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About Shari

DIY SEO Tools at Blurred Bylines

For those with their own websites who don’t have the budget for marketing consultants, Blurred Bylines offers SEO toolkits that can help. These DIY SEO tools were built by Shari Rose at BB to support other website owners in reaching their audiences more effectively.

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Eric Rivera: Shot to Death and Run Over By LAPD Car in 2017

Crime scene of Eric Rivera's killing by police

Eric Rivera’s body remains trapped under a LAPD vehicle hours after he was shot to death by two Los Angeles police officers on June 6, 2017. (Source)

September 6, 2021 ~ By Shari Rose

Rivera, 20, was walking down the street when LAPD officers jumped out their car and shot him 7 times

Eric Rivera in an undated family photo. (Source)

On June 6, 2017, Eric Rivera was walking down the street, near the corner of Wilmington Blvd and Denni St in Los Angeles when a patrol car sped up to him. Two officers with the LAPD Harbor Division, Arturo Urrutia and Daniel Ramirez, jumped out of their vehicle while it was still moving and started firing.

They shot Rivera 7 times, and then their patrol car rolled on top of his body.

A total of 7 seconds passed between the cops spotting Rivera and then firing. He was holding a plastic green and black squirt gun when he was killed. Rivera, 20, was pronounced dead at the scene.

His body was left on the street for hours. Eventually, police called in a crane to lift the patrol car off him so the coroner could take his body.

LAPD won’t release body cam footage, family files lawsuit

Officers Urrutia and Ramirez were wearing body cams during the shooting, but the LAPD will not release the footage. The dashcam on their car was not turned on.

Eric Rivera’s parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit a few months after their son’s death. They also regularly attended the weekly meetings of the Los Angeles civilian oversight board to demand justice for their son. Eric Rivera’s father, Phillip Malik, said he learned of his son’s death while watching local news.

Valerie Rivera, Eric’s mother, spoke about her son in a press conference related to the lawsuit. “I’m never going to be able to get him back, but I can stand here today and fight for him,” she said. “I can speak for him.”

Eric’s mother, Valerie Rivera, speaks to reporters after her son’s death. (Source)

In March 2018, Valerie Rivera posted a livestream to Facebook that showed LAPD officers handcuffing Eric’s brothers and friends at the place where he died for a makeshift memorial. The police eventually released them without charges.

Toy water gun in Eric Rivera's hand when shot

A close-up of the green fluorescent toy water gun in Eric Rivera’s possession when he was killed. (Source)

On April 10, 2018, the Board of Police Commissioners cleared Arturo Urrutia and Daniel Ramirez in Eric Rivera’s killing. No charges or reprimands for the officers who killed the 20-year-old and let their vehicle roll over his body.

This story about Eric Rivera is part of a larger project that looks at recent police shootings of Latinos in Los Angeles.

Shari Rose

Owner of Blurred Bylines

I created Blurred Bylines in 2016 to bring stories from marginalized perspectives to the forefront through search engine optimization (SEO). As a former newspaper copy editor turned SEO professional, I’ve seen firsthand how accurate and accessible information can make positive change in public policy at every level of government.

These longform articles focus on individuals fighting for justice and their own rights, survivors of violent crime who rebuilt their lives, harmful political trends that strip the LGBTQ+ community and other minority groups of their freedoms, and figures in U.S. history whose fights for equality remain just as relevant today.

As the internet becomes more revenue-driven and restrictive, Blurred Bylines attempts to do the opposite. There are no paywalls or 3rd-party ads on these stories. And in the spirit of building access for all, I’ve built DIY SEO tools for those who cannot afford expensive software or marketing consultants. Using my 10 years of professional experience in the SEO industry, these in-house toolkits help users understand and improve their own websites.

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