Mario Tula

Photo Credit: Joe Budd

“I still remember when I was 12, the officer had a gun in back of my head.”

My name is Mario Tula. I’m 35-years-old, born and raised in San Francisco. 

I still remember when I was 12, about to get on my bike, playing like regular kids in front of my uncle house. That's when the police came over. They claimed I said something to them as they rolled by. "What you say?" they asked. I'm like, "What? What you mean, what I say?" “Yeah, we heard you talking that shit when we was rolling by." 

One officer had a gun in my front and the other officer had a gun in back of my head. They told me to get down, the dude in the back was hitting my head with the gun saying, "Get on your F-ing knees." He then said, “If you don't get on your F-ing knees, I'ma blow your head off." These are police officers. SFPD. I got on my knees fast. I'm not even a teenager, I didn't have anything on me, and they had me at gunpoint. 

It affected me. Because I was scared to go outside, catch the bus, go out play basketball with my friends. Every time them two cops always see me and love to say, "Hey, I hope you ain't got nothing on you." And they'll just roll off.

There was one time that I wasn't smoking, although I did smoke generally at the time. The cops rolled by - the guys that was around me had hid around a corner, but I'm like, "Why should I run?" They hopped out and, "Hey, come here." I'm like, "Alright." "Put your hands behind your back. We smell marijuana." They harassed me, searched me, took me down to the police station, talking about I hid something. That I have a hiding spot around my body or something. 

I was let go when they figured out it was nothing there. These cops, they've known me for a long time. For a very long time.They kept harassing. Every time they see me, they would pull me over and search me; lay me down on the ground, guns to my head, talking about "I'll kill you, I'll put a bullet to your head." All in front of my family.

I know it stressed my family out a lot. Because most of the action happened in front of my family. Basically, there's just same stories in different ways. Harassing. Guns to the head. Laying down on the ground. Nowawdays, it's really not like that no more. I'm an adult now, it took a while to accept it because now, years later, the laws changed. Everything changed. Now, they got police monitoring behavior. The other day I seen people just blowing. It looking like it was foggy. Police just rolling by. I'm thinking they're going to jump out. They just roll by and just wave. That shocked me. I was like, "Whoa. This is crazy."

I went to jail for some weed, years ago. I got caught with an eighth or something. That's when the laws was bad. It was a big deal. It’s good to see the laws change, because people just having a good time. We don't have to hide no more. If we going to do it, do it correct. Follow the guidelines. No smoking and driving, things like that.Less harassment because cops are smelling weed everywhere now, and they throw up the peace sign. I like the direction of the marijuana laws now. I'm loving it.