Countering the lies and false narratives.
A group formed to support Erick Gelhaus, the Sonoma County sheriff’s sergeant who fatally shot 13-year-old Andy Lopez, is part of a campaign by a Southern California public relations firm whose founder said last week that he has been paid by Gelhaus for his services.
The new campaign, including a website, Facebook page and an online fundraising appeal, is the work of Robert Parry, an Army veteran who served in combat with Gelhaus in Iraq.
His firm, Cop Protect, specializes in representing law officers under public scrutiny for on-duty incidents.
Its work on behalf of Gelhaus, a 27-year Sheriff’s Office veteran, launched in late August under the slogan “Stand With Erick” as a response, Parry said, to protests by community activists riled by Gelhaus’ promotion from deputy to sergeant in May. The move, approved by Sheriff Steve Freitas, came less than three years after Lopez’s death in a shooting that exposed deep distrust in law enforcement within the local Latino community.
The public relations effort kicked off with an Aug. 27 op-ed column in The Press Democrat signed by Parry and Chris Chebahtah, who identified themselves as combat veterans and the founders of StandWithErick.org, an organization committed to “tell the truth” about Gelhaus and the Oct. 22, 2013, shooting that claimed Lopez’s life on a Santa Rosa street near his home.
“We are friends, concerned citizens and colleagues of Erick who are unwilling to let a good man have his reputation, career and legacy of service destroyed by self-serving anti-police activists with the media’s full participation and omission of key facts,” the Stand With Eric website states.[…]
The public relations effort comes as race, gun violence and police tactics have swirled in an increasingly inflammatory national debate.
Since Lopez’s death, a vocal cadre of activists has criticized the Sheriff’s Office and the county and called for Gelhaus to be removed from street patrol while urging elected officials and law enforcement to pursue meaningful reforms in the way officers employ deadly force.
The debate has featured voices supportive of Gelhaus, including, at times, representatives of the Sheriff’s Office and the deputy sheriff’s employee union, as well as civilians. Gelhaus, who was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing by the county District Attorney’s Office and the FBI, has declined to offer any public comment.
Freitas has been conspicuously silent on the subject, steering clear of questions about Gelhaus in interviews. Earlier this year, he called Lopez’s death a “huge event, a tragic event” for the community and his department.
Lopez’s parents have sued Gelhaus, the Sheriff’s Office and the county. The civil suit, which seeks monetary damages, alleges the shooting was unjustified and claims Gelhaus acted recklessly when he fired eight shots at the teenager.
Parry’s said his campaign is attempting to enlist greater public support for Gelhaus, who he described as a client.
The Stand With Erick website is “within the scope of services for a client,” he said.