosed by the department, off duty while an investigation is completed.

“He should be off duty until they decide for certain whether he did or was not responsible,” Rudy said.

The family has also hosted rallies before Brentwood City Council meetings where attendees then line up to give public comments.

At the Dec. 9 meeting, the council was forced to take a brief recess after residents disrupted the public comment period with chants and words directed at council members, according to a video posted on Facebook by The Press Hometown News.

In the video, one Brentwood resident who said he has lived in the city since 1974 said that he fully respected the Brentwood Police Department “until this crap happens.”

Pittsburg Rotary Club President Iztaccuauhtli Hector Gonzalez attended the rally representing United Latino Voices.

“I think we should always hold police officers to the highest standards,” he said.

As a business owner, he says, his relationship with police has come with respect for the badge and its meaning, to respect and support the community.

“If (police officers) ever do anything illegal, they should be fired,” Gonzalez said. “We don’t want something small to get bigger.”

Gonzalez was referring to 10 current and former Antioch and Pittsburg police officers and employees being indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with crimes that included excessive force, fraud and violating civil rights.

He also noted that the East County community of Brentwood is a place he and his wife visit regularly.

“It is important for us to protect each other,” Gonzalez said.

We Stand Together, a nonprofit organization concerned with police brutality nationwide, is organizing an email campaign for people to reach out to the district attorney’s office, Brentwood City Council and the city manager, Nold said.

“We need them to know this wasn’t just some random person,” she said. “This was Yolanda. This was a beloved grandmother, mother and friend.”