Crime

OP-ED: We Are Losing Our Children’s Precious Lives to the Gun Violence Epidemic

Published

10 years ago

February 6, 2015

Oakland Post

Michael D. Bell, M.D.

By Michael D. Bell, M.D.

On Christmas Day, I started my shift at Children’s Hospital Oakland’s Emergency department and suddenly I heard trauma stat full 1 and 2.

I ran to the trauma bay to see two teenagers, shot just blocks from the hospital. In the organized chaos that followed there were surgeons, anesthesiologists and emergency doctors along with nurses, lab techs, radiology techs, a social worker and a deputy sheriff – all in their assigned places within minutes.

Unfortunately, this is a regular occurrence at every inner city trauma center.

Nationwide in 2014, there was more than 12,500 deaths due to gunshot wounds. This is 3,500 more than all the people whom died in West Africa due to the Ebola epidemic.

There were 629 children 0 –to-11-years olds and 2,353 12-to-17-year olds shot or killed in 2014, and Oakland had more than its share.

The estimated medical cost for trauma due to gunshots is $2.3 billion. In my 24 years in the ER, my youngest murder victim was11 months, and I have had at least two more under two years of age.

Most of the murdered children I see were not the intended victim but innocent bystanders. We have had bullets go through houses, buildings and cars before they struck children.

In the next few months, there will be a vaccine tested in West Africa for Ebola. There will be no vaccine for bullets.

Every time someone is shot, if the bullets travels two or three inches up or down, or left or right, the outcome could be death, brain death, permanent paralysis, blindness, loss of limb or the need for a colostomy bag.

All life is sacred and precious, but our children’s lives are the most precious. It is not just the gang bangers, but mothers, fathers, children and babies who are dying in our streets, and we accept it like it is a natural disease.

The hardest part of my job is telling parents that we could not save their child after being shot.

This is an epidemic that is destroying our future, for the future is our children. Our acceptance of it is destroying our humanity.

We must regain our village mentality. We must think of every victim as a family member. Many say Oakland does not need more police officers – they are wrong.

I had a mother in the ER who had just killed her 2-year-old child. I called the police and was told if there was no immediate threat to anybody in the ER, they could not send an officer because they had officers at three other murder scenes.

The police are an important part of the solution.

I know there is major distrust of police in our community. Like most Black males, I have experienced police abuse first hand. As a college student at a majority white school, I was surrounded by unmarked police cars from three directions and made to lie face down at gunpoint in the middle of the street while an officer held a gun to the back of my head and others frisked me.

My only offense was being Black on a campus where a Black person had raped a white coed.

Accountability is how you shape a police force to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. You achieve accountability through your elected officials.

If they are not committed to make the police force accountable, then vote them out.

We also must decrease unemployment so people don’t have to turn to crime to eat and survive.

On Sat, May 16^,Children’s Hospital and the Oakland City Council, with Board President Lynette McElhaney as the driving force, will host our first annual Stop the Violence Youth Summit.

We will speak about solutions to this epidemic and how we can keep our young people safe in their interactions with each other and with the police.

Michael D. Bell, M.D. is an attending emergency physician at UCSF Benioiff Children’s Hospital Oakland.

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Related Topics:Children's Hospital Oakland Gun violence Michael D. Bell M.D.OP-ED Opinion young people

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Oakland Post: Week of December 25 – 31, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of December 25 – 31, 2024

Published

1 day ago

December 26, 2024

Oakland Post

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Bay Area

Man Found Guilty After Shooting Gun into Parked Car with Sleeping Passengers

Carmen Watts fired his gun into a parked car, where two unarmed men were sleeping, several times. One victim suffered multiple wounds, while the other was uninjured. He now faces 23 years in state prison. His sentencing is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 3, 2025 in Department 10 at the René C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland.

Published

4 days ago

December 24, 2024

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Post Staff

A jury has returned a guilty verdict against Camren Watts on two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm for an unprovoked shooting near the intersection of 51^st Street and West Street in Oakland back in September of 2020.

Watts fired his gun into a parked car, where two unarmed men were sleeping, several times. One victim suffered multiple wounds, while the other was uninjured. He now faces 23 years in state prison. His sentencing is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 3, 2025 in Department 10 at the René C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland.

“I first want to thank the jury for their service and careful deliberation in this trial,” said Chief Assistant District Attorney Royl Roberts. “I also want to congratulate the Prosecution Team for their hard work securing this conviction and recognize the Inspector on this assignment for their support throughout the case and jury trial. This guilty verdict reaffirms that anyone who uses a gun to harm people in our community will be held to account for their actions in a court of law.”

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New Interim Mayor Nikki Bas Takes Office, Announces Balanced Budget

“The Council made difficult but clear decisions last night,” Mayor Bas said in a statement released Thursday. “With yesterday’s budget adoption, the City of Oakland is on track to maintain our immediate fiscal health and our emergency reserves are at the required level.”

Published

4 days ago

December 24, 2024

Oakland Post

Nikki Fortunato Bas. Courtesy photo.

‘The Council made difficult but clear decisions,’ said Bas

Kaplan proposed for Interim District 2 Council seat

By Post Staff

Oakland City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas was sworn in interim mayor on Wednesday and immediately sat down with City Council members to rebalance the city’s budget, closing a projected deficit and maintaining emergency financial reserves.

“The City now seeks to move forward in strong collaboration with its Labor partners and the community-led Budget Advisory Commission toward long-term fiscal sustainability,” she said. “We all deserve to feel safe and secure, whether we’re taking our kids out to play, running our essential small businesses, parking our car on the street, or walking home at night.”

Bas took over as mayor from Sheng Thao, whose last day in office was Tuesday after losing a recall election in November.

“Thank you for choosing me to serve as your mayor. As the first Hmong American woman to become the mayor of a major American city, it has been the honor of my lifetime. I am deeply proud of the progress we created together,” Thao said.

Bas, in her final remarks as a councilmember, proposed that the City Council appoint Kaplan to replace her until the April election.

“As you know Councilmember Kaplan is retiring, she is willing to serve in this interim capacity. She is a resident of District 2 in Jack London, will not run for the seat in the special election; and I believe that she is uniquely qualified to jump in and immediately help to serve our District 2 residents, as well as key projects moving forward, and of course help lead the city’s biennial budget process,” Bas said.

At its meeting this week, the Council affirmed the City Administrator’s budget balancing actions, utilizing unrestricted and transferred funds to help fill the gap and provided direction and strategies to close the remaining need.

The proposals include finding new revenue from increased events and success at the Oakland Coliseum/Arena and other sources, making any further cuts a last resort.

They also proposed to immediately collect unpaid business taxes by doing an internal audit and strengthen controls on OPD overtime overspending.

Said Councilmember Kaplan, “It is vital to protect core public services, and the long-term fiscal solvency of our city. I am honored that the extra available funds I had previously identified have been confirmed, and are being incorporated into budget strategies, allowing Oakland to reduce cuts and restore reserves. In addition, important public serving and revenue-generating functions are being strengthened, including to reduce blight and provide safer, cleaner streets.”

Councilmember Kevin Jenkins (District 6) said, “The Fire Department, which had been preserved from cuts in July, was able to rapidly stop the Keller Fire from growing out of control, which prevented a repeat of the horrific loss of life and loss of homes that took place during the 1991 Oakland Hills Fire.”

According to a Mayor’s Office press statement, Oakland’s investments in the Oakland Police Department and the Department of Violence Prevention have yielded the fastest and most dramatic reduction in homicides in the city’s history.

The City’s deep investments in public safety over the past year continue to pay off, with homicides down 35% year-to-date and overall crime down by 34% since last year. The Public Safety Leadership team is very strong with OPD Chief Floyd Mitchell, DVP Chief Dr. Holly Joshi, OFD Chief Damon Covington, and their deputy chiefs having over a century of collective experience in Oakland.

The budget proposals preserve Oakland’s Ceasefire violence intervention strategy, prioritize OPD patrol and investigations, and continue services to improve 911 response times, with currently 71% of calls answered within 15 seconds or less — a dramatic improvement over the prior year, the press statement said.

Oakland’s investments in sidewalk repair, street paving, clearing abandoned autos, and safer conditions on our roadways are improving both safety and quality of life. The proposals restore funding for important and needed bicycle and pedestrian safety projects, street paving, and parking enforcement, the statement said.

The Council is considering a sales tax ballot measure for the April 15 special election. The proposed half-cent sales tax increase would raise approximately $29 million annually. Ongoing revenue generation and improved efficiencies would help address the City’s structural deficit in the next two-year budget.