According to police officials, officers were responding to a call about men congregating in an alley when they saw Diaz leaning into a car speaking to the driver.
[3] The protests escalated the next day after police shot and killed another man, Joel Acevedo, during another foot chase, this one in the Guinida neighborhood of Anaheim.
[12] Weekly protests outside the Anaheim Police Department had been occurring since early 2010, led by Placentia resident Theresa Smith.
[15][16][17] First, on August 16, 2011, fleeing unarmed David Raya was shot fatally, also in the Guinida neighborhood, by police investigator Bruce Linn, who was also one of the shooters of Caesar Cruz in 2009.
"[19] Third, on January 7, 2012, Bernie "Chino" Villegas was shot fatally in the back as he sat in his parking lot shooting bottles with a B-B gun, by Officer Nick Bennallack, who would go on be charged with excessive force for killing Manuel Diaz six months later.
[21] Fifth, on March 6, 2012, Martin Hernandez was shot fatally by APD Officer Dan Hurtado after a pursuit in the Ponderosa neighborhood.
[22] This fifth fatal shooting in seven months led to 100 residents of the Ponderosa community confronting Police Chief John Welter.
Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait, City Council members Lorri Galloway and Kris Murray were in attendance as residents complained angrily of police harassment and intimidation in their neighborhood.
[23] The killings of Manuel Diaz and Joel Acevedo on July 21 and 22 were the sixth and seventh fatal APD shootings in a twelve-month period.
Fifty to a hundred protesters roamed the streets, throwing rocks and bottles, causing damage to over twenty businesses, as well as the police headquarters and City Hall.
[25] A Starbucks store was attacked late in the night by a group of young men who used metal chairs and skateboards to break the windows.
[33] And on November 2, 2017, a new federal jury determined that Bennallack did indeed use excessive force in killing Diaz, and awarded his mother $200,000 plus legal fees.