CIW's Lupe Gonzalo in Naples Daily News today: "We want to be treated as human beings. We want sufficient attention being placed on the mental health needs of people in Immokalee."

Join us today at 3 p.m. at the Collier County Sheriff’s Office in Naples to deliver a petition demanding an end to police brutality for all of Collier County...

And if you're not able to join us in person, you can demand justice for Nicolas by calling Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk at 239-252-0555 today!

Today, September 17, marks the one-year anniversary of the brutal killing of Nicolas Morales, a single father and longtime member of the Immokalee farmworker community, who was shot to death by Cpl. Pierre Jean of the Collier County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) in the quiet streets of Immokalee’s Farm Worker Village while experiencing a mental health crisis. The events of that fateful night left Nicolas’ 13-year old son orphaned and an entire community fearful for their future. Since then, the Immokalee community’s fight for justice has been extensively documented on this site and in local papers, and has even made national headlines.

And still, justice delayed remains justice denied.

Over the last year, Nicolas’ family and the Immokalee community, supported by a coalition of Southwest Florida community leaders, have made urgent calls for transparency, accountability and partnership to prevent future cases of police brutality in Immokalee and all of Collier County, specifically demanding CCSO take the following actions:

Form and implement effective, available Crisis Response Teams, pairing trained police officers and mental health professionals, to respond to calls where mental health is a potential issue;
Break down the walls between the CCSO and the Immokalee community through aggressive transparency and genuine community participation by establishing an Immokalee-specific Citizens’ Review Panel;
Rebuild trust in our justice system with real accountability for the actions of Corporal Pierre Jean and his partners by re-opening the State Attorney and CCSO investigations into their actions that night. No one is above the law, first and foremost those who enforce it.

To date, the CCSO has failed to meet any of these demands, let alone acknowledge that the events leading up to Nicolas’ tragic and preventable death were indeed egregious violations of CCSO policy and philosophy. The CCSO’s indifference is unacceptable. Join Nicolas’ family, farmworkers from Immokalee, and Southwest Florida community leaders for a peaceful vigil and petition delivery at 3 p.m. outside the Collier County Sheriff’s Office in Naples to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Nicolas’ wrongful killing. We will be gathering on the corner of U.S. 41 & Airport Pulling Road.

And if you’re not able to join us in person, or you don’t live in the Southwest Florida area, you can still make your voice heard! Please call Sheriff Kevin Rambosk at 239-252-0555 and demand CCSO meet Immokalee’s call for a future without police violence in Collier County. Here’s a simple script you can follow:

Hello, my name is ____, and I am calling in support of the demonstration happening today demanding justice for Nicolas Morales, mental health response teams and the creation of an Immokalee resident committee to help prevent future cases of police brutality in Collier County.

A year has gone by without justice for Nicolas’ wrongful killing at the hands of CCSO, and our patience as a community is growing thin. I urge you to meet the demands of Nicolas’ family and the Immokalee community to ensure the safety of all Collier County residents and end police violence once and for all.

Read an excerpt from today's Naples Daily News article