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If you're too lazy to read this message right away, then hear for yourself. Jacob Faust was a phenomenon and this is just a tiny glimpse into his world.www.albinofawn.com/faust (http://www.albinofawn.com/faust)
On April 4th, 2005, at 1:45 p.m., 25 year old Jacob Faust was pulled over for a supposed "illegal left turn" violation. Jacob had just been with a person my friend knew who said that Jacob was in high spirit about life and his next puppet theatre show.
As the officer began to write Jacob a ticket, the repot says that Jacob turned up his music. Now, I traveled with Jacob all across the country on a road trip, and I know that, when pulled over, he could get an attitude with a policeman - sort of like you'd expect anyone to in Manhattan. What's mysterious are the allegations against him. The police reports are contradicting each other. Some say there was a struggle, some says a gun handle was seen on the passenger's side of the vehicle. Others says that it was too dark to see. Where is the justice in all of this, you ask?
As the "struggle" ensued (Jacob was a pacifist and a Christian and would never actually lay a finger on anyone) Jacob was maced in the face. Now, knowing Jacob full well, after he was maced, he probably flailed his arms in the air to signal "stop" - meaning, that he did not want to fight. But (one of) the report says that Jacob reach into the back pocket of the passengers seat on the MPV mini van he was in (which he couldn't possibly have reached from his position) and pulled out what looked like a toy gun. The police then, again, differ on what really occurred. Some say he "brandished the gun", others say that he was reaching for it but never got it, and others says that Jacob was thrown out of the car first - but they shot Jacob Faust - at-least 3 times!
Putting the pieces together, this just doesn't make any sense. Jacob's van was filthy - he had theatre props all over the place. The toy gun was the cheapest little orange-tipped thing you could get at Party City and could never be mistaken for a gun - but even so, it was NOT in Jacob's character to knowingly reach for anything - save a tissue to wipe his face after being maced or perhaps his passport he was using because his license was suspended because Jacob refused to take the breathalyzer test - even though he wasn't drunk.
My friend Tyler Phillips works for Fox news in the morning (local Fox, not Fox News!) and he looked through all of the footage. Tyler's father is deputy sheriff and if anything, Tyler would side with the police - but not now. Even he, and hundreds of others who loved Jacob - are completely dumbfounded at this injustice. Jacob Faust was murdered by police officers, plain and simple. Somebody had a slippery trigger, made an impulse decision, resorted to NO other means (like rubber bullets, tazor, anything) and used their LAST resort as their FIRST.
The San Diego Police Department is notorious for this sort of thing. A similar incident occurred just a few weeks ago with a 15 year old who was shot with no weapon. EVERYONE seems to have a story on the SDPD and their trigger happy actions.
Nothing can bring Jacob back, but, with your help, we can get the word out there - that this injustice has to stop. Too many people have been killed because the police suspected that they had a weapon. Jacob was no exception - in fact, I don't even believe he ever got his hands on the plastic toy. I mean, why would he? On a more extreme level, I have to consider that Jacob was pegged.
I have dedicated myself to get Jacob's name out there, if anything as an example - that this has to stop. I would absolutely love it if 4th street, where the incident occurred, was flooded with protesters to Jacob innocence. Just as much, I would LOVE it if the police camera from the squad car was recovered and shown. I heard that every police car in San Diego County MUST carry a camera on their car to record all events. If we can recover the tape, we can know once and for all what REALLY happened.
Jacob was a genius - an insanely talented individual who recorded music professionally, was an awesome artist, actor, etc. He and my brother Eric Leiser, a filmmaker, filmed a film essentially about Jacob life over the past 5 years. The film is being edited and should be finished in a month or so. Promoting this film would be promoting Jacob, too. That police officer will have to live in regret of his horrendous actions his whole life.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metr ... oting.html (http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20050404-1457-ca-fakegunshooting.html)
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metr ... kegun.html (http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20050404-2144-fakegun.html)
About me: I am a 20 year old student who records music professionally. I have recorded the music for 13 short films and am working both on the "Jacob Faust" feature and another 16-mm feature called "Imagination".
Justice For Jacob!
Jeffrey Leiser
Hear my ode to Jacob
http://albinofawn.com/odetojake.mp3