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The Black Lives Matter Movement has grown into the largest black-led protest campaign since the 1960s. While specific goals and tactics vary by city and state, overall the movement seeks to bring attention to police violence against African Americans and in particular the use of deadly force against mostly unarmed civilians. While the issue of police brutality and unnecessary deadly force has been a focus point of black anger and frustration through much of the 19th and all of the 20th centuries, the violent death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin at the hands of neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman in 2012 galvanized various efforts into a single national movement.
This page begins with an article by Professor Herb Ruffin describing the founding (and founders) of the movement. The entries that follow identify incidents both before and after 2013 which have inspired the activism of Black Lives Matter members and supporters.
Brothers Forum understands this is an incomplete list. We are aware of other names that should be included and sadly we are constantly adding profiles because the violence that causes this unnecessary loss of life continues to this day. We ask your help in identifying and writing profiles of these and other individuals not yet covered. If you are interested in contributing to this list, please contact us at RayAustin@brothersforum.org
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BERRY LAWSON CASE (1938)
On March 26, 1938, Berry Lawson, a twenty-seven-year-old African American waiter staying at the Mt. Fuji Hotel located on Yesler Way in downtown Seattle, Washington, was reportedly asleep in a chair in the hotel lobby. He was spotted by three Seattle Police Department officers, who approached Lawson to arrest him for loitering. An altercation ensued, and 90 minutes later, Lawson was pronounced dead at City Emergency Hospital with a fractured skull. According to the Seattle Times, the three officers, Patrolmen F.H. Paschal, W.F. Stevenson, and P.L. Whalen, “declared Lawson apparently was under the influence of a stimulant and broke away from them and plunged headlong down a flight of stairs.”
Almost immediately, local African American leaders began asking questions. Although an autopsy performed by King County Coroner Otto Mittlestadt found “several internal head injuries, a broken nose, and several bruises” and no evidence that Lawson was intoxicated, the coroner cleared the three officers of any wrongdoing. Days later, a delegation led by Rev. Fred Hughes, pastor at First AME Church; Rev. T.M. Davis, pastor at Mt. Zion Baptist Church; and newspaper publisher John O. Lewis met with Police Chief William Sears. In addition, Seattle Urban League executive secretary Joseph Sylvester Jackson organized a committee of community representatives to hold “protest meetings” with mayor-elect Arthur Langlie. Soon after, the city announced it would conduct an official investigation into Lawson’s death.
On April 8, Paschal, Stevenson, and Whalen were charged with second-degree murder in the death of Berry Lawson. They surrendered at the prosecuting attorney’s office and were held in lieu of $5,000 bail. Chief Sears suspended all three without pay and then fired them one month later. Meanwhile, Paschal, Stevenson, and Whalen made claims in the newspaper, suggesting that the real reason behind their prosecution was connected to something else. Stevenson stated, “I know the white slave interests are out to get us for our many arrests in recent “skid road” white slavery investigations. They’ve made numerous threats, but I figured it would be in the nature of physical violence—a knife in the back—but nothing like this.”
Intrigue around the case rose with the emergence of a “mystery witness.” Travis Downs was a white hairdresser who claimed he was paid $35 by Paschal, Stevenson, and Whalen and put on a train to Portland, Oregon the day Lawson died. Downs was to remain out of town while the case was being investigated, and he even produced an envelope he had received in Portland that the officers allegedly had sent; the envelope contained an additional $50. However, Sylvester Jackson persuaded Downs to return to Seattle, and he ultimately testified that he had seen the three officers beat Lawson.
On June 10, a little over two months after the death of Berry Lawson, all three officers were convicted on a lesser charge of manslaughter and sentenced to 20 years each in prison. Following the verdict, legal appeals and political maneuvering kept the decision in limbo. The three officers were temporarily released until their convictions were upheld in January 1939 by the Washington State Supreme Court which ruled, “The officers used more force than was necessary in taking Lawson into custody.” In spite of this ruling, Washington Governor Clarence D. Martin pardoned Paschal and Stevenson later that spring and Whalen in December 1939. After receiving his freedom, Whalen took responsibility for Lawson’s death.
Almost immediately, local African American leaders began asking questions. Although an autopsy performed by King County Coroner Otto Mittlestadt found “several internal head injuries, a broken nose, and several bruises” and no evidence that Lawson was intoxicated, the coroner cleared the three officers of any wrongdoing. Days later, a delegation led by Rev. Fred Hughes, pastor at First AME Church; Rev. T.M. Davis, pastor at Mt. Zion Baptist Church; and newspaper publisher John O. Lewis met with Police Chief William Sears. In addition, Seattle Urban League executive secretary Joseph Sylvester Jackson organized a committee of community representatives to hold “protest meetings” with mayor-elect Arthur Langlie. Soon after, the city announced it would conduct an official investigation into Lawson’s death.
On April 8, Paschal, Stevenson, and Whalen were charged with second-degree murder in the death of Berry Lawson. They surrendered at the prosecuting attorney’s office and were held in lieu of $5,000 bail. Chief Sears suspended all three without pay and then fired them one month later. Meanwhile, Paschal, Stevenson, and Whalen made claims in the newspaper, suggesting that the real reason behind their prosecution was connected to something else. Stevenson stated, “I know the white slave interests are out to get us for our many arrests in recent “skid road” white slavery investigations. They’ve made numerous threats, but I figured it would be in the nature of physical violence—a knife in the back—but nothing like this.”
Intrigue around the case rose with the emergence of a “mystery witness.” Travis Downs was a white hairdresser who claimed he was paid $35 by Paschal, Stevenson, and Whalen and put on a train to Portland, Oregon the day Lawson died. Downs was to remain out of town while the case was being investigated, and he even produced an envelope he had received in Portland that the officers allegedly had sent; the envelope contained an additional $50. However, Sylvester Jackson persuaded Downs to return to Seattle, and he ultimately testified that he had seen the three officers beat Lawson.
On June 10, a little over two months after the death of Berry Lawson, all three officers were convicted on a lesser charge of manslaughter and sentenced to 20 years each in prison. Following the verdict, legal appeals and political maneuvering kept the decision in limbo. The three officers were temporarily released until their convictions were upheld in January 1939 by the Washington State Supreme Court which ruled, “The officers used more force than was necessary in taking Lawson into custody.” In spite of this ruling, Washington Governor Clarence D. Martin pardoned Paschal and Stevenson later that spring and Whalen in December 1939. After receiving his freedom, Whalen took responsibility for Lawson’s death.
THE GROVELAND FOUR (1949)
The Groveland Four case was a 1940s example of injustice toward young African American men falsely accused of raping white women. The Groveland Four were four young black men, Ernest Thomas, Charles Greenlee, Samuel Shepherd and Walter Irvin, who were accused of raping Norma Padgett, a 17-year-old white woman on July 16, 1949, in Lake County, Florida. Thomas was killed by Sheriff Willis McCall on July 26, 1949, during the search for the four while Irvin, Shepherd, and Greenlee were arrested.
Much of the early life of the Groveland Four is unknown. Ernest Thomas was married to Ruby Lee Jones. Charles Greenlee first arrived in Lake County, Florida in July 1949. Thomas had convinced Greenlee that he could find work in the county. Samuel Shepherd was a World War II veteran and the son of a prosperous local black farmer. Walter Irvin was also a World War II veteran.
On July 16, 1949, Thomas, Greenlee, Shepherd, and Irvin were accused of kidnapping and raping Norma Padgett and assaulting her husband Willie Padgett. According to her husband, their car broke down after the couple left a dance. Padgett claimed that the four black men stopped to offer them assistance but instead assaulted him and kidnapped his wife. After a manhunt, Greenlee, Shepherd, and Irvin were arrested and taken to Lake County jail, where they were tortured. Thomas avoided capture for a week, but he was killed by Lake County Sheriff Willis McCall.
The following day, as news spread around Lake County about the rape, a mob of more than 100 men gathered at the jail demanding that Greenlee, Shepherd, and Irvin be released to them. Sheriff McCall told the mob that the three had already been transferred to a state penitentiary, when in fact they were still in the Lake County Jail. The mob then vented its anger on the small Groveland African American community, shooting residents and setting fire to homes. Some whites, however, helped blacks escape the violence around the area. Meanwhile Greenlee, Shepherd, and Irvin were tried. Although medical evidence did not show signs of Padgett being raped, an all-white jury found the three men guilty. Shepherd and Irvin received the death penalty, while Greenlee received life in prison.
The U.S. Supreme Court later tossed out the three convictions, forcing a retrial in November 1951. As the three were being transported back to Lake County, Florida from the state penitentiary, Sheriff McCall shot and killed Shepherd and seriously wounded Irvin. Irvin’s retrial on November 13, 1952 resulted in another guilty verdict and death sentence from an all-white jury. In 1955, his sentence was reduced to life in prison by Florida Governor LeRoy Collins.
Walter Irvin was released from the state penitentiary in 1968 but died a year later from a heart attack. He was 39 years old. Charles Greenlee, the last surviving member of the Groveland Four, was released on parole in 1962 and moved to Nashville, Tennessee. He died on April 18, 2012. at 78 years old. In 2017, the state issued an apology to the families of the Greenland Four. All four men were posthumously pardoned on January 11, 2019 by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Much of the early life of the Groveland Four is unknown. Ernest Thomas was married to Ruby Lee Jones. Charles Greenlee first arrived in Lake County, Florida in July 1949. Thomas had convinced Greenlee that he could find work in the county. Samuel Shepherd was a World War II veteran and the son of a prosperous local black farmer. Walter Irvin was also a World War II veteran.
On July 16, 1949, Thomas, Greenlee, Shepherd, and Irvin were accused of kidnapping and raping Norma Padgett and assaulting her husband Willie Padgett. According to her husband, their car broke down after the couple left a dance. Padgett claimed that the four black men stopped to offer them assistance but instead assaulted him and kidnapped his wife. After a manhunt, Greenlee, Shepherd, and Irvin were arrested and taken to Lake County jail, where they were tortured. Thomas avoided capture for a week, but he was killed by Lake County Sheriff Willis McCall.
The following day, as news spread around Lake County about the rape, a mob of more than 100 men gathered at the jail demanding that Greenlee, Shepherd, and Irvin be released to them. Sheriff McCall told the mob that the three had already been transferred to a state penitentiary, when in fact they were still in the Lake County Jail. The mob then vented its anger on the small Groveland African American community, shooting residents and setting fire to homes. Some whites, however, helped blacks escape the violence around the area. Meanwhile Greenlee, Shepherd, and Irvin were tried. Although medical evidence did not show signs of Padgett being raped, an all-white jury found the three men guilty. Shepherd and Irvin received the death penalty, while Greenlee received life in prison.
The U.S. Supreme Court later tossed out the three convictions, forcing a retrial in November 1951. As the three were being transported back to Lake County, Florida from the state penitentiary, Sheriff McCall shot and killed Shepherd and seriously wounded Irvin. Irvin’s retrial on November 13, 1952 resulted in another guilty verdict and death sentence from an all-white jury. In 1955, his sentence was reduced to life in prison by Florida Governor LeRoy Collins.
Walter Irvin was released from the state penitentiary in 1968 but died a year later from a heart attack. He was 39 years old. Charles Greenlee, the last surviving member of the Groveland Four, was released on parole in 1962 and moved to Nashville, Tennessee. He died on April 18, 2012. at 78 years old. In 2017, the state issued an apology to the families of the Greenland Four. All four men were posthumously pardoned on January 11, 2019 by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
JOHNNY ROBINSON (1947-1963)
Johnny Robinson was a sixteen-year-old African American man who was shot and killed by Birmingham, Alabama police officer Jack Parker on September 15, 1963. Robinson’s death occurred on the same day as the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombing in Birmingham that resulted in the deaths of four young girls earlier in the day. Thus, Robinson’s killing did not get much attention. His death, however, was an early inspiration for the Black Lives Matter Movement that emerged half a century later.
Robinson was born in 1947 to Johnny Brown and Martha Marie Robinson. He had a difficult upbringing and his childhood was marked by violence when his father was murdered by a neighbor. Robinson’s mother was left to take care of him and her two other children. As a child Robinson also witnessed the frequent anti-black racial violence of Birmingham itself. Fifty racially motivated bombings took place in the city between 1945 and 1963.
On September 15, 1963, Ku Klux Klan members planted a bomb at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, an African-American place of worship. Around 10:22 a.m., the bomb exploded, killing Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins. As news of the bombing spread across the city, racial tensions ran high. Later that afternoon Robinson, who initially was to join his sister for Sunday dinner, decided instead to go with his friends to a gas station located on 26th Street. Several white teenagers drove by Robinson and his friends, yelling racial slurs and waving Confederate flags. The white teenagers then threw bottles at Robinson and his friends who retaliated by throwing rocks at their car. When the police arrived, Robinson and his friends started to run. Officer Jack Parker, who was in the backseat of the police car holding a shotgun, fired the shot that hit Robinson in the back. Johnny Robinson died before reaching the hospital.
Parker would later give two different accounts of the shooting. In the first one he claimed that he shot in the air above Robinson’s head, and in the second account he said the shotgun went off accidentally. Other witnesses disputed both accounts, claiming to have heard two shotgun shots. Two Jefferson County Grand Juries opted not to charged Officer Parker for Robinson’s death. Robinson’s family was devastated by his loss which led his mother to later spend time in a psychiatric hospital. His younger brother and sister who know little about his death learned not to speak of it.
In the months following Robinson’s death, the deaths of the Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church received far more local and national attention. The Robinson murder went virtually unnoticed until 2013 when, partly because of the rise of the Black Lives Matter Movement, he was inducted into the Birmingham’s Gallery of Distinguished Citizens fifty years after his murder. Officer Jack Parker died in 1977.
Robinson was born in 1947 to Johnny Brown and Martha Marie Robinson. He had a difficult upbringing and his childhood was marked by violence when his father was murdered by a neighbor. Robinson’s mother was left to take care of him and her two other children. As a child Robinson also witnessed the frequent anti-black racial violence of Birmingham itself. Fifty racially motivated bombings took place in the city between 1945 and 1963.
On September 15, 1963, Ku Klux Klan members planted a bomb at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, an African-American place of worship. Around 10:22 a.m., the bomb exploded, killing Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins. As news of the bombing spread across the city, racial tensions ran high. Later that afternoon Robinson, who initially was to join his sister for Sunday dinner, decided instead to go with his friends to a gas station located on 26th Street. Several white teenagers drove by Robinson and his friends, yelling racial slurs and waving Confederate flags. The white teenagers then threw bottles at Robinson and his friends who retaliated by throwing rocks at their car. When the police arrived, Robinson and his friends started to run. Officer Jack Parker, who was in the backseat of the police car holding a shotgun, fired the shot that hit Robinson in the back. Johnny Robinson died before reaching the hospital.
Parker would later give two different accounts of the shooting. In the first one he claimed that he shot in the air above Robinson’s head, and in the second account he said the shotgun went off accidentally. Other witnesses disputed both accounts, claiming to have heard two shotgun shots. Two Jefferson County Grand Juries opted not to charged Officer Parker for Robinson’s death. Robinson’s family was devastated by his loss which led his mother to later spend time in a psychiatric hospital. His younger brother and sister who know little about his death learned not to speak of it.
In the months following Robinson’s death, the deaths of the Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church received far more local and national attention. The Robinson murder went virtually unnoticed until 2013 when, partly because of the rise of the Black Lives Matter Movement, he was inducted into the Birmingham’s Gallery of Distinguished Citizens fifty years after his murder. Officer Jack Parker died in 1977.
BOBBY HUTTON (1950-1968)
Robert James Hutton, also known as Bobby or Lil’ Bobby, was the first treasurer and recruit of the Black Panther Party(BPP) at just 16 years old. He was also the first member of the Party killed by the police.
Hutton was born in Jefferson County, Arkansas, to John D. Hutton and Dolly Mae Mitchner-Hutton on April 21, 1950. He was the youngest of three children. In 1953, when Hutton was three years old, his family moved to Oakland, Californiaafter being harassed by racist vigilante groups associated with the Ku Klux Klan.
In December 1966 at age 16, Hutton met BPP founders Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale at the North Oakland Anti-Poverty Center and became the first recruit and youngest member of the BPP. Hutton stated that he joined The Party because he wanted to make a difference in his community and that he believed in The Party’s Ten-Point Program.
On May 2, 1967, Hutton participated in a demonstration organized by the BPP at the California State Capitol Building in Sacramento, to protest the Mulford Act, which would prohibit the carrying of firearms in any public place. Hutton was arrested with several other BPP members for carrying weapons into the State Capital. Hutton was again arrested on May 22, 1967 for violating an 1887 law prohibiting the carrying of firearms adjacent to a jail.
On April 6, 1968, two days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and with riots raging across cities in United States, Hutton was traveling with Eldridge Cleaver and other BPP members in a car. The group confronted Oakland Police officers and during the confrontation, two police officers were shot. Hutton and Cleaver fled to an apartment building where they engaged in a 90-minute gun battle with the Oakland Police Department.
Ultimately, Cleaver was wounded, and Hutton voluntarily surrendered. According to Cleaver, although Hutton had stripped down to his underwear and had his hands raised in the air to prove that he was unarmed, Oakland Police shot Hutton more than 12 times, leading to his death. Police reports claimed that Hutton was attempting to run away and was wearing a trench coat and his hands were not visible. Cleaver later stated that one police officer that witnessed the shoot-out claimed that what the police did to Hutton “was first-degree murder.” And Bobby Seale has speculated that the Oakland Police shot Hutton believing that they were shooting him instead.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Cleaver failed to acknowledge that the group of BPP members were actively looking to ambush the Oakland Police in response to the assassination of King, and instead claimed the police attacked them in their car. In 1980 Cleaver admitted that he and Hutton had ambushed the police before the shoot-out that killed Hutton.
Hutton’s death became a rallying cry against police brutality across the nation. His funeral held on April 12, 1968 at the Ephesian Church of God in Berkeley, California was attended by approximately 1,500 mourners. A rally held later that day in West Oakland was attended by more than 2,000 people and included a eulogy by actor Marlon Brando.
Every year since Hutton’s death, friends and family have held a memorial service at DeFremery Park which was later renamed Bobby Hutton Park by the City of Oakland in 1998. Around the same time the Commemoration Committee for the Black Panther Party organized the Lil’ Bobby Hutton Literacy Campaign.
Hutton was born in Jefferson County, Arkansas, to John D. Hutton and Dolly Mae Mitchner-Hutton on April 21, 1950. He was the youngest of three children. In 1953, when Hutton was three years old, his family moved to Oakland, Californiaafter being harassed by racist vigilante groups associated with the Ku Klux Klan.
In December 1966 at age 16, Hutton met BPP founders Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale at the North Oakland Anti-Poverty Center and became the first recruit and youngest member of the BPP. Hutton stated that he joined The Party because he wanted to make a difference in his community and that he believed in The Party’s Ten-Point Program.
On May 2, 1967, Hutton participated in a demonstration organized by the BPP at the California State Capitol Building in Sacramento, to protest the Mulford Act, which would prohibit the carrying of firearms in any public place. Hutton was arrested with several other BPP members for carrying weapons into the State Capital. Hutton was again arrested on May 22, 1967 for violating an 1887 law prohibiting the carrying of firearms adjacent to a jail.
On April 6, 1968, two days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and with riots raging across cities in United States, Hutton was traveling with Eldridge Cleaver and other BPP members in a car. The group confronted Oakland Police officers and during the confrontation, two police officers were shot. Hutton and Cleaver fled to an apartment building where they engaged in a 90-minute gun battle with the Oakland Police Department.
Ultimately, Cleaver was wounded, and Hutton voluntarily surrendered. According to Cleaver, although Hutton had stripped down to his underwear and had his hands raised in the air to prove that he was unarmed, Oakland Police shot Hutton more than 12 times, leading to his death. Police reports claimed that Hutton was attempting to run away and was wearing a trench coat and his hands were not visible. Cleaver later stated that one police officer that witnessed the shoot-out claimed that what the police did to Hutton “was first-degree murder.” And Bobby Seale has speculated that the Oakland Police shot Hutton believing that they were shooting him instead.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Cleaver failed to acknowledge that the group of BPP members were actively looking to ambush the Oakland Police in response to the assassination of King, and instead claimed the police attacked them in their car. In 1980 Cleaver admitted that he and Hutton had ambushed the police before the shoot-out that killed Hutton.
Hutton’s death became a rallying cry against police brutality across the nation. His funeral held on April 12, 1968 at the Ephesian Church of God in Berkeley, California was attended by approximately 1,500 mourners. A rally held later that day in West Oakland was attended by more than 2,000 people and included a eulogy by actor Marlon Brando.
Every year since Hutton’s death, friends and family have held a memorial service at DeFremery Park which was later renamed Bobby Hutton Park by the City of Oakland in 1998. Around the same time the Commemoration Committee for the Black Panther Party organized the Lil’ Bobby Hutton Literacy Campaign.
EULA MAE LOVE (1939-1979)
Eula Mae Love’s tragic death made history on the evening of January 3rd, 1979, in the front yard of her home, in the West Athens area of South Los Angeles, California. She died at the hands of two Los Angeles Police Department officers, Lloyd O’Callaghan (white) and Edward Hopson (black). Her case made history as the first police killing that pushed officials to lead more thorough investigations of excessive use of force by the police.
Born on August 8, 1939, in Louisiana, Love, who was 39 years old at the time of her death, was a widow. Her husband William died of sickle cell anemia six months prior to Love’s confrontation with the police. As a widow, Love was drowning in bills ranging from utility charges to mortgage payments. She struggled to support her three young daughters.
On January 3, 1979, a utility worker from Southern California Gas Company came to shut her gas off over a $66 unpaid gas bill. Love reportedly became distressed by his visit. She attacked the worker with a shovel and chased him off her property. Love then left her house to take out a few money orders from a nearby store, including the minimum $22.09 payment for the gas bill.
The first utility worker who was chased away by Love called the police. While Love was out, the gas company had sent over two more workers to collect the bill. Further infuriated by the new utility workers, Love went back into her house and grabbed an 11-inch boning knife. During that time, the police officers had arrived at the scene. When ordered to drop the knife, Love refused, turned away to walk back inside her house, and again turned back towards the officers, tossing the knife in their direction. The two officers immediately fired 12 shots from 8 and 12 feet away. Most of the bullets hit Love’s legs and lower body, but a fatal shot went through her chest. Love collapsed, dead. The officers then proceeded to handcuff her body on the grass.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney exonerated the two police officers involved in the shooting on April 17, 1979. The LAPD “Shooting Review Board” ruled the case to be within policy. These decisions prompted mass community protests and were later challenged by the Los Angeles Police Commission. The Commission concluded in its report that the shooting did not meet departmental standards. The police officers were guilty of exercising poor judgment. The Commission also challenged the Police Department’s Shooting Review Board, claiming that the board exonerated the officers based on faulty and incomplete evidence. Unfortunately, the commission was not backed by any legal law enforcement and so the exoneration stood.
Eula Love’s death led the way to reforming how law enforcement officers use deadly and excessive force. However, the Los Angeles Police Department was slow to change its policy or practices in the field.
Eula Mae Love is buried in Moses Cemetery, in her home state, Louisiana.
Born on August 8, 1939, in Louisiana, Love, who was 39 years old at the time of her death, was a widow. Her husband William died of sickle cell anemia six months prior to Love’s confrontation with the police. As a widow, Love was drowning in bills ranging from utility charges to mortgage payments. She struggled to support her three young daughters.
On January 3, 1979, a utility worker from Southern California Gas Company came to shut her gas off over a $66 unpaid gas bill. Love reportedly became distressed by his visit. She attacked the worker with a shovel and chased him off her property. Love then left her house to take out a few money orders from a nearby store, including the minimum $22.09 payment for the gas bill.
The first utility worker who was chased away by Love called the police. While Love was out, the gas company had sent over two more workers to collect the bill. Further infuriated by the new utility workers, Love went back into her house and grabbed an 11-inch boning knife. During that time, the police officers had arrived at the scene. When ordered to drop the knife, Love refused, turned away to walk back inside her house, and again turned back towards the officers, tossing the knife in their direction. The two officers immediately fired 12 shots from 8 and 12 feet away. Most of the bullets hit Love’s legs and lower body, but a fatal shot went through her chest. Love collapsed, dead. The officers then proceeded to handcuff her body on the grass.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney exonerated the two police officers involved in the shooting on April 17, 1979. The LAPD “Shooting Review Board” ruled the case to be within policy. These decisions prompted mass community protests and were later challenged by the Los Angeles Police Commission. The Commission concluded in its report that the shooting did not meet departmental standards. The police officers were guilty of exercising poor judgment. The Commission also challenged the Police Department’s Shooting Review Board, claiming that the board exonerated the officers based on faulty and incomplete evidence. Unfortunately, the commission was not backed by any legal law enforcement and so the exoneration stood.
Eula Love’s death led the way to reforming how law enforcement officers use deadly and excessive force. However, the Los Angeles Police Department was slow to change its policy or practices in the field.
Eula Mae Love is buried in Moses Cemetery, in her home state, Louisiana.
MICHAEL STEWART (1958-1983)
Michael Stewart was a New York City graffiti artist who died following an incident with the city’s transit police. Although not much is known about his early life, Stewart’s death entered the media on September 15, 1983 at 2:00 a.m. He was accused of writing on the subway station wall with a felt-tipped marker. One hour later, Stewart arrived at the police station with three arresting officers hogtied, covered in cuts and bruises, and unconscious. Stewart was taken to the hospital in a coma. He died 13 days later, having never regained consciousness.
When several students from the Parson’s School of Design reported that they witnessed Stewart’s beating from their dormitories, officers John Kostick, Henry Boerner, and Anthony Piscola were charged with criminally negligent homicide, assault, and perjury.
The court case experienced several complications, and ultimately the all-white jury only charged John Kostick for perjury. The other officers were declared not guilty on all points. The most poignant impediment was the city medical examiner Dr. Eliot Gross’ conflicting reports for the cause of death. Dr. Gross initially cited the cause of death to be cardiac arrest, which would have been unrelated to the injuries sustained. But a month after the initial proclamation he changed the cause of death to a spinal injury, which would have directly related to the abuse before Stewart’s arrival at the hospital. He later said that he changed his verdict for fear of public backlash. The three medical experts called to the witness stand during the case all gave different reports for the cause of death: asphyxiation from a blow to the neck, cardiac arrest from a blow to the side or chest, or intoxication and blunt-force-trauma.
The prosecution brought forward forty-eight witnesses, twenty-three of which were Parson’s students. The defense brought no witnesses forward during the case. Unfortunately, due in part to the conflicting reports of the medical examiners and the inability of the Parson’s students to identify a specific officer, the jury acquitted the officers on both the use of excessive force and official misconduct charges.
Michael Stewart’s case is one of many listed in the struggle against the unequal treatment of African Americans in the medical and legal system. Stewart’s attorney noted that every person in the courtroom was white. The only person of color was Michael Stewart. Steward could no longer speak for himself and the Medical examiner seemed to be confused about how Stewart died. One writer famously called Michael Stewart “the man nobody killed.”
Today, Stewart’s death continues to inspire graffiti artists and the general public to protest police brutality and create works of art that challenge Americans to reevaluate their society.
When several students from the Parson’s School of Design reported that they witnessed Stewart’s beating from their dormitories, officers John Kostick, Henry Boerner, and Anthony Piscola were charged with criminally negligent homicide, assault, and perjury.
The court case experienced several complications, and ultimately the all-white jury only charged John Kostick for perjury. The other officers were declared not guilty on all points. The most poignant impediment was the city medical examiner Dr. Eliot Gross’ conflicting reports for the cause of death. Dr. Gross initially cited the cause of death to be cardiac arrest, which would have been unrelated to the injuries sustained. But a month after the initial proclamation he changed the cause of death to a spinal injury, which would have directly related to the abuse before Stewart’s arrival at the hospital. He later said that he changed his verdict for fear of public backlash. The three medical experts called to the witness stand during the case all gave different reports for the cause of death: asphyxiation from a blow to the neck, cardiac arrest from a blow to the side or chest, or intoxication and blunt-force-trauma.
The prosecution brought forward forty-eight witnesses, twenty-three of which were Parson’s students. The defense brought no witnesses forward during the case. Unfortunately, due in part to the conflicting reports of the medical examiners and the inability of the Parson’s students to identify a specific officer, the jury acquitted the officers on both the use of excessive force and official misconduct charges.
Michael Stewart’s case is one of many listed in the struggle against the unequal treatment of African Americans in the medical and legal system. Stewart’s attorney noted that every person in the courtroom was white. The only person of color was Michael Stewart. Steward could no longer speak for himself and the Medical examiner seemed to be confused about how Stewart died. One writer famously called Michael Stewart “the man nobody killed.”
Today, Stewart’s death continues to inspire graffiti artists and the general public to protest police brutality and create works of art that challenge Americans to reevaluate their society.
MULUGETA SERAW (1960-1988)
Born on October 21, 1960, 28-year-old Mulugeta Seraw moved to Portland, Oregon looking to further his education by obtaining a degree in business from Portland Community College, and working multiple jobs to provide for his wife and then six year old son, Henok, who remained in Ethiopia. However, this become a dream unrealized when he was bludgeoned to death by three male members of neo-Nazi hate groups, the White Aryan Resistance (WAR), and East Side White Pride.
Late in the evening on Friday, November 12, 1988, Kyle Brewster, Kenneth Murray “Death” Mieske, and Steve Strasser approached Seraw and two other Ethiopian immigrants on Southeast 31st Ave. in front of Seraw’s residence. The three verbally and physically assaulted Mulugeta and his colleagues using steel-toed boots. Mieske repeatedly hit Seraw with a baseball bat leaving him in a pool of his own blood. Seraw died the following day.
One week later, Brewster, Mieske, and Strasser were arrested and would be ultimately convicted. Mieske pleaded guilty to first degree murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Brewster and Strasser pleaded guilty to assault and manslaughter charges resulting in 20-year sentences. In order to prevent attacks like this in the future, the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama brought a lawsuit on behalf of the Seraw family against Tom Metzger, a national leader of the Ku Klux Klan and the White Aryan Resistance, and his son John Metzger. The Center won a $12.5 million dollar judgement which bankrupted the Alabama Klux Klan and the Metzgers.
Moreover, the Seraw death led to large rallies in Portland attended by people of various racial backgrounds. These rallies which involved thousands of Portland residents, disavowed white supremacy and condemned WAR. The trial of the Mulugeta Seraw killers would also set a precedent in future cases and help build a large and permanent anti-racist movement in Portland.
In 2018, thirty years after Seraw’s death, the city of Portland began to memorialize Seraw through a series of signs erected near his residence in both English and Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia. That same year Ted Wheeler, the Mayor of Portland, issued a proclamation declaring November 13, Mulugeta Seraw Day across the city. On October 11, 2018, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden addressed the U.S. Senate about the incident and declared that the death of Mulugeta Seraw was an affront to the values of all Oregonians.
Late in the evening on Friday, November 12, 1988, Kyle Brewster, Kenneth Murray “Death” Mieske, and Steve Strasser approached Seraw and two other Ethiopian immigrants on Southeast 31st Ave. in front of Seraw’s residence. The three verbally and physically assaulted Mulugeta and his colleagues using steel-toed boots. Mieske repeatedly hit Seraw with a baseball bat leaving him in a pool of his own blood. Seraw died the following day.
One week later, Brewster, Mieske, and Strasser were arrested and would be ultimately convicted. Mieske pleaded guilty to first degree murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Brewster and Strasser pleaded guilty to assault and manslaughter charges resulting in 20-year sentences. In order to prevent attacks like this in the future, the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama brought a lawsuit on behalf of the Seraw family against Tom Metzger, a national leader of the Ku Klux Klan and the White Aryan Resistance, and his son John Metzger. The Center won a $12.5 million dollar judgement which bankrupted the Alabama Klux Klan and the Metzgers.
Moreover, the Seraw death led to large rallies in Portland attended by people of various racial backgrounds. These rallies which involved thousands of Portland residents, disavowed white supremacy and condemned WAR. The trial of the Mulugeta Seraw killers would also set a precedent in future cases and help build a large and permanent anti-racist movement in Portland.
In 2018, thirty years after Seraw’s death, the city of Portland began to memorialize Seraw through a series of signs erected near his residence in both English and Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia. That same year Ted Wheeler, the Mayor of Portland, issued a proclamation declaring November 13, Mulugeta Seraw Day across the city. On October 11, 2018, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden addressed the U.S. Senate about the incident and declared that the death of Mulugeta Seraw was an affront to the values of all Oregonians.
PHILLIP PANNELL JR. (1973-1990)
Phillip Pannell Jr., a 16-year-old African American, was shot and killed by Teaneck, New Jersey Police Officer Gary Spath on April 10, 1990. Pannell’s death contributed to the growing awareness of police misconduct across the United States as related to young African Americans and helped lead to the rise of the Black Lives Matter Movement twenty-three years later.
Philip Pannell Jr. was born on October 3, 1973 in Teaneck to Thelma Pannell-Dantzler and Phillip Pannell Sr. Pannell’s early life was difficult. He grew up with a father who struggled with drugs and alcohol and who was in and out of jail. Pannell himself got into trouble often fighting with the kids from outside his northeast Teaneck mostly Black neighborhood. The city of 38,000 was a mostly middle-class New York City suburb with a 25% Black population.
On April 10, 1990, someone called the Teaneck Police Department claiming he saw a boy with a gun among other teenagers in a schoolyard. Officers Gary Spath and Wayne Blanco responded to the call. When the officers arrived, they confronted Pannell who was holding the gun, a starter pistol that had been modified to hold bullets. Parnell and the other teenagers fled and Spath chased him, eventually opening fire and shooting the teenager in the back, instantly killing him. Spath said he shot Pannell as the teenager was turning around to fire on him. Many witnesses, however, said Pannell had his hands up when the shooting occurred. According to the police officers, a fully loaded .22 caliber pistol was recovered from the jacket pocket of Pannell.
An autopsy was conducted by the Bergen County Medical Examiner who originally indicated that Pannell was shot in the back with his hands down, supporting Spath’s account of him reaching for his gun. New Jersey Attorney General Robert Del Tufo, however, called the Bergen County Medical Examiner’s autopsy flawed and ordered a new autopsy. The second autopsy conducted by the state medical examiner, proved that Pannell had his hands up when he was shot in the back by Spath. That evidence supported witness accounts of the shooting.
Following the shooting Black residents of Teaneck staged a series of protest marches which attracted Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton to the town. Some of the marches turned violent. Many protesters felt that killing of Pannell was the result of racial profiling and police brutality. Spath was arrested and tried in 1994 on the charge of reckless manslaughter but was acquitted. Soon afterwards he retired from law enforcement. Also, in 1994, the Pannell family settled a civil rights lawsuit against Teaneck for $200,000. In 1995, Teaneck resident Mike Kelly wrote a book called Color Lines: The Troubled Dreams of Racial Harmony in an American Town.
Philip Pannell Jr. was born on October 3, 1973 in Teaneck to Thelma Pannell-Dantzler and Phillip Pannell Sr. Pannell’s early life was difficult. He grew up with a father who struggled with drugs and alcohol and who was in and out of jail. Pannell himself got into trouble often fighting with the kids from outside his northeast Teaneck mostly Black neighborhood. The city of 38,000 was a mostly middle-class New York City suburb with a 25% Black population.
On April 10, 1990, someone called the Teaneck Police Department claiming he saw a boy with a gun among other teenagers in a schoolyard. Officers Gary Spath and Wayne Blanco responded to the call. When the officers arrived, they confronted Pannell who was holding the gun, a starter pistol that had been modified to hold bullets. Parnell and the other teenagers fled and Spath chased him, eventually opening fire and shooting the teenager in the back, instantly killing him. Spath said he shot Pannell as the teenager was turning around to fire on him. Many witnesses, however, said Pannell had his hands up when the shooting occurred. According to the police officers, a fully loaded .22 caliber pistol was recovered from the jacket pocket of Pannell.
An autopsy was conducted by the Bergen County Medical Examiner who originally indicated that Pannell was shot in the back with his hands down, supporting Spath’s account of him reaching for his gun. New Jersey Attorney General Robert Del Tufo, however, called the Bergen County Medical Examiner’s autopsy flawed and ordered a new autopsy. The second autopsy conducted by the state medical examiner, proved that Pannell had his hands up when he was shot in the back by Spath. That evidence supported witness accounts of the shooting.
Following the shooting Black residents of Teaneck staged a series of protest marches which attracted Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton to the town. Some of the marches turned violent. Many protesters felt that killing of Pannell was the result of racial profiling and police brutality. Spath was arrested and tried in 1994 on the charge of reckless manslaughter but was acquitted. Soon afterwards he retired from law enforcement. Also, in 1994, the Pannell family settled a civil rights lawsuit against Teaneck for $200,000. In 1995, Teaneck resident Mike Kelly wrote a book called Color Lines: The Troubled Dreams of Racial Harmony in an American Town.
RODNEY KING (1965-2012)
Rodney King, a Los Angeles taxicab driver, became the catalyst for the second major urban uprising in the city in the 20th Century. On March 3, 1991 King was the victim of a brutal police beating that occurred in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. Caught on tape by local witness George Holliday, the video showed four L.A. police officers restraining and repeatedly striking King with their batons while six other officers stood by, soon gained international notoriety as the beating was broadcast around the world.
King was born in Sacramento, California in 1965, the year of the first Los Angeles Riot. He moved with his parents to Altadena, a Pasadena suburb, when he was 2. King’s parents cleaned offices and homes. His father, Roland King, died in his early 40s from pneumonia.
The incident which catapulted King to international prominence began at 12:30 am on March 3, when a California Highway Patrol team attempted to pull King over for speeding. Driving at speeds up to 115 mph, King led the police on a 7.8 mile high speed chase. King finally pulled over at a dark park entrance, but did not cooperate with officers and displayed erratic behavior. Officers present recall King displaying symptoms of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
King was shot twice with Taser stun darts, and then kicked and beaten with batons for eighty-one seconds before he was finally handcuffed. From the beating he suffered a broken cheekbone and multiple facial fractures, lacerations on the forehead, a fracture of the distal fibula in the right leg, and various bruises, contusions, and abrasions.
That King was African-American and the Los Angeles Police Department officers were white, and that the LAPD had a long record of brutality especially against African Americans, added to the sensation of the case.
Four LAPD officers were arrested and charged with assault and use of excessive force. At the request of the defense the trial was moved from downtown Los Angeles to suburban Simi Valley in neighboring Ventura County, where a predominately white jury without any African Americans was chosen. At the April 1992 trial, three of the officers were exonerated and another was acquitted of all but one charge.
Announcement of the verdict spurred four days of rioting in Los Angeles beginning on April 29, 1992. A twenty-five-square block section of the city was torched. Fifty-four people died in the riots, two thousand were injured, and nearly ten thousand were arrested. More than eight hundred buildings were burned, and damage estimates neared a billion dollars. The riots also touched off similar outbursts in Las Vegas, Atlanta and other cities across the United States.
The officers charged with beating King were then prosecuted federally for civil rights violations. Two of the officers, Sergeant Stacey Koon and Officer Laurence Powell, were convicted on April 17, 1993, and sentenced to thirty months in prison.
Rodney King was awarded $3.8 million in his lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles. Since the incident he experienced continued run-ins with the law, including convictions of drunk driving and spousal abuse. King died at his home in Rialto, California on June 17, 2012. He was 47.
King was born in Sacramento, California in 1965, the year of the first Los Angeles Riot. He moved with his parents to Altadena, a Pasadena suburb, when he was 2. King’s parents cleaned offices and homes. His father, Roland King, died in his early 40s from pneumonia.
The incident which catapulted King to international prominence began at 12:30 am on March 3, when a California Highway Patrol team attempted to pull King over for speeding. Driving at speeds up to 115 mph, King led the police on a 7.8 mile high speed chase. King finally pulled over at a dark park entrance, but did not cooperate with officers and displayed erratic behavior. Officers present recall King displaying symptoms of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
King was shot twice with Taser stun darts, and then kicked and beaten with batons for eighty-one seconds before he was finally handcuffed. From the beating he suffered a broken cheekbone and multiple facial fractures, lacerations on the forehead, a fracture of the distal fibula in the right leg, and various bruises, contusions, and abrasions.
That King was African-American and the Los Angeles Police Department officers were white, and that the LAPD had a long record of brutality especially against African Americans, added to the sensation of the case.
Four LAPD officers were arrested and charged with assault and use of excessive force. At the request of the defense the trial was moved from downtown Los Angeles to suburban Simi Valley in neighboring Ventura County, where a predominately white jury without any African Americans was chosen. At the April 1992 trial, three of the officers were exonerated and another was acquitted of all but one charge.
Announcement of the verdict spurred four days of rioting in Los Angeles beginning on April 29, 1992. A twenty-five-square block section of the city was torched. Fifty-four people died in the riots, two thousand were injured, and nearly ten thousand were arrested. More than eight hundred buildings were burned, and damage estimates neared a billion dollars. The riots also touched off similar outbursts in Las Vegas, Atlanta and other cities across the United States.
The officers charged with beating King were then prosecuted federally for civil rights violations. Two of the officers, Sergeant Stacey Koon and Officer Laurence Powell, were convicted on April 17, 1993, and sentenced to thirty months in prison.
Rodney King was awarded $3.8 million in his lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles. Since the incident he experienced continued run-ins with the law, including convictions of drunk driving and spousal abuse. King died at his home in Rialto, California on June 17, 2012. He was 47.
LATASHA HARLINS (1975-1991)
Latasha Harlins, whose short life came to a violent end in the midst of racial tensions in Los Angeles, California, became a major spark for the 1992 Los Angeles Riots. Harlins was born on July 14, 1975 in East St. Louis, Illinois, to Crystal Harlins and Vester Acoff Sr. Acoff never met Latasha. Latasha’s younger brother, Vester Acoff Jr. was born in 1979, and her younger sister, Christina, was born in 1981.
The family moved from Illinois to South Central Los Angeles in 1981 when Latasha was six years old. They rented a place near 89th Street and Broadway, just a few blocks from where Latasha would later be murdered. Latasha’s mother, Crystal, who worked as a waitress in a local tavern, was found brutally shot on November 27, 1985, in a Los Angeles nightclub. The children’s maternal grandmother, Ruth Harlins, then raised Latasha and her siblings.
By the late 1980s, racial tensions were high in South Los Angeles, and especially between Korean storeowners and African American residents of the city. After the change in national immigration laws in 1965 a large number of Korean immigrants arrived in Los Angeles and by 1968 the first Korean-owned market opened in South Central LA. The area was recovering from the recent Watts Riots and Koreans began buying businesses because they were inexpensive and there wasn’t much competition. Longtime African American residents in the area at first welcomed the Koreans but eventually grew angry with them because they refused to hire black employees and often treated their customers poorly. By 1990, 65% of South Central businesses were Korean-owned and a 1992 survey of these storeowners revealed considerable racial prejudice against black customers and black people in general. Koreans in response argued that their attitudes evolved from high crime rates in the area and shop owner fears of shootings and burglaries.
Latasha Harlins became a victim of these racial tensions on the morning of Saturday, March 16, 1991. She entered Empire Liquor, which was owned by a Korean family, to purchase a bottle of orange juice. As she approached the counter, Soon Ja Du, one of the storeowners, accused her of stealing after seeing Harlins place the bottle in her backpack, despite her holding the $2 payment for the $1.79 price of the juice and approaching the counter to pay. Du grabbed the bag and the two women had a violent scuffle. Harlins threw the juice bottle back on the counter and turned to leave the store when Du pulled a .38-caliber handgun and shot 15-year-old Harlins in the back of the head.
Du was arrested and her trial was held on November 15, 1991. Security-camera footage which showed Harlins’ attempt to pay for the juice and the subsequent scuffle between the two women convinced a jury to find Du guilty of voluntary manslaughter and call for the maximum 16-year jail sentence. Judge Joyce Karlin, however, rejected the jury’s recommendation and instead sentenced Du to five years probation, 400 hours of community service, and a $500 fine.
The judge’s decision exacerbated racial tensions between African Americans and Korean immigrants. This tension, along with the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police on March 3, 1991, became a catalyst for the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Du’s store was looted, set on fire, and never reopened. Judge Karlin also became a target for numerous protests and later stepped down from the bench. The Harlins family received a $300,000 settlement from Du’s insurance company.
The family moved from Illinois to South Central Los Angeles in 1981 when Latasha was six years old. They rented a place near 89th Street and Broadway, just a few blocks from where Latasha would later be murdered. Latasha’s mother, Crystal, who worked as a waitress in a local tavern, was found brutally shot on November 27, 1985, in a Los Angeles nightclub. The children’s maternal grandmother, Ruth Harlins, then raised Latasha and her siblings.
By the late 1980s, racial tensions were high in South Los Angeles, and especially between Korean storeowners and African American residents of the city. After the change in national immigration laws in 1965 a large number of Korean immigrants arrived in Los Angeles and by 1968 the first Korean-owned market opened in South Central LA. The area was recovering from the recent Watts Riots and Koreans began buying businesses because they were inexpensive and there wasn’t much competition. Longtime African American residents in the area at first welcomed the Koreans but eventually grew angry with them because they refused to hire black employees and often treated their customers poorly. By 1990, 65% of South Central businesses were Korean-owned and a 1992 survey of these storeowners revealed considerable racial prejudice against black customers and black people in general. Koreans in response argued that their attitudes evolved from high crime rates in the area and shop owner fears of shootings and burglaries.
Latasha Harlins became a victim of these racial tensions on the morning of Saturday, March 16, 1991. She entered Empire Liquor, which was owned by a Korean family, to purchase a bottle of orange juice. As she approached the counter, Soon Ja Du, one of the storeowners, accused her of stealing after seeing Harlins place the bottle in her backpack, despite her holding the $2 payment for the $1.79 price of the juice and approaching the counter to pay. Du grabbed the bag and the two women had a violent scuffle. Harlins threw the juice bottle back on the counter and turned to leave the store when Du pulled a .38-caliber handgun and shot 15-year-old Harlins in the back of the head.
Du was arrested and her trial was held on November 15, 1991. Security-camera footage which showed Harlins’ attempt to pay for the juice and the subsequent scuffle between the two women convinced a jury to find Du guilty of voluntary manslaughter and call for the maximum 16-year jail sentence. Judge Joyce Karlin, however, rejected the jury’s recommendation and instead sentenced Du to five years probation, 400 hours of community service, and a $500 fine.
The judge’s decision exacerbated racial tensions between African Americans and Korean immigrants. This tension, along with the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police on March 3, 1991, became a catalyst for the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Du’s store was looted, set on fire, and never reopened. Judge Karlin also became a target for numerous protests and later stepped down from the bench. The Harlins family received a $300,000 settlement from Du’s insurance company.
ABNER LOUIMA (1966- )
Abner Louima, an activist against police brutality, is unfortunately best known for being brutalized, sexually assaulted, and savagely beaten by New York Police Department officers in 1997.
Louima was born in 1966 in Thomassin, Haiti, the oldest of his parents’ four children. His father worked as a tailor and his mother was a homemaker. In the early 1980s, members of Louima’s family began to relocate to New York City to escape the political turbulence in Haiti. Louima remained in Haiti long enough to finish his education. He eventually received a degree in electrical engineering from the Ecole Nationale des Arts Métiers in Port-au-Prince, the nation’s capital. In 1991, he immigrated to New York City and worked at a variety of places including a car dealership and a leather bag manufacturer. In addition, Louima took a handful of English classes at nearby Kingsborough Community College. He eventually settled into a job as a security guard.
On the night of August 9, 1997, Louima was at Club Rendez-Vous in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn when a fight broke out between two female club goers. He and other men attempted to stop the fight just before police officers from the NYPD’s 70th precinct responded to a call reporting the disturbance. Once officers arrived on the scene, a fight between them and club goers commenced. Justin Volpe, a NYPD 70th precinct officer, was punched and believed—incorrectly, as it turned out—that Louima had done it. He arrested Louima on charges of disorderly conduct, obstructing police, and resisting arrest.
On the way to the police station Louima was subjected to beatings by the police officers who used their fists, hand-held radios, and nightsticks. Once they arrived at the station Volpe took Louima to the bathroom, kicked and squeezed his testicles, and then sodomized him with the handle of a plunger. Volpe then pushed the handle of the plunger into Louima’s mouth. All these events occurred while Louima’s hands were handcuffed behind his back.
The following day Louima was brought to the Coney Island Hospital emergency room with multiple injuries including broken teeth and severe damage to his colon and bladder. The officers said his injuries were the result of “abnormal homosexual activities” but an ER nurse doubted these claims and called Louima’s family as well as NYPD’s Internal Affairs bureau. Her call initiated local and eventually national press coverage of the police officers’ brutal assault on Louima.
Officer Volpe was found guilty in December of 1999 of assaulting Louima and threatening his life. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison without the possibility of parole. Charles Schwartz, another NYPD 70th precinct officer, was convicted of assault on Louima in June of 2000 and sentenced to 15 years behind bars for assisting Volpe in the bathroom. Three other officers, Thomas Bruder, Michael Bellomo, and Thomas Wiese, were indicted in 2000 for trying to cover up the assault but their convictions were later overturned in 2002 due to a lack of evidence. Abner Louima was paid $8.7 million dollars as a result of a civil suit against the city, the largest police brutality settlement in New York City’s history. With the $5.8 million he kept after legal fees were assessed, he and his family established a charity in Haiti.
Louima now lives in Miami Lakes, Florida, with his wife Micheline, and their three children. He is a frequent speaker on police brutality and police-community relations.
Louima was born in 1966 in Thomassin, Haiti, the oldest of his parents’ four children. His father worked as a tailor and his mother was a homemaker. In the early 1980s, members of Louima’s family began to relocate to New York City to escape the political turbulence in Haiti. Louima remained in Haiti long enough to finish his education. He eventually received a degree in electrical engineering from the Ecole Nationale des Arts Métiers in Port-au-Prince, the nation’s capital. In 1991, he immigrated to New York City and worked at a variety of places including a car dealership and a leather bag manufacturer. In addition, Louima took a handful of English classes at nearby Kingsborough Community College. He eventually settled into a job as a security guard.
On the night of August 9, 1997, Louima was at Club Rendez-Vous in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn when a fight broke out between two female club goers. He and other men attempted to stop the fight just before police officers from the NYPD’s 70th precinct responded to a call reporting the disturbance. Once officers arrived on the scene, a fight between them and club goers commenced. Justin Volpe, a NYPD 70th precinct officer, was punched and believed—incorrectly, as it turned out—that Louima had done it. He arrested Louima on charges of disorderly conduct, obstructing police, and resisting arrest.
On the way to the police station Louima was subjected to beatings by the police officers who used their fists, hand-held radios, and nightsticks. Once they arrived at the station Volpe took Louima to the bathroom, kicked and squeezed his testicles, and then sodomized him with the handle of a plunger. Volpe then pushed the handle of the plunger into Louima’s mouth. All these events occurred while Louima’s hands were handcuffed behind his back.
The following day Louima was brought to the Coney Island Hospital emergency room with multiple injuries including broken teeth and severe damage to his colon and bladder. The officers said his injuries were the result of “abnormal homosexual activities” but an ER nurse doubted these claims and called Louima’s family as well as NYPD’s Internal Affairs bureau. Her call initiated local and eventually national press coverage of the police officers’ brutal assault on Louima.
Officer Volpe was found guilty in December of 1999 of assaulting Louima and threatening his life. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison without the possibility of parole. Charles Schwartz, another NYPD 70th precinct officer, was convicted of assault on Louima in June of 2000 and sentenced to 15 years behind bars for assisting Volpe in the bathroom. Three other officers, Thomas Bruder, Michael Bellomo, and Thomas Wiese, were indicted in 2000 for trying to cover up the assault but their convictions were later overturned in 2002 due to a lack of evidence. Abner Louima was paid $8.7 million dollars as a result of a civil suit against the city, the largest police brutality settlement in New York City’s history. With the $5.8 million he kept after legal fees were assessed, he and his family established a charity in Haiti.
Louima now lives in Miami Lakes, Florida, with his wife Micheline, and their three children. He is a frequent speaker on police brutality and police-community relations.
AMADOU DIALLO (1976-1999)
Amadou Diallo was a Guinean immigrant who lived in Manhattan, New York, and is unfortunately best known for being killed by New York City police after he was fired upon forty-one times outside his place of residence. Diallo was born on September 2, 1976, in Liberia to his Guinean parents, Saikou Diallo and Kadiatou Diallo, and was the eldest of their four children. His parents’ business of exporting gemstones between Africa and Asia gave Amadou the opportunity to study in various countries, one of which was Thailand. Diallo studied both computer engineering and English. The latter led him to take an interest in American culture.
After the divorce of Diallo’s parents in 1989, he lived in Bangkok, Thailand, with his mother. He later left Bangkok for Guinea because he wanted to seek a blessing from his elders in order to pursue his dream of living in America and earning a college education. Diallo eventually received the blessing and traveled to the United States. In 1997 he arrived in New York City and went to work as bicycle messenger. He later worked as a street peddler selling gloves, socks, and videos.
On the early morning of February 4, 1999, four plainclothes New York City police officers were patrolling the neighborhood in which Diallo lived in the hopes of uncovering evidence that would lead to the arrest of a serial rapist who lived in the area. At around 12:40 a.m., the four officers exited their vehicle and approached Diallo while he was in the vestibule of his building. While it is unclear if they identified themselves as police officers, they nontheless sought to question Diallo who in turn did not respond to their request but instead reached into his back pocket. Upon seeing the object that was removed, one of the officers yelled “gun,” and all four officers began to shoot at Diallo. A total of forty-one shots were fired from the officers’ weapons. Nineteen shots hit Diallo’s body, and he was killed instantly. Neighbors called 911 after the shooting, and the attending officers called in the incident on their radios. Once other officers arrived on the scene, an investigation began. It was discovered that there was no gun and all that was lying next to Diallo’s body were a pager and a wallet.
Diallo was buried in Guinea where thousands of his fellow countrymen attended his funeral. The shooting catalyzed protests in the city of New York because many believed the officers had acted without restraint. The four officers who were responsible for the shooting death of Diallo were indicted and began trial on February 2, 2000. On February 25, 2000, all four of the officers were acquitted. In April of the same year, Diallo’s family sued the city of New York and the officers responsible for $61 million. The family would later settle for $3 million dollars. Some of the money was used to create the Amadou Diallo Foundation and scholarship fund in 2005. The Diallo killing would be the first of a series of high-profile police shoots that would eventually spark the Black Lives Matter movement.
After the divorce of Diallo’s parents in 1989, he lived in Bangkok, Thailand, with his mother. He later left Bangkok for Guinea because he wanted to seek a blessing from his elders in order to pursue his dream of living in America and earning a college education. Diallo eventually received the blessing and traveled to the United States. In 1997 he arrived in New York City and went to work as bicycle messenger. He later worked as a street peddler selling gloves, socks, and videos.
On the early morning of February 4, 1999, four plainclothes New York City police officers were patrolling the neighborhood in which Diallo lived in the hopes of uncovering evidence that would lead to the arrest of a serial rapist who lived in the area. At around 12:40 a.m., the four officers exited their vehicle and approached Diallo while he was in the vestibule of his building. While it is unclear if they identified themselves as police officers, they nontheless sought to question Diallo who in turn did not respond to their request but instead reached into his back pocket. Upon seeing the object that was removed, one of the officers yelled “gun,” and all four officers began to shoot at Diallo. A total of forty-one shots were fired from the officers’ weapons. Nineteen shots hit Diallo’s body, and he was killed instantly. Neighbors called 911 after the shooting, and the attending officers called in the incident on their radios. Once other officers arrived on the scene, an investigation began. It was discovered that there was no gun and all that was lying next to Diallo’s body were a pager and a wallet.
Diallo was buried in Guinea where thousands of his fellow countrymen attended his funeral. The shooting catalyzed protests in the city of New York because many believed the officers had acted without restraint. The four officers who were responsible for the shooting death of Diallo were indicted and began trial on February 2, 2000. On February 25, 2000, all four of the officers were acquitted. In April of the same year, Diallo’s family sued the city of New York and the officers responsible for $61 million. The family would later settle for $3 million dollars. Some of the money was used to create the Amadou Diallo Foundation and scholarship fund in 2005. The Diallo killing would be the first of a series of high-profile police shoots that would eventually spark the Black Lives Matter movement.
PRINCE JONES (1975-2000)
The shooting death of 25-year-old Prince Jones by Prince Georges County, Maryland police officer Carlton Jones in Fairfax County, Virginia on September 1, 2000 added to the growing number of young unarmed African Americans murdered at the hands of law enforcement. Prince Jones’s death helped inspire the Black Lives Matter Movement thirteen years later.
Prince Jones was born Rockey Jones in 1975 to Prince C. Jones Sr and Dr. Mabel Jones in Fairfax County, Virginia. Much of his early life is unknown. At the time of his death, he was attending Howard University alongside his friend Ta-Nehisi Coates. He also was a personal trainer at a Washington D.C. gym and was slated to enlist in the U.S. Navy. Prince Jones and his fiancée Candace Carson had an infant daughter, Nina.
On September 1, 2000, Jones was driving his Jeep Cherokee when he encountered two undercover Prince George’s County, Maryland police officers who were driving separate unmarked vehicles. They followed Jones 16 miles from Hyattsville, Maryland to Fairfax County, Virginia. Jones at the time was driving to visit his fiancée while the undercover police officers were searching for a jeep similar to Jones’s vehicle that was tied to a stolen police weapon.
One of the undercover police officers, Carlton B. Jones, followed Prince Jones to Spring Terrace, a residential street located in Sleepy Hollow section of Falls Church. Prince Jones stopped his jeep to get out to identify himself. Officer Carlton Jones also identified himself as a police officer and flashed his gun at Jones. According to police reports Prince Jones then got back into his jeep and rammed it into the officer’s Mitsubishi Montero. In response, Officer Carlton Jones fired 16 times at Prince Jones who was still in the jeep, hitting him with six bullets. Prince Jones was able to drive off a short distance before crashing a few feet from his fiancée’s home. He would later die from his gunshot wounds at Inova Fairfax Hospital.
In October 2000, Fairfax County Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. refused to file criminal charges against Officer Jones. Six years later, in January 2006, a Prince George’s County Circuit Court Civil Jury declared that Prince Jones’s death at the hands of Prince Georges County police was wrongful and resulted from a criminal justice system that failed to hold police accountable for serious misconduct. Prince Jones’s daughter, Nina, was awarded $2.5 million in damages. In 2015, author Ta-Nehisi Coates released his book Between the World and Me where he described the life and death of his friend, Prince Jones.
Prince Jones was born Rockey Jones in 1975 to Prince C. Jones Sr and Dr. Mabel Jones in Fairfax County, Virginia. Much of his early life is unknown. At the time of his death, he was attending Howard University alongside his friend Ta-Nehisi Coates. He also was a personal trainer at a Washington D.C. gym and was slated to enlist in the U.S. Navy. Prince Jones and his fiancée Candace Carson had an infant daughter, Nina.
On September 1, 2000, Jones was driving his Jeep Cherokee when he encountered two undercover Prince George’s County, Maryland police officers who were driving separate unmarked vehicles. They followed Jones 16 miles from Hyattsville, Maryland to Fairfax County, Virginia. Jones at the time was driving to visit his fiancée while the undercover police officers were searching for a jeep similar to Jones’s vehicle that was tied to a stolen police weapon.
One of the undercover police officers, Carlton B. Jones, followed Prince Jones to Spring Terrace, a residential street located in Sleepy Hollow section of Falls Church. Prince Jones stopped his jeep to get out to identify himself. Officer Carlton Jones also identified himself as a police officer and flashed his gun at Jones. According to police reports Prince Jones then got back into his jeep and rammed it into the officer’s Mitsubishi Montero. In response, Officer Carlton Jones fired 16 times at Prince Jones who was still in the jeep, hitting him with six bullets. Prince Jones was able to drive off a short distance before crashing a few feet from his fiancée’s home. He would later die from his gunshot wounds at Inova Fairfax Hospital.
In October 2000, Fairfax County Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. refused to file criminal charges against Officer Jones. Six years later, in January 2006, a Prince George’s County Circuit Court Civil Jury declared that Prince Jones’s death at the hands of Prince Georges County police was wrongful and resulted from a criminal justice system that failed to hold police accountable for serious misconduct. Prince Jones’s daughter, Nina, was awarded $2.5 million in damages. In 2015, author Ta-Nehisi Coates released his book Between the World and Me where he described the life and death of his friend, Prince Jones.
ROGER OWENSBY JR. (1971-2000)
Roger Owensby Jr. was a twenty-nine-year-old African-American who died at the hands of Cincinnati Police officers during a scuffle in the Roselawn neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio in November 2000. Owens’ death at the hands of police—as well as the death the following year of Timothy Thomas under similar circumstances—helped spark the Cincinnati Riot in April 2001 and eventually helped inspire the Black Lives Matter Movement thirteen years later.
Roger Owensby Jr. was born on March 27, 1971 in Cincinnati, Ohio to Roger Owensby Sr. and Brenda Owensby. Owensby joined the U.S. Army in 1990 and served for eight years, rising to the rank of sergeant. He saw combat in the Persian Gulf War (1990-1991) and afterwards served in Bosnia in 1996 where he was an Army cook. At the time of his death, Owensby had a nine-year-old daughter, Mylesha Owensby, and he had no previous police record.
On November 7, 2000, after leaving the Sunoco Mini-Mart in the Bond Hill neighborhood of Cincinnati, Owensby was approach by two Cincinnati police officers, Robert Blaine Jorg and Patrick Caton. They stopped and searched him for a few minutes. Then, for reasons that are not clear, Owensby began to run from the officers. They pursued him and tackled him to the ground where they handcuffed him. He was put in their police car and died there. The Cincinnati Police initially investigated the incident but the Hamilton County Coroner’s office concluded that Owens either died as the result of a chokehold or by officers piling their weight on his chest as he lay on the ground.
The Hamilton County District Attorney filed charges of manslaughter and misdemeanor assault against Jorg and Caton on January 3, 2001. In the subsequent trials, Robert Blaine Jorg was found not guilty and Patrick Caton was freed because of a mistrial. Prosecutors did not attempt to try him again.
On November 6, 2001, the Owensby family filed a lawsuit which claimed that Officers Jorg and Caton had violated Roger Owensby’s civil rights. On March 17, 2006, U. S. District Court Judge S. Arthur Spiegal ordered the city of Cincinnati to pay $6.5 million dollars to the Owensby family after concluding that Officers Jorg and Caton had violated Owensby’s civil rights.
Roger Owensby Jr. was born on March 27, 1971 in Cincinnati, Ohio to Roger Owensby Sr. and Brenda Owensby. Owensby joined the U.S. Army in 1990 and served for eight years, rising to the rank of sergeant. He saw combat in the Persian Gulf War (1990-1991) and afterwards served in Bosnia in 1996 where he was an Army cook. At the time of his death, Owensby had a nine-year-old daughter, Mylesha Owensby, and he had no previous police record.
On November 7, 2000, after leaving the Sunoco Mini-Mart in the Bond Hill neighborhood of Cincinnati, Owensby was approach by two Cincinnati police officers, Robert Blaine Jorg and Patrick Caton. They stopped and searched him for a few minutes. Then, for reasons that are not clear, Owensby began to run from the officers. They pursued him and tackled him to the ground where they handcuffed him. He was put in their police car and died there. The Cincinnati Police initially investigated the incident but the Hamilton County Coroner’s office concluded that Owens either died as the result of a chokehold or by officers piling their weight on his chest as he lay on the ground.
The Hamilton County District Attorney filed charges of manslaughter and misdemeanor assault against Jorg and Caton on January 3, 2001. In the subsequent trials, Robert Blaine Jorg was found not guilty and Patrick Caton was freed because of a mistrial. Prosecutors did not attempt to try him again.
On November 6, 2001, the Owensby family filed a lawsuit which claimed that Officers Jorg and Caton had violated Roger Owensby’s civil rights. On March 17, 2006, U. S. District Court Judge S. Arthur Spiegal ordered the city of Cincinnati to pay $6.5 million dollars to the Owensby family after concluding that Officers Jorg and Caton had violated Owensby’s civil rights.
TIMOTHY DEWAYNE THOMAS, JR. (1981-2001)
ORLANDO BARLOW (1974-2003)
In 2003 Orlando Barlow was shot in the back while attempting to surrender to Las Vegas, Nevada Police officers. His murder helped generate what would eventually become a national debate about police use of deadly force against unarmed citizens and the eventual organization of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Orlando Barlow was a resident of Clark County which surrounds Las Vegas. On February 28, 2003, Barlow was at a residence on the 7000 block of Rustling Wind, watching the children of a female acquaintance. The woman, whose name was undisclosed, called the police, reporting that a man with a sawed-off shotgun was at her home holding her and her children hostage. She said she feared for her life and the lives of her seven children inside the home. She called the police from a nearby convenience store because she did not have a phone in her home.
Police officers Jeremy Krough, James Vargas, Sean Hendrickson, and Brian Hartman arrived at the residence and began speaking with Barlow. The four officers convinced Barlow to come out of the residence. Barlow was ordered to walk backwards out of the home with his hands in the air. He was then ordered to his knees. Three officers approached Barlow with their weapons holstered to arrest him. Officer Brian Hartman, 50 feet away, fired one round at Barlow, fatally shooting him in the back. Barlow was just 28 years old.
Hartman was placed on administrative leave, pending an internal investigation. He later testified that he saw Barlow reach for his waistband while kneeling. He thought he was reaching for a gun, but Barlow was unarmed. A coroner ruled Barlow’s death “excusable. A federal probe into the investigation found that Hartman and the other officers printed t-shirts that said “BDRT” on them. The letters stood for “Baby’s Daddy Removal Team” and “Big Dogs Run Together” and that the officers sold these shirts for profit. Hartman later resigned from the force to avoid prosecution.
The Barlow family filed a wrongful death federal civil rights lawsuit in February of 2004 in the Clark County District Court. The lawsuit was later moved to Federal Court in Las Vegas. The suit cited wrongful death, civil rights violations, and the use of excessive force by officers. A $250,000 dollar settlement was reached out of court for the Barlow family.
Orlando Barlow was a resident of Clark County which surrounds Las Vegas. On February 28, 2003, Barlow was at a residence on the 7000 block of Rustling Wind, watching the children of a female acquaintance. The woman, whose name was undisclosed, called the police, reporting that a man with a sawed-off shotgun was at her home holding her and her children hostage. She said she feared for her life and the lives of her seven children inside the home. She called the police from a nearby convenience store because she did not have a phone in her home.
Police officers Jeremy Krough, James Vargas, Sean Hendrickson, and Brian Hartman arrived at the residence and began speaking with Barlow. The four officers convinced Barlow to come out of the residence. Barlow was ordered to walk backwards out of the home with his hands in the air. He was then ordered to his knees. Three officers approached Barlow with their weapons holstered to arrest him. Officer Brian Hartman, 50 feet away, fired one round at Barlow, fatally shooting him in the back. Barlow was just 28 years old.
Hartman was placed on administrative leave, pending an internal investigation. He later testified that he saw Barlow reach for his waistband while kneeling. He thought he was reaching for a gun, but Barlow was unarmed. A coroner ruled Barlow’s death “excusable. A federal probe into the investigation found that Hartman and the other officers printed t-shirts that said “BDRT” on them. The letters stood for “Baby’s Daddy Removal Team” and “Big Dogs Run Together” and that the officers sold these shirts for profit. Hartman later resigned from the force to avoid prosecution.
The Barlow family filed a wrongful death federal civil rights lawsuit in February of 2004 in the Clark County District Court. The lawsuit was later moved to Federal Court in Las Vegas. The suit cited wrongful death, civil rights violations, and the use of excessive force by officers. A $250,000 dollar settlement was reached out of court for the Barlow family.
HENRY GLOVER (1974-2005)
In 2005 Henry Glover was a resident of Algiers, New Orleans, Louisiana. He survived Hurricane Katrina, only to be brutally murdered by a New Orleans Police officer just days after the storm.
According to Glover’s fiancée, Rolanda Short, on the morning of September 2, 2005, Glover and friend Bernard Calloway left in search of food and supplies for the family. A few hours later, Short heard Calloway yelling outside that “Ace” had been shot. Glover’s nickname was “Ace,” and when she ran to the scene, Glover was lying in the street with a gunshot wound to his chest. Neighbor William Tanner drove the wounded Glover and his brother Edward King to nearby Habans Elementary School which had been commandeered by police officers. According to Tanner, New Orleans police officers put King and him in handcuffs and repeatedly beat them both, while Glover lay in the back of the car dying. The 31-year old father of five received no medical attention and died from his wounds in the vehicle.
New Orleans Police Officer Greg McRae took Tanner’s car keys, got into his car, and drove away with Glover’s body still inside. McRae drove the vehicle about a mile away by a levee, left the car running, and threw a flare into the vehicle. When the flare did not set a fire, McRae fired one shot into the car, which ignited it and walked away. Seven days later Glover’s remains were found in the vehicle by two volunteer first responders. The case initially went unreported until remains were found and the FBI began an investigation. Several years went by for the Glover family with no resolution.
The FBI investigation finally revealed that Officer David Warren was guarding a police substation in an Algiers strip mall when he observed two men in the lot who he thought were attempting to loot the mall. He fired what he believed to be a single “warning” shot at the two men, one of whom was Henry Glover. When this new information was discovered, a wrongful death lawsuit was filed by several members of the Glover family in June 2010.
In July of 2010, Officer David Warren was arrested for the murder of Henry Glover and Officer Greg McRae was arrested for filing a false report and other charges related to the case. After a trial in which Warren was found guilty on March 31, 2011, Judge Lance M. Africk sentenced him to 25 years and 9 months in federal prison on the charge of manslaughter with a firearm. At the end of the same trial, Judge Africk also sentenced Officer Greg McRae to 17 years and 3 months in prison on obstruction of justice for attempting to eliminate the body of Henry Glover.
On December 17, 2012, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the felony convictions of Warren and McRae related to the death of Glover and ordered a new trial for both men. The three-judge panel found, among other concerns, that the trials of the two men should have been conducted separately. On December 11, 2013, a jury acquitted Warren of the charges against him. McRae has yet to be retried. The current New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu has settled several federal civil rights cases with the Glover family related to the fatal shooting and the burning of his body. The amounts of the settlements have been undisclosed.
According to Glover’s fiancée, Rolanda Short, on the morning of September 2, 2005, Glover and friend Bernard Calloway left in search of food and supplies for the family. A few hours later, Short heard Calloway yelling outside that “Ace” had been shot. Glover’s nickname was “Ace,” and when she ran to the scene, Glover was lying in the street with a gunshot wound to his chest. Neighbor William Tanner drove the wounded Glover and his brother Edward King to nearby Habans Elementary School which had been commandeered by police officers. According to Tanner, New Orleans police officers put King and him in handcuffs and repeatedly beat them both, while Glover lay in the back of the car dying. The 31-year old father of five received no medical attention and died from his wounds in the vehicle.
New Orleans Police Officer Greg McRae took Tanner’s car keys, got into his car, and drove away with Glover’s body still inside. McRae drove the vehicle about a mile away by a levee, left the car running, and threw a flare into the vehicle. When the flare did not set a fire, McRae fired one shot into the car, which ignited it and walked away. Seven days later Glover’s remains were found in the vehicle by two volunteer first responders. The case initially went unreported until remains were found and the FBI began an investigation. Several years went by for the Glover family with no resolution.
The FBI investigation finally revealed that Officer David Warren was guarding a police substation in an Algiers strip mall when he observed two men in the lot who he thought were attempting to loot the mall. He fired what he believed to be a single “warning” shot at the two men, one of whom was Henry Glover. When this new information was discovered, a wrongful death lawsuit was filed by several members of the Glover family in June 2010.
In July of 2010, Officer David Warren was arrested for the murder of Henry Glover and Officer Greg McRae was arrested for filing a false report and other charges related to the case. After a trial in which Warren was found guilty on March 31, 2011, Judge Lance M. Africk sentenced him to 25 years and 9 months in federal prison on the charge of manslaughter with a firearm. At the end of the same trial, Judge Africk also sentenced Officer Greg McRae to 17 years and 3 months in prison on obstruction of justice for attempting to eliminate the body of Henry Glover.
On December 17, 2012, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the felony convictions of Warren and McRae related to the death of Glover and ordered a new trial for both men. The three-judge panel found, among other concerns, that the trials of the two men should have been conducted separately. On December 11, 2013, a jury acquitted Warren of the charges against him. McRae has yet to be retried. The current New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu has settled several federal civil rights cases with the Glover family related to the fatal shooting and the burning of his body. The amounts of the settlements have been undisclosed.
KATHRYN JOHNSTON (1914-2006)
On November 21, 2006, Kathryn Johnston, a 92-year-old African American woman, was killed by undercover police officers at her home in Atlanta, Georgia. The killing contributed to the demands for police reform and accountability that helped inspire the Black Lives Matter Movement seven years later. Johnston was born June 26, 1914 in Atlanta. Much of her life story is unknown, but at the time of her death, she was living alone at a home on Neal Street, located in Northwest Atlanta.
On November 21, 2006, at around 7:00 p.m., Atlanta undercover police officers Jason R. Smith, Gregg Junnier, and Arthur Tesler raided her home in plain clothes, wearing bulletproof vests, and carrying riot shields. According to the official police report, the three officers entered without knocking or identifying themselves, searching for a man who had reportedly been selling illegal drugs at the residence. Johnston fired one shot from a revolver, and the officers returned fire, shooting thirty-nine times. Johnston was hit six times and killed instantly.
People living in the neighborhood speculated that the police had the wrong house during the raid, but the police denied that idea, saying undercover officers had made a drug purchase at the home earlier that day. The police stated that they served a “no knock” warrant because they believed their suspect would otherwise have time to hide evidence or escape after hearing an officer’s knock. Johnston’s neighbors said she kept a revolver for self-defense because she lived in a high-crime neighborhood; an elderly woman had recently been raped nearby. They also reported that Johnston had no history of involvement with the drug trade.
On February 7, 2007, the three officers went on trial for the murder of Kathryn Johnston. Fulton County District Attorney Paul L. Howard Jr. brought felony murder and burglary indictments against the officers. During the trial, prosecutors claimed one of the officers planted three bags of marijuana in the house to counter the fact that no other drugs were found in the residence. Prosecutors also argued that after the shooting Officer Jason Smith called an informant, Alex White, and told him to falsely report that he had purchased crack cocaine at Johnston’s home earlier in the day.
On October 30, 2008, all three officers pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to violate the civil rights of Kathryn Johnston, resulting in her death. Officers Smith and Junnier also pleaded guilty to state charges of voluntary manslaughter and making false statements. Smith later confessed to planting the bags of marijuana in Johnston’s house after the shooting occurred.
On February 24, 2009, U.S. District Judge Julie E. Carnes sentenced Officer Junnier to six years, Officer Tesler to five years, and Officer Smith to ten years in prison. In August 2010, the Johnston family was awarded $4.9 billion to settle a wrongful death lawsuit. In 2019, the Kathryn Johnston Memorial Park, was opened near Johnston’s home.
On November 21, 2006, at around 7:00 p.m., Atlanta undercover police officers Jason R. Smith, Gregg Junnier, and Arthur Tesler raided her home in plain clothes, wearing bulletproof vests, and carrying riot shields. According to the official police report, the three officers entered without knocking or identifying themselves, searching for a man who had reportedly been selling illegal drugs at the residence. Johnston fired one shot from a revolver, and the officers returned fire, shooting thirty-nine times. Johnston was hit six times and killed instantly.
People living in the neighborhood speculated that the police had the wrong house during the raid, but the police denied that idea, saying undercover officers had made a drug purchase at the home earlier that day. The police stated that they served a “no knock” warrant because they believed their suspect would otherwise have time to hide evidence or escape after hearing an officer’s knock. Johnston’s neighbors said she kept a revolver for self-defense because she lived in a high-crime neighborhood; an elderly woman had recently been raped nearby. They also reported that Johnston had no history of involvement with the drug trade.
On February 7, 2007, the three officers went on trial for the murder of Kathryn Johnston. Fulton County District Attorney Paul L. Howard Jr. brought felony murder and burglary indictments against the officers. During the trial, prosecutors claimed one of the officers planted three bags of marijuana in the house to counter the fact that no other drugs were found in the residence. Prosecutors also argued that after the shooting Officer Jason Smith called an informant, Alex White, and told him to falsely report that he had purchased crack cocaine at Johnston’s home earlier in the day.
On October 30, 2008, all three officers pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to violate the civil rights of Kathryn Johnston, resulting in her death. Officers Smith and Junnier also pleaded guilty to state charges of voluntary manslaughter and making false statements. Smith later confessed to planting the bags of marijuana in Johnston’s house after the shooting occurred.
On February 24, 2009, U.S. District Judge Julie E. Carnes sentenced Officer Junnier to six years, Officer Tesler to five years, and Officer Smith to ten years in prison. In August 2010, the Johnston family was awarded $4.9 billion to settle a wrongful death lawsuit. In 2019, the Kathryn Johnston Memorial Park, was opened near Johnston’s home.
SEAN ELIJAH BELL (1983-2006)
Twenty-three-year-old Sean Elijah Bell, the victim of a violent police shooting in 2006, was born on May 18, 1983, to William and Valerie Bell. As a child, Bell was interested in acting and played baseball. According to Bell’s fiancée, Nicole Poultre, in an interview with television host Larry King, he had his mind set on becoming an electrician.
The Sean Bell shooting incident took place in the New York City, New York borough of Queens on November 25, 2006—the night of Bell’s bachelor party and the day before his wedding. Bell and two close friends were shot a total of fifty times by five uniformed and plainclothes undercover New York Police Department officers. Bell died, and two of his friends, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman, were severely wounded. Police officers were on duty near Club Kalua, the name of the building where the shooting took place, which was reportedly housing a prostitution ring. After Guzman and another man got into an argument outside the club that resulted in a gun threat, Officer Gescard Isnora, concerned about possible violence, both informed Guzman and his friends that he was a police officer and also summoned other officers. Isnora assumed one of the men was reaching for his gun and fired into the car. The other officers followed suit and fired multiple shots.
On March 16, 2007, a grand jury indicted three of the five officers involved in the incident. Officer Isnora, who fired the first shot, and Officer Michael Oliver, who fired 31 of the 50 shots, were charged with first- and second-degree manslaughter, second-degree careless endangerment, and first- and second-degree assault. Detective Marc Cooper was charged with two counts of reckless endangerment. All three detectives pleaded not guilty at their arraignment on March 19, 2007. Isnora and Oliver were released on bond, and Cooper was released on his own recognizance. Oliver and Isnora initially faced up to twenty-five years in prison under their indictments.
Sean Bell’s death sparked brutal public criticism of the police and reminded many of the fatal Amadou Diallo shooting by other police officers in 1999. The tragedy soon became highly publicized and politicized by Reverend Al Sharpton and other New York City activists. Sharpton, who had led other protests against police brutality toward blacks, held a series of press conferences surrounded by the relatives of Bell, Benefield, and Guzman at Mary Immaculate Hospital where the wounded men were being treated. One law enforcement official said that, as the reality of the indicted officers’ decisions sank in, that the incident would have a strong impact on how detectives make decisions to use deadly force, especially those doing undercover work. The shooting also helped set the background for the later Black Lives Matter movement.
In April 2008, Justice Arthur J. Cooperman, who heard the case alone after the detectives surrendered their right to a jury, acquitted all three men of the charges filed against them.
The Sean Bell shooting incident took place in the New York City, New York borough of Queens on November 25, 2006—the night of Bell’s bachelor party and the day before his wedding. Bell and two close friends were shot a total of fifty times by five uniformed and plainclothes undercover New York Police Department officers. Bell died, and two of his friends, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman, were severely wounded. Police officers were on duty near Club Kalua, the name of the building where the shooting took place, which was reportedly housing a prostitution ring. After Guzman and another man got into an argument outside the club that resulted in a gun threat, Officer Gescard Isnora, concerned about possible violence, both informed Guzman and his friends that he was a police officer and also summoned other officers. Isnora assumed one of the men was reaching for his gun and fired into the car. The other officers followed suit and fired multiple shots.
On March 16, 2007, a grand jury indicted three of the five officers involved in the incident. Officer Isnora, who fired the first shot, and Officer Michael Oliver, who fired 31 of the 50 shots, were charged with first- and second-degree manslaughter, second-degree careless endangerment, and first- and second-degree assault. Detective Marc Cooper was charged with two counts of reckless endangerment. All three detectives pleaded not guilty at their arraignment on March 19, 2007. Isnora and Oliver were released on bond, and Cooper was released on his own recognizance. Oliver and Isnora initially faced up to twenty-five years in prison under their indictments.
Sean Bell’s death sparked brutal public criticism of the police and reminded many of the fatal Amadou Diallo shooting by other police officers in 1999. The tragedy soon became highly publicized and politicized by Reverend Al Sharpton and other New York City activists. Sharpton, who had led other protests against police brutality toward blacks, held a series of press conferences surrounded by the relatives of Bell, Benefield, and Guzman at Mary Immaculate Hospital where the wounded men were being treated. One law enforcement official said that, as the reality of the indicted officers’ decisions sank in, that the incident would have a strong impact on how detectives make decisions to use deadly force, especially those doing undercover work. The shooting also helped set the background for the later Black Lives Matter movement.
In April 2008, Justice Arthur J. Cooperman, who heard the case alone after the detectives surrendered their right to a jury, acquitted all three men of the charges filed against them.
DEAUNTA T. FARROW (1994-2007)
Twelve-year-old DeAunta T. Farrow, killed by West Memphis, Arkansas Police Officer Erik Sammis on June 22, 2007, was one of the youngest victims of a police shooting that year. His death sparked protests in West Memphis and brought national attention to another death of an unarmed black citizen at the hands of police officers. His shooting death was also an early inspiration for the Black Lives Matter Movement that would begin six years later.
DeAunta Farrow was born on September 7, 1994, in West Memphis, Arkansas to Robin Perkins and Debra Farrow. Much of his early life is unknown. Just prior to his death he graduated from the sixth grade at Maddux Elementary School in West Memphis.
On the evening of June 22, 2007, Farrow was walking with his 14-year-old cousin, Unseld Nash, Jr, from Farrow’s home to the nearby Steeplechase Apartments where Nash lived. Along the way the two made a stop at a gas station where they purchased soda pop and chips from the station’s convenience store, and continued down the street.
Farrow and Nash turned up the street leading to Nash’s apartment. At that point two undercover West Memphis police officers, Jimmy Evans and Sammis, who were on a stakeout in a narcotics investigation, appeared from a nearby dumpster. According to some eyewitnesses, the two police officers confronted the young men and soon afterwards Sammis, noticed something bulging in the 12-year-old’s coat pocket. As Farrow removed the item, Sammis shot and killed him. Sammis and the West Memphis police claim that Farrow pulled out a toy gun and made a gesture at the officers at which point, Sammis, fearing for his life and the life of his partner, shot the boy. Eyewitnesses claimed that Farrow pulled out the soda pop and chips he had just purchased.
The shooting death of Farrow generated outrage in the West Memphis African American community. Four days after the shooting, hundreds of angry residents packed a police commission meeting at the West Memphis City Hall where they demanded answers. They received none as city officials called for calm and asked that everyone wait for the results of a police investigation.
Farrow’s funeral was held on July 1, 2007 and drew 1,500 mourners who turned out to pay their respects. Rev. Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. flew down from New York City, New York and gave the eulogy at Farrow’s funeral. Sharpton used the service to demand more information about the shooting from city officials Meanwhile Debra Farrow filled a $125 million-dollar lawsuit against West Memphis Arkansas Police Department which remains undecided. On April 22, 2011, however, the U.S. Justice Department after its own investigation, ruled that the two West Memphis Police Officers, Sammis and Evans acted properly under the circumstances and thus could not be held liable for the death of Farrow.
DeAunta Farrow was born on September 7, 1994, in West Memphis, Arkansas to Robin Perkins and Debra Farrow. Much of his early life is unknown. Just prior to his death he graduated from the sixth grade at Maddux Elementary School in West Memphis.
On the evening of June 22, 2007, Farrow was walking with his 14-year-old cousin, Unseld Nash, Jr, from Farrow’s home to the nearby Steeplechase Apartments where Nash lived. Along the way the two made a stop at a gas station where they purchased soda pop and chips from the station’s convenience store, and continued down the street.
Farrow and Nash turned up the street leading to Nash’s apartment. At that point two undercover West Memphis police officers, Jimmy Evans and Sammis, who were on a stakeout in a narcotics investigation, appeared from a nearby dumpster. According to some eyewitnesses, the two police officers confronted the young men and soon afterwards Sammis, noticed something bulging in the 12-year-old’s coat pocket. As Farrow removed the item, Sammis shot and killed him. Sammis and the West Memphis police claim that Farrow pulled out a toy gun and made a gesture at the officers at which point, Sammis, fearing for his life and the life of his partner, shot the boy. Eyewitnesses claimed that Farrow pulled out the soda pop and chips he had just purchased.
The shooting death of Farrow generated outrage in the West Memphis African American community. Four days after the shooting, hundreds of angry residents packed a police commission meeting at the West Memphis City Hall where they demanded answers. They received none as city officials called for calm and asked that everyone wait for the results of a police investigation.
Farrow’s funeral was held on July 1, 2007 and drew 1,500 mourners who turned out to pay their respects. Rev. Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. flew down from New York City, New York and gave the eulogy at Farrow’s funeral. Sharpton used the service to demand more information about the shooting from city officials Meanwhile Debra Farrow filled a $125 million-dollar lawsuit against West Memphis Arkansas Police Department which remains undecided. On April 22, 2011, however, the U.S. Justice Department after its own investigation, ruled that the two West Memphis Police Officers, Sammis and Evans acted properly under the circumstances and thus could not be held liable for the death of Farrow.
TARIKA WILSON (1981-2008)
On January 4, 2008, Tarika Wilson, a 26-year-old African-American woman, was fatally shot by Lima, Ohio, police officer Joseph Chavalia. She was unarmed and holding her one-year-old son, who was injured by the shot that killed his mother. The shooting, and the subsequent acquittal of the officer, highlighted racial inequality and the issue of police brutality and helped generate the Black Lives Matter movement during the next decade.
Wilson was killed during a police raid targeting her boyfriend, suspected drug dealer Anthony Terry, in her home. When police broke down the front door and entered the house, Wilson sheltered in a bedroom with her six young children. Officers shot and killed two of Terry’s dogs in the house, and Officer Chavalia mistook the sound of his fellow officers’ shots for hostile gunfire. He fired blindly in the direction of the bedroom where Wilson and her children hid, killing her instantly and injuring the baby in her arms. Her son later had his finger amputated.
Minutes after Wilson’s death, an angry crowd gathered outside and shouted at police. The next day, about 300 people participated in a march protesting the shooting, with several smaller marches in the following weeks. The Rev. Jesse Jackson visited Lima the month after the shooting, meeting with community members and urging the prosecution of Officer Chavalia.
The population of Lima, a small city surrounded by the agricultural region of northwest Ohio, is about twenty-five percent black. However, in 2008 only two officers on the police force of seventy-seven were African American, and black residents testified that they had suffered years of abuse from white policemen. Wilson’s friends and family blamed police racism for her death.
In August 2008, an all-white jury acquitted Joseph Chavalia of criminal charges. He returned to the force but was not permitted to go on patrol. Two years after the shooting, Wilson’s family settled a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Lima for $2.5 million. Her mother and sisters have raised Wilson’s orphaned children in the years since her death.
Wilson was killed during a police raid targeting her boyfriend, suspected drug dealer Anthony Terry, in her home. When police broke down the front door and entered the house, Wilson sheltered in a bedroom with her six young children. Officers shot and killed two of Terry’s dogs in the house, and Officer Chavalia mistook the sound of his fellow officers’ shots for hostile gunfire. He fired blindly in the direction of the bedroom where Wilson and her children hid, killing her instantly and injuring the baby in her arms. Her son later had his finger amputated.
Minutes after Wilson’s death, an angry crowd gathered outside and shouted at police. The next day, about 300 people participated in a march protesting the shooting, with several smaller marches in the following weeks. The Rev. Jesse Jackson visited Lima the month after the shooting, meeting with community members and urging the prosecution of Officer Chavalia.
The population of Lima, a small city surrounded by the agricultural region of northwest Ohio, is about twenty-five percent black. However, in 2008 only two officers on the police force of seventy-seven were African American, and black residents testified that they had suffered years of abuse from white policemen. Wilson’s friends and family blamed police racism for her death.
In August 2008, an all-white jury acquitted Joseph Chavalia of criminal charges. He returned to the force but was not permitted to go on patrol. Two years after the shooting, Wilson’s family settled a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Lima for $2.5 million. Her mother and sisters have raised Wilson’s orphaned children in the years since her death.
OSCAR JULIUSS GRANT, III (1986-2009)
Oscar Juliuss Grant III was a resident of Oakland, California, and unfortunately is best known for being killed by a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officer in the early hours of New Year’s Day in 2009.
Grant was born to Oscar Grant Jr. and Wanda Johnson on February 27, 1986, in Oakland, California. At the time of his birth, Grant’s father was serving a life sentence for murder, thus making his mother a single parent. During his early years, Grant was active in his local church congregation and also enjoyed fishing, basketball, and baseball.
A combination of bad choices eventually led him to him drop out of Mount Eden High School in the tenth grade. Following this, Grant began escalation into trouble with the law and was arrested five times. At first, his offenses were for driving with broken lights, but then they morphed into drug dealing for which he was convicted and jailed. However, through all of this, his family life remained stable. He and his girlfriend, Sophina Mesa, welcomed a baby daughter, Tatiana, into the world in 2005.
In October of 2006, Grant was entangled in a traffic stop by the San Leandro police. He was carrying a loaded .380 pistol and made the decision to flee but was later arrested and sentenced to sixteen months in prison. He served his sentence in Alameda County Jail and Santa Rita Jail in Dublin until he was released in September of 2008. During his time in prison Grant earned his GED and acquired a passion for cutting hair. After his stint in prison, he wanted to follow this passion and become a barber.
At 2:00 a.m. on New Year’s Day in 2009, five BART police officers were dispatched to Fruitvale Station due to reports of two groups of young men fighting on the train. Passengers thought to be involved in the fight were singled out and detained by the BART officers. Grant was among those detained, although he was not involved in any altercations on that trip. He tried to explain this to a BART officer but was punched in the face by the officer. Grant was forced to his knees then his stomach by officers who wanted to put handcuffs on him. During this process, Johannes Mehserle, another BART officer, fired his weapon at Grant while he was detained on the ground. Grant was severely wounded, taken to Highland Hospital, and died later that day.
In 2010 Mehserle, arguing that he was going for his taser and mistakenly pulled his revolver, avoided being charged with second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter. He was instead found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. The controversial trial was moved from Oakland to Los Angeles. Tensions in the Bay area were cited as the reason for the move. The jury that convicted Mehserle in Los Angeles, however, had no African Americans serving on it. Grant’s death at the hands of police was part of a pattern of highly controversial police shootings across the United States involving black women and men and various police departments. These shooting eventually led to the Black Lives Matter Movement.
Grant was born to Oscar Grant Jr. and Wanda Johnson on February 27, 1986, in Oakland, California. At the time of his birth, Grant’s father was serving a life sentence for murder, thus making his mother a single parent. During his early years, Grant was active in his local church congregation and also enjoyed fishing, basketball, and baseball.
A combination of bad choices eventually led him to him drop out of Mount Eden High School in the tenth grade. Following this, Grant began escalation into trouble with the law and was arrested five times. At first, his offenses were for driving with broken lights, but then they morphed into drug dealing for which he was convicted and jailed. However, through all of this, his family life remained stable. He and his girlfriend, Sophina Mesa, welcomed a baby daughter, Tatiana, into the world in 2005.
In October of 2006, Grant was entangled in a traffic stop by the San Leandro police. He was carrying a loaded .380 pistol and made the decision to flee but was later arrested and sentenced to sixteen months in prison. He served his sentence in Alameda County Jail and Santa Rita Jail in Dublin until he was released in September of 2008. During his time in prison Grant earned his GED and acquired a passion for cutting hair. After his stint in prison, he wanted to follow this passion and become a barber.
At 2:00 a.m. on New Year’s Day in 2009, five BART police officers were dispatched to Fruitvale Station due to reports of two groups of young men fighting on the train. Passengers thought to be involved in the fight were singled out and detained by the BART officers. Grant was among those detained, although he was not involved in any altercations on that trip. He tried to explain this to a BART officer but was punched in the face by the officer. Grant was forced to his knees then his stomach by officers who wanted to put handcuffs on him. During this process, Johannes Mehserle, another BART officer, fired his weapon at Grant while he was detained on the ground. Grant was severely wounded, taken to Highland Hospital, and died later that day.
In 2010 Mehserle, arguing that he was going for his taser and mistakenly pulled his revolver, avoided being charged with second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter. He was instead found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. The controversial trial was moved from Oakland to Los Angeles. Tensions in the Bay area were cited as the reason for the move. The jury that convicted Mehserle in Los Angeles, however, had no African Americans serving on it. Grant’s death at the hands of police was part of a pattern of highly controversial police shootings across the United States involving black women and men and various police departments. These shooting eventually led to the Black Lives Matter Movement.
KIWANE ALBERT CARRINGTON (1994-2009)
Born in Champaign, Illinois on July 14, 1994, Kiwane Carrington was 15 years old when he was shot and killed by a Champaign police officer in 2009. The son of Rita Williams and Albert Carrington, he was a student at the READY Program School where he enjoyed working on computers and playing basketball.
Carrington’s mother Rita Williams passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2008, and Rhonda Williams, his aunt, had welcomed him into her home. On October 9, a rainy October afternoon, Carrington had forgotten his key to his aunt’s house. His class for the Regional Educational Alternative for Developing Youth program was canceled for the day, and he had no other plans. Locked out of that home, Carrington and his friend, Jeshaun Manning-Carter, made their way to the backyard with hopes of finding cover to get out of the rain.
A suspicious neighbor, who noticed the teens assumed they were attempting to break into the home, called the police and reported a burglary-in-progress. Champaign Police Chief R.T. Finney was the first to respond to the call and found the two boys in the backyard. Finney demanded that they get on the ground of the muddy yard. Knowing that he and his friend had done nothing wrong, Kiwane Carrington attempted to walk away. Finney reportedly grabbed Carrington, initiating a physical struggle between the two.
When Officer Daniel Norbits, a 14-year veteran of the Champaign police force, arrived at the Williams home, he did not know whether the boys were armed, but he drew his pistol as a precaution. Norbits stated that he fired his gun accidentally; the bullet had went through Carrington’s left elbow and into his heart. Within an hour of the initial confrontation, Carrington died at the Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, Illinois. Later, Champaign County’s State Attorney, Julia Reitz, announced Norbits would not be charged because the shooting was an accident, and there was no evidence that he intentionally fired his weapon.
It was later discovered that Officer Norbits was also involved in the Greg Brown case in 2000, where Champaign police officers physically beat Brown, a disabled man, in an alley. Brown later died of a heart attack because of the beating.
On October 14, 2009, a vigil was held outside of Rhonda Williams’s home to honor the life of her nephew, Kiwane Carrington. Hundreds of youths and community members showed up to pay their respects to their fallen friend and loved one.
In October 2010, Jeshaun Manning-Carter filed a lawsuit against the city of Champaign. In the suit, Manning-Carter and his mother contended that Chief Finney was the one guilty of shooting and killing Carrington, not Norbits. All six counts of the lawsuit were later dismissed by Judge Michael Q. Jones. The Kiwane Carrington case helped inspire the Black Lives Matter movement.
Carrington’s mother Rita Williams passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2008, and Rhonda Williams, his aunt, had welcomed him into her home. On October 9, a rainy October afternoon, Carrington had forgotten his key to his aunt’s house. His class for the Regional Educational Alternative for Developing Youth program was canceled for the day, and he had no other plans. Locked out of that home, Carrington and his friend, Jeshaun Manning-Carter, made their way to the backyard with hopes of finding cover to get out of the rain.
A suspicious neighbor, who noticed the teens assumed they were attempting to break into the home, called the police and reported a burglary-in-progress. Champaign Police Chief R.T. Finney was the first to respond to the call and found the two boys in the backyard. Finney demanded that they get on the ground of the muddy yard. Knowing that he and his friend had done nothing wrong, Kiwane Carrington attempted to walk away. Finney reportedly grabbed Carrington, initiating a physical struggle between the two.
When Officer Daniel Norbits, a 14-year veteran of the Champaign police force, arrived at the Williams home, he did not know whether the boys were armed, but he drew his pistol as a precaution. Norbits stated that he fired his gun accidentally; the bullet had went through Carrington’s left elbow and into his heart. Within an hour of the initial confrontation, Carrington died at the Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, Illinois. Later, Champaign County’s State Attorney, Julia Reitz, announced Norbits would not be charged because the shooting was an accident, and there was no evidence that he intentionally fired his weapon.
It was later discovered that Officer Norbits was also involved in the Greg Brown case in 2000, where Champaign police officers physically beat Brown, a disabled man, in an alley. Brown later died of a heart attack because of the beating.
On October 14, 2009, a vigil was held outside of Rhonda Williams’s home to honor the life of her nephew, Kiwane Carrington. Hundreds of youths and community members showed up to pay their respects to their fallen friend and loved one.
In October 2010, Jeshaun Manning-Carter filed a lawsuit against the city of Champaign. In the suit, Manning-Carter and his mother contended that Chief Finney was the one guilty of shooting and killing Carrington, not Norbits. All six counts of the lawsuit were later dismissed by Judge Michael Q. Jones. The Kiwane Carrington case helped inspire the Black Lives Matter movement.
AIYANA MO’NAY STANLEY-JONES (2002-2010)
In 2010 Aiyana Mo’Nay Stanley-Jones, a seven-year-old African American girl, was accidentally shot and killed during a raid that was conducted by the Detroit, Michigan Police Department’s Special Response Team. The killing contributed to raising national awareness of the ongoing issue of young unarmed African Americans being killed by police. It would also help inspire the creation of the Black Lives Matter Movement three years later.
Jones was born on July 20, 2002, to Charles Jones and Dominika Stanley in Detroit, Michigan. On May 14, 2010, Je’Rean Blake, a senior at Southeastern High School of Technology and Law was shot and killed near an intersection on Detroit’s east side. Later that day, Detroit Police identified Chauncey Owens as a suspect in the shooting and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Two days later, on May 16, police arrived at the house where Aiyana Jones lived, hoping to find Owens. At the time Owens was the boyfriend of Jones’s aunt LaKrystal Sanders, who was also living at the house. Police fired a flash grenade through the front window. What occurred next has been disputed by police officers, bystanders, and neighboring residents. According to the police, Officer Joseph Weekley was the first police officer to enter the home. Weekley claimed after he got through the front door that Jones’s paternal grandmother, Mertilla Jones, attempted to slap away the MP 5 submachine gun that he was holding. The slap caused the gun to fire with the bullets striking young Aiyana in the head and killing her instantly. Mertilla Jones was held overnight by Detroit police and then released. She later explained that she reached for her granddaughter when the grenade came through the window and that is what caused her to hit the officer’s gun.
Aiyana Jones’s funeral was held on May 22, 2010, at the Second Ebenezer Baptist Church in Detroit where Alfred (Al) Charles Sharpton Jr. gave the eulogy. On October 4, 2011, a Wayne County grand jury indicted Officer Joseph Weekley for involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment with a gun. Weekley’s trial began in June 2013 and ended in a mistrial when a jury failed to reach a verdict. A retrial began on September 23, 2014 but on October 3, 2014, it was declared a mistrial after a second jury deadlocked on a verdict. On January 28, 2015, the remaining charge on Weekley, a misdemeanor for careless discharge of a firearm causing death, was dismissed. On May 21, 2016, nearly six years after Jones’s death, the Detroit chapter of Black Lives Matter organized the first rally in her memory.
Jones was born on July 20, 2002, to Charles Jones and Dominika Stanley in Detroit, Michigan. On May 14, 2010, Je’Rean Blake, a senior at Southeastern High School of Technology and Law was shot and killed near an intersection on Detroit’s east side. Later that day, Detroit Police identified Chauncey Owens as a suspect in the shooting and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Two days later, on May 16, police arrived at the house where Aiyana Jones lived, hoping to find Owens. At the time Owens was the boyfriend of Jones’s aunt LaKrystal Sanders, who was also living at the house. Police fired a flash grenade through the front window. What occurred next has been disputed by police officers, bystanders, and neighboring residents. According to the police, Officer Joseph Weekley was the first police officer to enter the home. Weekley claimed after he got through the front door that Jones’s paternal grandmother, Mertilla Jones, attempted to slap away the MP 5 submachine gun that he was holding. The slap caused the gun to fire with the bullets striking young Aiyana in the head and killing her instantly. Mertilla Jones was held overnight by Detroit police and then released. She later explained that she reached for her granddaughter when the grenade came through the window and that is what caused her to hit the officer’s gun.
Aiyana Jones’s funeral was held on May 22, 2010, at the Second Ebenezer Baptist Church in Detroit where Alfred (Al) Charles Sharpton Jr. gave the eulogy. On October 4, 2011, a Wayne County grand jury indicted Officer Joseph Weekley for involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment with a gun. Weekley’s trial began in June 2013 and ended in a mistrial when a jury failed to reach a verdict. A retrial began on September 23, 2014 but on October 3, 2014, it was declared a mistrial after a second jury deadlocked on a verdict. On January 28, 2015, the remaining charge on Weekley, a misdemeanor for careless discharge of a firearm causing death, was dismissed. On May 21, 2016, nearly six years after Jones’s death, the Detroit chapter of Black Lives Matter organized the first rally in her memory.
DERRICK JONES (1983-2010)
Derrick Jones was an East Oakland, California barber who was shot and killedby officers of the Oakland Police Department on November 8, 2010. He was 37 years old at the time of his death. His death, along with those of many others including the well-known killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and the death in custody of Sandra Bland, helped spur the rise of the Black Lives Matter Movement across the United States.
Derrick Jones was born in Oakland in 1983 (although the specific date is unknown) to parents Nellie and Frank Jones. At the time of his death he was married to Lanell Monique Jones and the couple had a two-year-old daughter, Demi. Jones was the owner of Kwik Cuts Barbershop in Oakland which was a well-known gathering place for members of the local community. He was also a member of the Church of Christ in Oakland.
On the night of November 8, 2010, Oakland police responded to a call regarding a domestic dispute between Jones and a woman at a nearby laundromat on Bancroft Avenue. Two police officers who responded to the call, Omar Daza-Quiroz and Ereiberto Perez-Angeles, claimed that when they arrived on the scene, they saw Jones running away. When he ignored commands to stop, they fired their Tasers but were unable to subdue him. They then claimed that as the chase continued, Jones reached to his pocket and as he attempted to turn towards the police, they started shooting upon seeing a shiny metal object in his hand. Jones was shot five times and died immediately from the wounds. An autopsy reveals he was shot several times in the front of his body and at least twice through his upper body. The metal object that was the focus of the officer’s attention was later found to be a small metal scale. Jones was the third unarmed person of color killed by police in Oakland in 2010.
Although Officers Daza-Quiroz and Perez-Angeles had a history of excessive use of force, the Alameda County District Attorney’s office in 2011 decided not to bring charges against them. The office held that the officers in this instance were responding appropriately because they were in fact in danger.
Jones’s case occurred in close proximity to the murder of Oscar Grant by BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle and was another catalyst for protest and community unrest. Deeming his death unjustified, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) called for a fair and thorough investigation, and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) was called in to work on the case.
In 2011, Joness’ widow Lanell Monique Jones sought $10 million in a lawsuit for the death of her husband but the case never went to court. In February 2013, the Oakland City Council paid a settlement of $225,000 to Jones’s parents, Nellie and Frank Jones, as well as his daughter Demi Jones, who was two years old at the time of her father’s death.
Derrick Jones was born in Oakland in 1983 (although the specific date is unknown) to parents Nellie and Frank Jones. At the time of his death he was married to Lanell Monique Jones and the couple had a two-year-old daughter, Demi. Jones was the owner of Kwik Cuts Barbershop in Oakland which was a well-known gathering place for members of the local community. He was also a member of the Church of Christ in Oakland.
On the night of November 8, 2010, Oakland police responded to a call regarding a domestic dispute between Jones and a woman at a nearby laundromat on Bancroft Avenue. Two police officers who responded to the call, Omar Daza-Quiroz and Ereiberto Perez-Angeles, claimed that when they arrived on the scene, they saw Jones running away. When he ignored commands to stop, they fired their Tasers but were unable to subdue him. They then claimed that as the chase continued, Jones reached to his pocket and as he attempted to turn towards the police, they started shooting upon seeing a shiny metal object in his hand. Jones was shot five times and died immediately from the wounds. An autopsy reveals he was shot several times in the front of his body and at least twice through his upper body. The metal object that was the focus of the officer’s attention was later found to be a small metal scale. Jones was the third unarmed person of color killed by police in Oakland in 2010.
Although Officers Daza-Quiroz and Perez-Angeles had a history of excessive use of force, the Alameda County District Attorney’s office in 2011 decided not to bring charges against them. The office held that the officers in this instance were responding appropriately because they were in fact in danger.
Jones’s case occurred in close proximity to the murder of Oscar Grant by BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle and was another catalyst for protest and community unrest. Deeming his death unjustified, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) called for a fair and thorough investigation, and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) was called in to work on the case.
In 2011, Joness’ widow Lanell Monique Jones sought $10 million in a lawsuit for the death of her husband but the case never went to court. In February 2013, the Oakland City Council paid a settlement of $225,000 to Jones’s parents, Nellie and Frank Jones, as well as his daughter Demi Jones, who was two years old at the time of her father’s death.
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DEION FLUDD (1996-2013)
On July 12, 2013, 17 year-old Deion Fludd passed away as a result of complications from blunt-trauma injuries after being attacked by New York Police Department (NYPD) officers. Raised in the Red Hooks projects of Brooklyn, New York, Deion was the middle child of five. His parents were Karen Fludd and Michael Fludd and he attended Sunset Park High School and Parkside Academy in Brooklyn with aspirations to become a professional basketball player.
On the evening of May 5, 2013, Fludd and his girlfriend, Hesha Sanchez, were stopped by four rookie New York Police Department officers in the Rockaway subway train station. Sanchez had left her MetroCard at home but was only planning to stay with Fludd until his train arrived. Hence, they both squeezed through the turnstile on Fludd’s single payment. The officers suspected both of them of fare evasion and demanded they provide proof of identification. The two teens complied and attempted to explain that Sanchez did not intend to ride the train.
Despite their pleas, Sanchez was put in handcuffs. When Fludd realized he was under arrest, he ran away, fearing serving a year in jail. Because of prior incidents, Fludd was on probation and any violation meant he would be tried as an adult and probably imprisoned. Although the four officers were outside of their designated areas of patrol, they chased him. He sprinted to the end of the platform and with limited options, jumped down to the train tracks and continued to run north to the next platform. Sgt. Samuel Negron instructed his officers not to continue pursuing Fludd after they called him for guidance.
According to the NYPD, Deion Fludd was hit by a passing train as he was running down the tracks. The next day, doctors declared him a quadriplegic, paralyzed from the neck down. When he woke up cuffed to his bed, he told his family that he was not hit by a train and that he made it to the next platform at the Ralph Avenue station. He said after he was spotted by other officers and while he climbed onto the platform, he was hit on the back of his head with a flashlight, had his back stomped on, and was carried back to the train tracks by the officers.
Two days after being sent to rehabilitation and 68 days after the subway arrest, Deion Fludd passed away. The Fludd family filed requests for surveillance camera footage from both platforms but they were unable to obtain evidence of what occurred that evening. Due to the lack of evidence to support Fludd’s story, NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau closed the investigation of the officers’ conduct three days after the incident. The officers responsible for attacking him were never held accountable for their actions.
Karen Fludd sued the city of New York, the NYPD, the two officers who stopped Deion on the second platform, and their lieutenant. The case is still in litigation.
On the evening of May 5, 2013, Fludd and his girlfriend, Hesha Sanchez, were stopped by four rookie New York Police Department officers in the Rockaway subway train station. Sanchez had left her MetroCard at home but was only planning to stay with Fludd until his train arrived. Hence, they both squeezed through the turnstile on Fludd’s single payment. The officers suspected both of them of fare evasion and demanded they provide proof of identification. The two teens complied and attempted to explain that Sanchez did not intend to ride the train.
Despite their pleas, Sanchez was put in handcuffs. When Fludd realized he was under arrest, he ran away, fearing serving a year in jail. Because of prior incidents, Fludd was on probation and any violation meant he would be tried as an adult and probably imprisoned. Although the four officers were outside of their designated areas of patrol, they chased him. He sprinted to the end of the platform and with limited options, jumped down to the train tracks and continued to run north to the next platform. Sgt. Samuel Negron instructed his officers not to continue pursuing Fludd after they called him for guidance.
According to the NYPD, Deion Fludd was hit by a passing train as he was running down the tracks. The next day, doctors declared him a quadriplegic, paralyzed from the neck down. When he woke up cuffed to his bed, he told his family that he was not hit by a train and that he made it to the next platform at the Ralph Avenue station. He said after he was spotted by other officers and while he climbed onto the platform, he was hit on the back of his head with a flashlight, had his back stomped on, and was carried back to the train tracks by the officers.
Two days after being sent to rehabilitation and 68 days after the subway arrest, Deion Fludd passed away. The Fludd family filed requests for surveillance camera footage from both platforms but they were unable to obtain evidence of what occurred that evening. Due to the lack of evidence to support Fludd’s story, NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau closed the investigation of the officers’ conduct three days after the incident. The officers responsible for attacking him were never held accountable for their actions.
Karen Fludd sued the city of New York, the NYPD, the two officers who stopped Deion on the second platform, and their lieutenant. The case is still in litigation.
CARLOS ALCIS (1970-2013)
Carlos Alcis was a 43-year-old father of eight, who was scared to death, and suffered an apparent heart attack when police forced their way into his Brooklyn, New York home, searching for a robbery suspect. Carlos Alcis was born in Haiti, and emigrated to the United States in 2000 in search of a better life for his family. Alcis worked in Brooklyn at Bobby’s Department Store as a stockman and was known as a hardworking man.
At approximately 5:30 a.m. on August 15, 2013, New York City police stormed into the home of Carlos Alcis. They were searching for a robbery suspect who had stolen an iPhone, and a witness led them to the building where Alcis and his family lived. The whole family was sleeping at the time, and police pried the door open to the apartment. They barged into the unit with flashlights and immediately began questioning Carlos’s 15-year-old son Emmanuel, who was led outside where the victim confirmed that he was not the suspect.
At that time, Carlos Alcis dropped to the ground and began shaking. Even though Alcis was clearly in distress, the police continued to search the home despite the obvious medical emergency. The officers even had Emmanuel Alcis perform CPR on his father, a job that officers are trained to perform in similar medical situations.
In addition to the lack of action by the officers, the ambulance was delayed in reaching the scene because it was accidently sent to the wrong address. Although the call for an ambulance was placed at 6:06 a.m., it did not arrive until 6:29 a.m., almost 30 minutes later. By the time the ambulance arrived, Carlos Alcis had died.
The stolen iPhone was later found in front of a nearby building, and a 16-year-old was arrested in connection to the robbery.
The body of Carlos Alcis was taken to his native city of Jacmel, Haiti, where he was buried on September 14, 2013.
At approximately 5:30 a.m. on August 15, 2013, New York City police stormed into the home of Carlos Alcis. They were searching for a robbery suspect who had stolen an iPhone, and a witness led them to the building where Alcis and his family lived. The whole family was sleeping at the time, and police pried the door open to the apartment. They barged into the unit with flashlights and immediately began questioning Carlos’s 15-year-old son Emmanuel, who was led outside where the victim confirmed that he was not the suspect.
At that time, Carlos Alcis dropped to the ground and began shaking. Even though Alcis was clearly in distress, the police continued to search the home despite the obvious medical emergency. The officers even had Emmanuel Alcis perform CPR on his father, a job that officers are trained to perform in similar medical situations.
In addition to the lack of action by the officers, the ambulance was delayed in reaching the scene because it was accidently sent to the wrong address. Although the call for an ambulance was placed at 6:06 a.m., it did not arrive until 6:29 a.m., almost 30 minutes later. By the time the ambulance arrived, Carlos Alcis had died.
The stolen iPhone was later found in front of a nearby building, and a 16-year-old was arrested in connection to the robbery.
The body of Carlos Alcis was taken to his native city of Jacmel, Haiti, where he was buried on September 14, 2013.
ANDY LOPEZ (2000-2013)
Andy Lopez was born on June 2, 2000, and was shot and killed by a police officer in 2013 at the age of thirteen in Santa Rosa, California.
At approximately 3:00 p.m. on October 22, 2013, Lopez left his home in Santa Rosa, California. Family members report that he had a toy airsoft gun with him, one that he had borrowed from a friend. The friend reported that he was worried about letting Lopez borrow the gun because the orange tip had broken off, making it hard to distinguish from a real gun.
That same day, the officers patrolling the Moorland neighborhood, Officer Erick Gelhaus and Officer Michael Schemmel of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department, encountered Lopez. Officer Gelhaus was a 24-year veteran with Sonoma County, and while Schemmel was new to Sonoma County, he spent 11 years at a nearby department. When they saw Andy Lopez with what they believed to be a real gun, Officer Gelhaus ordered him to drop the gun. At this point, one of the officers radioed in to report the situation to dispatch. Only 10 seconds later, a second call from officers was made saying that shots had been fired.
Officer Gelhaus shot eight rounds, seven of which hit Lopez. Andy Lopez was pronounced dead at the scene. Officer Gelhaus claimed that the boy did not comply with orders to drop the weapon and turned the gun towards the officers. Gelhaus said that he fired his service weapon because he feared for his life as well as the life of his fellow officer.
On July 1, 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that no criminal charges would be filed against Officer Gelhaus, the officer who fired the shots that killed Lopez. The Department of Justice concluded that there was not sufficient evidence proving that Officer Gelhaus used excessive force resulting in the death of Lopez.
In the days following the death of Andy Lopez, some local residents protested the shooting as an example police brutality, excessive force, and racism. On October 25, more than 100 middle school students, many of whom were friends of Lopez, protested at Santa Rosa City Hall. On October 29, a mass march of over 1,000 people was held to protest the shooting. Other protests took place, including one on December 9, 2013, when officer Gelhaus was cleared to return back to duty.
In January of 2015, the Sonoma Board of Supervisors acquired the site where Andy Lopez was killed and designated it a park in his honor.
At approximately 3:00 p.m. on October 22, 2013, Lopez left his home in Santa Rosa, California. Family members report that he had a toy airsoft gun with him, one that he had borrowed from a friend. The friend reported that he was worried about letting Lopez borrow the gun because the orange tip had broken off, making it hard to distinguish from a real gun.
That same day, the officers patrolling the Moorland neighborhood, Officer Erick Gelhaus and Officer Michael Schemmel of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department, encountered Lopez. Officer Gelhaus was a 24-year veteran with Sonoma County, and while Schemmel was new to Sonoma County, he spent 11 years at a nearby department. When they saw Andy Lopez with what they believed to be a real gun, Officer Gelhaus ordered him to drop the gun. At this point, one of the officers radioed in to report the situation to dispatch. Only 10 seconds later, a second call from officers was made saying that shots had been fired.
Officer Gelhaus shot eight rounds, seven of which hit Lopez. Andy Lopez was pronounced dead at the scene. Officer Gelhaus claimed that the boy did not comply with orders to drop the weapon and turned the gun towards the officers. Gelhaus said that he fired his service weapon because he feared for his life as well as the life of his fellow officer.
On July 1, 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that no criminal charges would be filed against Officer Gelhaus, the officer who fired the shots that killed Lopez. The Department of Justice concluded that there was not sufficient evidence proving that Officer Gelhaus used excessive force resulting in the death of Lopez.
In the days following the death of Andy Lopez, some local residents protested the shooting as an example police brutality, excessive force, and racism. On October 25, more than 100 middle school students, many of whom were friends of Lopez, protested at Santa Rosa City Hall. On October 29, a mass march of over 1,000 people was held to protest the shooting. Other protests took place, including one on December 9, 2013, when officer Gelhaus was cleared to return back to duty.
In January of 2015, the Sonoma Board of Supervisors acquired the site where Andy Lopez was killed and designated it a park in his honor.
ERIC GARNER (1970–2014)
The choking death of Eric Garner on video in 2014 helped bring the debate on interactions between white police officers and unarmed African Americans to the national forefront. Eric Garner was born on September 15, 1970, in New York City, New York. Garner, whose mother was a subway operator, grew to 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighed 350 pounds. He worked as a mechanic and then in the city’s horticulture department for several years before health problems, including asthma, sleep apnea, and complications from diabetes, forced him to quit. He had six children, ranging in age from eighteen years to three months, and was with his wife, Esaw, for over twenty years. Although Garner was known in his community as a ‘gentle giant,’ he was arrested over thirty times in his life, mostly for lower level offenses such as selling untaxed cigarettes, driving without a license, and marijuana possession.
On July 17, 2014, Garner reportedly broke up a fight on a busy street in the Staten Island neighborhood of Tompkinsville. Upon arrival at the scene, New York Police Department officers confronted Garner and accused him of illegally selling individual cigarettes, or “loosies.” A passerby recorded Garner, who had filed a 2007 harassment complaint against the NYPD in federal court, responding, “I’m tired of it. This stops today.” Several officers now surrounded the unarmed Garner and one of them, Daniel Pantaleo, who was white, placed Garner in a chokehold and took him to the ground. With Pantaleo’s arm around his neck Garner could be heard repeatedly gasping his last words: “I can’t breathe.”
A short time later, forty-three-year-old Eric Garner was pronounced dead at Richmond University Hospital. Although police argued Garner was resisting arrest, the chokehold used by Officer Pantaleo had been cited as a “dangerous maneuver” by the NYPD and officially banned in 1993. On August 1, 2014, the city medical examiner classified Garner’s death as a homicide, and a grand jury was convened on August 19 to hear possible charges against the officers involved. On August 23, over a thousand protesters demonstrated peacefully near the site where Garner died.
As November 2014 came to a close, a grand jury decision in the Garner case was imminent. Meanwhile another unarmed black man, twenty-eight-year-old Akai Gurley, had been mistakenly shot and killed by an NYPD officer on November 20 in the darkened stairwell of a Brooklyn housing project, and officials in Ferguson, Missouri, declined to charge an officer there in the shooting death of yet another unarmed African American, eighteen-year-old Michael Brown. In response, thousands of protesters rallied in New York City on November 25, blocking traffic on busy streets, bridges, and tunnels. On December 3, the grand jury declined to bring criminal charges against Officer Pantaleo.
In the aftermath of Eric Garner’s death and the grand jury’s decision, “I can’t breathe” became a massive topic on social media and a rallying call among protesters around the country. During warm-ups before a December 8, 2015 NBA game in Brooklyn between the Brooklyn Nets and Cleveland (Ohio) Cavaliers, players on both teams, including Cleveland superstar LeBron James, wore “I can’t breathe” t-shirts. Other NBA stars such as Derrick Rose of the Chicago (Illinois) Bulls and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles (California) Lakers also wore the shirt. These high-profile demonstrations were publicly endorsed by President Barack Obama afterward. In July 2015, a $5.9 million settlement was paid to the Garner family, with the city of New York admitting no liability.
On July 17, 2014, Garner reportedly broke up a fight on a busy street in the Staten Island neighborhood of Tompkinsville. Upon arrival at the scene, New York Police Department officers confronted Garner and accused him of illegally selling individual cigarettes, or “loosies.” A passerby recorded Garner, who had filed a 2007 harassment complaint against the NYPD in federal court, responding, “I’m tired of it. This stops today.” Several officers now surrounded the unarmed Garner and one of them, Daniel Pantaleo, who was white, placed Garner in a chokehold and took him to the ground. With Pantaleo’s arm around his neck Garner could be heard repeatedly gasping his last words: “I can’t breathe.”
A short time later, forty-three-year-old Eric Garner was pronounced dead at Richmond University Hospital. Although police argued Garner was resisting arrest, the chokehold used by Officer Pantaleo had been cited as a “dangerous maneuver” by the NYPD and officially banned in 1993. On August 1, 2014, the city medical examiner classified Garner’s death as a homicide, and a grand jury was convened on August 19 to hear possible charges against the officers involved. On August 23, over a thousand protesters demonstrated peacefully near the site where Garner died.
As November 2014 came to a close, a grand jury decision in the Garner case was imminent. Meanwhile another unarmed black man, twenty-eight-year-old Akai Gurley, had been mistakenly shot and killed by an NYPD officer on November 20 in the darkened stairwell of a Brooklyn housing project, and officials in Ferguson, Missouri, declined to charge an officer there in the shooting death of yet another unarmed African American, eighteen-year-old Michael Brown. In response, thousands of protesters rallied in New York City on November 25, blocking traffic on busy streets, bridges, and tunnels. On December 3, the grand jury declined to bring criminal charges against Officer Pantaleo.
In the aftermath of Eric Garner’s death and the grand jury’s decision, “I can’t breathe” became a massive topic on social media and a rallying call among protesters around the country. During warm-ups before a December 8, 2015 NBA game in Brooklyn between the Brooklyn Nets and Cleveland (Ohio) Cavaliers, players on both teams, including Cleveland superstar LeBron James, wore “I can’t breathe” t-shirts. Other NBA stars such as Derrick Rose of the Chicago (Illinois) Bulls and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles (California) Lakers also wore the shirt. These high-profile demonstrations were publicly endorsed by President Barack Obama afterward. In July 2015, a $5.9 million settlement was paid to the Garner family, with the city of New York admitting no liability.
JOHN CRAWFORD III (1992-2014)
The shooting death of John Crawford III, a twenty-two-year-old African-American man by Beavercreek, Ohio police officer Sean Williams at a Walmart store in Beavercreek was another death that added to the national debate about the shooting deaths of unarmed black men promoted by the Black Lives Mattermovement. In this instance Crawford was holding a BB gun that he had asked to examine in Walmart.
John Crawford III was born on July 29, 1992, to Jordan Crawford Jr. and Tressa Sherrod in Cincinnati, Ohio. Crawford’s parents never married and eventually ended their relationship. Crawford’s father relocated to Jackson, Tennessee where he worked in the Tennessee criminal justice system as a probation officer and criminal counselor. John Crawford continued to live with his mother in Cincinnati but would regularly visit his father in Jackson. Growing up, Crawford was in and out different public and private schools around Cincinnati. Despite the frequent change in schools, Crawford was still able to get his high school diploma at the age of 20.
By the time of his death in 2014, Crawford had a criminal record with minor offenses for marijuana possession and disorderly conduct. According to Hamilton County Court records, in 2013 he was charged with a felony for allegedly carrying a concealed weapon and for aggravated robbery. The grand jury declined to indict Crawford on felony charges.
Despite his criminal record, Crawford worked numerous odd jobs as a telemarketer through a temp agency and manual labor jobs. Crawford had two boys with his girlfriend, LeeCee Johnson, John Henry Crawford IV and Jayden.
On August 5, 2014, Crawford picked up an un-packed BB/pellet air rifle inside the Walmart Store sporting goods section in Beavercreek while he continued shopping. Another customer in the store, Ronald Ritchie, called 911, claiming Crawford pointed the gun at other customers. Two Beavercreek Police officers arrived at Walmart to investigate the incident. They found Crawford in the store and one of the officers, Sean Williams shot Crawford who was taken to Dayton’s Valley Hospital where he was later pronounced dead. Another customer, Angela Williams, died of a heart attack while fleeing the shooting.
According to the official police account, Crawford didn’t respond to verbal commands to drop the BB gun/air rifle and lie on the floor. Believing the air rifle was a regular real firearm, Officer Williams fired two shots into Crawford’s torso and arm. Store video camera footage shows Crawford was talking on his cell phone while holding the BB/Pellet air rifle when he was killed. According to Crawford’s mother, the video shows the officers fired at Crawford immediately without verbal commands or giving Crawford the opportunity to drop the gun. Following the shooting, a grand jury decided not to indict any of the officers involved in the shooting. In December 2014, the Crawford family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Walmart and the police. As of 2017, Crawford case remains unresolved.
John Crawford III was born on July 29, 1992, to Jordan Crawford Jr. and Tressa Sherrod in Cincinnati, Ohio. Crawford’s parents never married and eventually ended their relationship. Crawford’s father relocated to Jackson, Tennessee where he worked in the Tennessee criminal justice system as a probation officer and criminal counselor. John Crawford continued to live with his mother in Cincinnati but would regularly visit his father in Jackson. Growing up, Crawford was in and out different public and private schools around Cincinnati. Despite the frequent change in schools, Crawford was still able to get his high school diploma at the age of 20.
By the time of his death in 2014, Crawford had a criminal record with minor offenses for marijuana possession and disorderly conduct. According to Hamilton County Court records, in 2013 he was charged with a felony for allegedly carrying a concealed weapon and for aggravated robbery. The grand jury declined to indict Crawford on felony charges.
Despite his criminal record, Crawford worked numerous odd jobs as a telemarketer through a temp agency and manual labor jobs. Crawford had two boys with his girlfriend, LeeCee Johnson, John Henry Crawford IV and Jayden.
On August 5, 2014, Crawford picked up an un-packed BB/pellet air rifle inside the Walmart Store sporting goods section in Beavercreek while he continued shopping. Another customer in the store, Ronald Ritchie, called 911, claiming Crawford pointed the gun at other customers. Two Beavercreek Police officers arrived at Walmart to investigate the incident. They found Crawford in the store and one of the officers, Sean Williams shot Crawford who was taken to Dayton’s Valley Hospital where he was later pronounced dead. Another customer, Angela Williams, died of a heart attack while fleeing the shooting.
According to the official police account, Crawford didn’t respond to verbal commands to drop the BB gun/air rifle and lie on the floor. Believing the air rifle was a regular real firearm, Officer Williams fired two shots into Crawford’s torso and arm. Store video camera footage shows Crawford was talking on his cell phone while holding the BB/Pellet air rifle when he was killed. According to Crawford’s mother, the video shows the officers fired at Crawford immediately without verbal commands or giving Crawford the opportunity to drop the gun. Following the shooting, a grand jury decided not to indict any of the officers involved in the shooting. In December 2014, the Crawford family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Walmart and the police. As of 2017, Crawford case remains unresolved.
MICHAEL BROWN JR. (1996-2014)
With his death in 2014, eighteen-year-old Michael Brown’s name became synonymous with the growing Black Lives Matter movement and a nationwide debate about unarmed black men being fatally shot by law enforcement. Michael Brown Jr. was born on May 20, 1996, to Lesley McSpadden and Michael Brown Sr. in Florissant, Missouri. After his parents separated, Brown grew up living alternately with his mother, father, and paternal grandmother. Although he struggled early with his education, attending several different high schools, Brown recovered, graduated with his class in 2014, and planned to enroll in a trade school.
On the afternoon of August 9 in the predominantly African American community of Ferguson, Missouri, a convenience store security video captured the six-foot-four Brown pushing a clerk into a display case as Brown stole a pack of cigars. Soon afterward, Brown and a friend were walking in the middle of the street when they encountered Darren Wilson, a white police officer, who ordered them onto the sidewalk. It is unclear if Wilson was aware of the convenience store robbery. Moments later, a physical altercation between Brown and Wilson ensued, resulting in Wilson shooting the unarmed Brown at least six times, twice in the head.
Outrage in the community grew swiftly as Brown’s body remained face down in the street for four hours after the shooting. In addition, some eyewitness accounts at the scene described Brown as having his hands up when he was shot. The next day, angry residents peacefully protested in the streets using the phrase “Hands up, don’t shoot.” As the intensity of the unrest increased, Ferguson police were criticized for responding with heavy-handed tactics, including military-style equipment and weapons, which only served to further enrage the community.
On August 11, the Federal Bureau of Investigation opened a civil rights inquiry into the death of Michael Brown. Meanwhile, violent protests continued, and after Missouri Governor Jay Nixon’s attempt to impose a curfew failed, he brought in the National Guard on August 18 to help restore order. As different accounts of the shooting began to emerge, United States Attorney General Eric Holder arrived in St. Louis on August 20, promising a complete inquiry. Soon the power of social media had transformed what had begun as a local issue into a national one as numerous protesters and high-profile activists from around the country arrived in Ferguson.
Michael Brown Jr.’s funeral was held on August 25. On September 3, the U.S. Department of Justice began an inquiry into the Ferguson Police Department, and on September 25, Chief Thomas Jackson publicly apologized to the Brown family. Protests in and around the Ferguson/St. Louis area continued into October, and tensions began to rise as a grand jury was convened to decide whether or not to indict Officer Wilson. In mid-November, Governor Nixon again activated the Missouri National Guard in anticipation of the grand jury’s decision. On November 24, 2014, the grand jury, made up of nine whites and three blacks, decided not to indict Darren Wilson in the death of Michael Brown. The verdict sparked large-scale violent protests and destruction in Ferguson as well as demonstrations in dozens of cities across the United States, resulting in several hundred arrests nationwide.
On the afternoon of August 9 in the predominantly African American community of Ferguson, Missouri, a convenience store security video captured the six-foot-four Brown pushing a clerk into a display case as Brown stole a pack of cigars. Soon afterward, Brown and a friend were walking in the middle of the street when they encountered Darren Wilson, a white police officer, who ordered them onto the sidewalk. It is unclear if Wilson was aware of the convenience store robbery. Moments later, a physical altercation between Brown and Wilson ensued, resulting in Wilson shooting the unarmed Brown at least six times, twice in the head.
Outrage in the community grew swiftly as Brown’s body remained face down in the street for four hours after the shooting. In addition, some eyewitness accounts at the scene described Brown as having his hands up when he was shot. The next day, angry residents peacefully protested in the streets using the phrase “Hands up, don’t shoot.” As the intensity of the unrest increased, Ferguson police were criticized for responding with heavy-handed tactics, including military-style equipment and weapons, which only served to further enrage the community.
On August 11, the Federal Bureau of Investigation opened a civil rights inquiry into the death of Michael Brown. Meanwhile, violent protests continued, and after Missouri Governor Jay Nixon’s attempt to impose a curfew failed, he brought in the National Guard on August 18 to help restore order. As different accounts of the shooting began to emerge, United States Attorney General Eric Holder arrived in St. Louis on August 20, promising a complete inquiry. Soon the power of social media had transformed what had begun as a local issue into a national one as numerous protesters and high-profile activists from around the country arrived in Ferguson.
Michael Brown Jr.’s funeral was held on August 25. On September 3, the U.S. Department of Justice began an inquiry into the Ferguson Police Department, and on September 25, Chief Thomas Jackson publicly apologized to the Brown family. Protests in and around the Ferguson/St. Louis area continued into October, and tensions began to rise as a grand jury was convened to decide whether or not to indict Officer Wilson. In mid-November, Governor Nixon again activated the Missouri National Guard in anticipation of the grand jury’s decision. On November 24, 2014, the grand jury, made up of nine whites and three blacks, decided not to indict Darren Wilson in the death of Michael Brown. The verdict sparked large-scale violent protests and destruction in Ferguson as well as demonstrations in dozens of cities across the United States, resulting in several hundred arrests nationwide.
EZELL FORD (1988-2014)
On August 11, 2014, 25-year-old Ezell Ford was shot and killed by Officers Sharlton Wampler and Antonio Villegas of the Los Angeles Police Department. Ford was fatally wounded west of the corner market at 65th Street and Broadway, one block from his home on 66th Street. After the incident, Ford was taken to CaliforniaHospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 10:10 p.m.
Born on October 14, 1988, Ford was the oldest of seven children. According to his great aunt, Mahalia Clark, Ford wanted to become a professional athlete and a doctor when he grew up. As Ford grew older, he began to lose some of the spark he’d had as a child, and was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
According to Clark, to clear his mind, Ford would often go for long walks through his neighborhood, which she believes he was doing on the day of his fateful death.
Two versions of the events were presented. One by the LAPD, the other by bystanders who were on the scene. According to LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, Ford ignored commands to stop, and was grabbed by Officer Wampler, who believed that he was trying to get rid of drugs. Ford apparently knocked Wampler to the ground and a struggle ensued. As the two men struggled, Ford allegedly reached for Wampler’s gun, at which point his partner Officer Villegas opened fire on Ford, hitting him in the side and his arm. Officer Wampler reached for his backup weapon, and shot Ford in the back. Prosecutors later stated that Ford’s DNA was present on Wampler’s holster, and that blood stains and scuff marks on Wampler’s belt were consistent with the statements made by the officers.
However, the reports of the bystanders in the area describe a different set of events. According to Ford’s mother, Mrs. Tritobia Ford, when she arrived on the scene, her son was lying on the ground and complying with the officers’ commands when he was shot three times. Another eyewitness, who requested to remain anonymous, stated that Ford was shot in the back. A third witness, Mrs. Ina Smalls, reported that she rushed outside when she heard gunshots and found officers standing over her neighbor’s 25-year-old son. She said he was on the ground, shot dead, and handcuffed on his stomach.
Ultimately, the Los Angeles Police Commission issued a mixed ruling on the shooting, finding that Officer Wampler was wrong to use deadly force, but cleared Officer Villegas in the fatal shooting. The board also faulted both officers for drawing their weapons at different points during the confrontation. A settlement of $1.5 million dollars was approved in February of 2017 for the family of Ezell Ford.
Born on October 14, 1988, Ford was the oldest of seven children. According to his great aunt, Mahalia Clark, Ford wanted to become a professional athlete and a doctor when he grew up. As Ford grew older, he began to lose some of the spark he’d had as a child, and was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
According to Clark, to clear his mind, Ford would often go for long walks through his neighborhood, which she believes he was doing on the day of his fateful death.
Two versions of the events were presented. One by the LAPD, the other by bystanders who were on the scene. According to LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, Ford ignored commands to stop, and was grabbed by Officer Wampler, who believed that he was trying to get rid of drugs. Ford apparently knocked Wampler to the ground and a struggle ensued. As the two men struggled, Ford allegedly reached for Wampler’s gun, at which point his partner Officer Villegas opened fire on Ford, hitting him in the side and his arm. Officer Wampler reached for his backup weapon, and shot Ford in the back. Prosecutors later stated that Ford’s DNA was present on Wampler’s holster, and that blood stains and scuff marks on Wampler’s belt were consistent with the statements made by the officers.
However, the reports of the bystanders in the area describe a different set of events. According to Ford’s mother, Mrs. Tritobia Ford, when she arrived on the scene, her son was lying on the ground and complying with the officers’ commands when he was shot three times. Another eyewitness, who requested to remain anonymous, stated that Ford was shot in the back. A third witness, Mrs. Ina Smalls, reported that she rushed outside when she heard gunshots and found officers standing over her neighbor’s 25-year-old son. She said he was on the ground, shot dead, and handcuffed on his stomach.
Ultimately, the Los Angeles Police Commission issued a mixed ruling on the shooting, finding that Officer Wampler was wrong to use deadly force, but cleared Officer Villegas in the fatal shooting. The board also faulted both officers for drawing their weapons at different points during the confrontation. A settlement of $1.5 million dollars was approved in February of 2017 for the family of Ezell Ford.
LAQUAN MCDONALD (1997-2014)
On October 20, 2014, Laquan McDonald, a 17-year-old African American teenager, was shot 16 times within 14 seconds by Jason Van Dyke, a 36-year-old white Chicago, Illinois policeman. McDonald’s death was another catalyst for the growing national Black Lives Matter Movement. It also had significant local ramifications including the defeat of Cook County State Attorney Anita Alvarez who in 2016 lost her bid for reelection because of her office’s handling of the shooting.
Laquan McDonald was born on Chicago’s West Side on September 25, 1997, to a teenage mother and an absent father. Because his mother could not care for him, McDonald lived with relatives and in foster care from the age of three. He also had learning disabilities and mental health problems. At the time of his death he was a ward of the state and had multiple juvenile arrests.
Shortly before 10:00 p.m. on October 20, police were called to investigate a report that McDonald was carrying a knife and breaking into vehicles in a trucking yard. When officers confronted McDonald, who was later found to have PCP in his system, he was running erratically in the street and used his three-inch knife to punch holes in the tire of a police car. McDonald reportedly refused to obey police commands to drop the knife and officers requested Taser backup.
At that point, Officer Van Dyke arrived, jumped out of his car, and shot McDonald, who fell to the ground. As McDonald lay on the ground, Van Dyke fired another 15 rounds into him. The Cook Counter Medical Examiner’s autopsy report indicated that nine of the 16 shots hit McDonald in the back. Van Dyke was attempting to reload when other policemen stopped him. Although at least nine other officers were on the scene before Van Dyke arrived, none of them fired their weapons.
The initial police report said that McDonald acted “crazed” and lunged at Van Dyke after refusing to drop his knife. Later police dash-cam footage showed McDonald walking away from Van Dyke and other policemen and that he was not holding the knife in a threatening manner. That dash-cam footage became available to the public, however, more than thirteen months after the shooting and only due to intense pressure from Brandon Smith, a freelance news journalist and William Calloway, a community activist, who filed for its release under the Freedom of Information Act.
With the release of the dash-cam video, Van Dyke, a 14-year-veteran on the police force but with over 20 citizen complaints for excessive force, was arrested on November 23, 2015, and charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Laquan McDonald. On June 17, 2017, Van Dyke was indicted on 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm. If convicted, Van Dyke faces a prison sentence of 20 years to life. This was the first time in nearly 35 years that a Chicago police officer was charged with first-degree murder for an on-duty fatality. Ten days later, three Chicago police officers were indicted on charges of obstruction, conspiracy, and misconduct for helping Van Dyke cover up his actions.
The Laquan McDonald killing had ramifications beyond the indictment of Van Dyke and three other Chicago police officers. In December 2015, the U.S. Justice Department launched an investigation of Chicago police practices partly because of the McDonald killing. The report, released in early January 2017 was highly critical of the department which agreed to make broad reforms. However, in February 2017, new Attorney General Jeff Sessions signaled that the Trump administration would not enforce the reforms agreed to by the Chicago Police and Loretta Lynch, his predecessor as Attorney General.
Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez lost her 2016 reelection bid because of her mishandling of the McDonald case and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel failed to win a majority in his primary reelection bid and was forced into a runoff election against Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, mainly because of criticism of his handling of the McDonald killing. Emanuel was eventually reelected.
On April 15, 2015, the Chicago City Council approved a $5 million settlement to the McDonald family even though the family had not filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
Laquan McDonald was born on Chicago’s West Side on September 25, 1997, to a teenage mother and an absent father. Because his mother could not care for him, McDonald lived with relatives and in foster care from the age of three. He also had learning disabilities and mental health problems. At the time of his death he was a ward of the state and had multiple juvenile arrests.
Shortly before 10:00 p.m. on October 20, police were called to investigate a report that McDonald was carrying a knife and breaking into vehicles in a trucking yard. When officers confronted McDonald, who was later found to have PCP in his system, he was running erratically in the street and used his three-inch knife to punch holes in the tire of a police car. McDonald reportedly refused to obey police commands to drop the knife and officers requested Taser backup.
At that point, Officer Van Dyke arrived, jumped out of his car, and shot McDonald, who fell to the ground. As McDonald lay on the ground, Van Dyke fired another 15 rounds into him. The Cook Counter Medical Examiner’s autopsy report indicated that nine of the 16 shots hit McDonald in the back. Van Dyke was attempting to reload when other policemen stopped him. Although at least nine other officers were on the scene before Van Dyke arrived, none of them fired their weapons.
The initial police report said that McDonald acted “crazed” and lunged at Van Dyke after refusing to drop his knife. Later police dash-cam footage showed McDonald walking away from Van Dyke and other policemen and that he was not holding the knife in a threatening manner. That dash-cam footage became available to the public, however, more than thirteen months after the shooting and only due to intense pressure from Brandon Smith, a freelance news journalist and William Calloway, a community activist, who filed for its release under the Freedom of Information Act.
With the release of the dash-cam video, Van Dyke, a 14-year-veteran on the police force but with over 20 citizen complaints for excessive force, was arrested on November 23, 2015, and charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Laquan McDonald. On June 17, 2017, Van Dyke was indicted on 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm. If convicted, Van Dyke faces a prison sentence of 20 years to life. This was the first time in nearly 35 years that a Chicago police officer was charged with first-degree murder for an on-duty fatality. Ten days later, three Chicago police officers were indicted on charges of obstruction, conspiracy, and misconduct for helping Van Dyke cover up his actions.
The Laquan McDonald killing had ramifications beyond the indictment of Van Dyke and three other Chicago police officers. In December 2015, the U.S. Justice Department launched an investigation of Chicago police practices partly because of the McDonald killing. The report, released in early January 2017 was highly critical of the department which agreed to make broad reforms. However, in February 2017, new Attorney General Jeff Sessions signaled that the Trump administration would not enforce the reforms agreed to by the Chicago Police and Loretta Lynch, his predecessor as Attorney General.
Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez lost her 2016 reelection bid because of her mishandling of the McDonald case and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel failed to win a majority in his primary reelection bid and was forced into a runoff election against Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, mainly because of criticism of his handling of the McDonald killing. Emanuel was eventually reelected.
On April 15, 2015, the Chicago City Council approved a $5 million settlement to the McDonald family even though the family had not filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
AKAI KAREEM GURLEY (1986-2014)
Akai Gurley was tragically and senselessly killed while walking down the stairwell of his apartment building with his girlfriend. His death, like the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, and Michael Brown, helped inspire and propel the Black Lives Matter Movement.
Gurley was 28 years of age at the time of the shooting. He was born in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and moved to New York with his family as a child. On November 20, 2014, Gurley was getting his hair braided by his girlfriend Kimberly Ballinger at the Louis H. Pink Houses in the East New York section of Brooklyn, New York. The two lived together with their two-year-old daughter, Akaila. Gurley and Ballinger exited the building by way of the stairs since the building elevator was out of service. The lights were also malfunctioning, so the stairwell was dark. Gurley and Ballinger entered the stairwell on the 7th floor, just a floor below Officers Shaun Landau and Peter Liang, who were performing a routine patrol of the building.
As the two officers approached the next stairwell, Officer Liang, a 27-year-old rookie who had just graduated the academy a year before this incident, pulled out his flashlight and unholstered his service firearm, a 9mm Glock. Officer Liang opened the door to the stairwell and was immediately startled by a noise in the stairwell. He later claimed that the noise caused him to discharge his weapon. The single bullet ricocheted off the wall and struck Gurley in the chest. Startled, Gurley ran down two flights of stairs before realizing he was shot and collapsed on the 5th floor.
Neither officer stopped to perform any life-saving techniques on Gurley. Officer Liang chose to call his union representative while officer Landau called in the situation to the local police station house. When paramedics arrived, Gurley was pronounced dead at the scene. Both officers Landau and Liang were removed from duty, pending court proceedings. Officer Landau returned to duty but after a Grand Jury indictment, prosecutors ordered the arrest of Officer Liang. Facing up to 15 years in prison for second degree manslaughter, Officer Liang pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was convicted in the shooting of Akai Gurley. He was fired from the NYPD. On April 19, 2016, however, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun Officer reduced Liang’s sentence to just five years on probation and 800 hours of community service. No charges were filed against officer Landau. The Gurley family continued to press its lawsuit against the city and was awarded $4.1 million dollars. Additionally, the housing authority paid $400,000 and Officer Liang ordered to pay $25,000 to Ballinger, the mother of Gurley’s daughter.
Gurley was 28 years of age at the time of the shooting. He was born in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and moved to New York with his family as a child. On November 20, 2014, Gurley was getting his hair braided by his girlfriend Kimberly Ballinger at the Louis H. Pink Houses in the East New York section of Brooklyn, New York. The two lived together with their two-year-old daughter, Akaila. Gurley and Ballinger exited the building by way of the stairs since the building elevator was out of service. The lights were also malfunctioning, so the stairwell was dark. Gurley and Ballinger entered the stairwell on the 7th floor, just a floor below Officers Shaun Landau and Peter Liang, who were performing a routine patrol of the building.
As the two officers approached the next stairwell, Officer Liang, a 27-year-old rookie who had just graduated the academy a year before this incident, pulled out his flashlight and unholstered his service firearm, a 9mm Glock. Officer Liang opened the door to the stairwell and was immediately startled by a noise in the stairwell. He later claimed that the noise caused him to discharge his weapon. The single bullet ricocheted off the wall and struck Gurley in the chest. Startled, Gurley ran down two flights of stairs before realizing he was shot and collapsed on the 5th floor.
Neither officer stopped to perform any life-saving techniques on Gurley. Officer Liang chose to call his union representative while officer Landau called in the situation to the local police station house. When paramedics arrived, Gurley was pronounced dead at the scene. Both officers Landau and Liang were removed from duty, pending court proceedings. Officer Landau returned to duty but after a Grand Jury indictment, prosecutors ordered the arrest of Officer Liang. Facing up to 15 years in prison for second degree manslaughter, Officer Liang pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was convicted in the shooting of Akai Gurley. He was fired from the NYPD. On April 19, 2016, however, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun Officer reduced Liang’s sentence to just five years on probation and 800 hours of community service. No charges were filed against officer Landau. The Gurley family continued to press its lawsuit against the city and was awarded $4.1 million dollars. Additionally, the housing authority paid $400,000 and Officer Liang ordered to pay $25,000 to Ballinger, the mother of Gurley’s daughter.
TAMIR ELIJAH RICE (2002–2014)
The shooting death of twelve-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014 brought increased attention to the national debate on interactions between police officers and African Americans. Tamir Elijah Rice was born to Samaria Rice and Leonard Warner on June 15, 2002, in Cleveland, Ohio. At times, Rice’s family life was turbulent as Warner was convicted of domestic violence against Samaria Rice in 2010, while Rice herself pled guilty to drug trafficking charges in 2013. Tamir Rice, who appeared older than twelve because of his 195-pound frame, attended sixth grade at Marion-Seltzer Elementary School in Cleveland and was described as a pleasant young man who enjoyed art and playing sports.
On November 22, 2014, Rice was walking in a park outside the Cudell Recreation Center, a place he frequented. Rice had a black Airsoft pellet gun, without the orange safety indicator usually found on the barrel, and was playing with it around the park. A 911 caller reported Rice’s activities but expressed uncertainty to the dispatcher about whether the gun was real. Two Cleveland police officers, Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback, both white, responded to the call but were not informed that the gun might be a fake. Security camera footage showed a police cruiser driven by the forty-six-year-old Garmback, who had been with the force since 2008, race into the frame and stop.
Within two seconds, Loehmann had opened the passenger door and fired two shots at Rice, who was approximately ten feet away. Loehmann claimed he had told Rice to raise his hands three times as the car pulled up, but Rice failed to obey. This could not be verified independently since the footage did not have audio. Rice, who fell to the ground immediately after being shot, died the next day in the hospital. Officer Loehmann was a twenty-six-year-old rookie who had been on the job in Cleveland for eight months. Prior to this, he had been rejected for police jobs in several nearby towns and cities as well as the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department. Loehmann was hired by the police department in Independence, Ohio, but resigned in November 2012 after a poor performance review.
The timing of these events came on the heels of the Michael Brown case in Ferguson, Missouri, and the beginnings of the Black Lives Matter movement. Several hundred protesters gathered in downtown Cleveland on November 25 in response to both Rice’s killing and the decision not to indict the police officer who fatally had shot the unarmed eighteen-year-old Brown in August 2014. Demonstrators temporarily blocked rush-hour traffic after marching down an exit ramp to a busy freeway.
Tamir Rice’s funeral was held on December 3, 2014, at Mt. Sinai Baptist Church. On October 27, 2015, a grand jury began hearing the Tamir Rice case. Officers Loehmann and Garmback were subpoenaed and appeared in front of the grand jury on December 1 to read their sworn statements. On December 28, the grand jury returned a decision not to indict either officer in the deadly shooting. On January 1, 2016, more than one hundred protesters marched to the home of Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty in West Cleveland. Police accompanied the group along the way and stood in McGinty’s driveway but did not intervene as demonstrators repeatedly called for the prosecutor’s resignation. McGinty lost his bid for re-election in March 2016, after a single tumultuous term.
Gurley was 28 years of age at the time of the shooting. He was born in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and moved to New York with his family as a child. On November 20, 2014, Gurley was getting his hair braided by his girlfriend Kimberly Ballinger at the Louis H. Pink Houses in the East New York section of Brooklyn, New York. The two lived together with their two-year-old daughter, Akaila. Gurley and Ballinger exited the building by way of the stairs since the building elevator was out of service. The lights were also malfunctioning, so the stairwell was dark. Gurley and Ballinger entered the stairwell on the 7th floor, just a floor below Officers Shaun Landau and Peter Liang, who were performing a routine patrol of the building.
As the two officers approached the next stairwell, Officer Liang, a 27-year-old rookie who had just graduated the academy a year before this incident, pulled out his flashlight and unholstered his service firearm, a 9mm Glock. Officer Liang opened the door to the stairwell and was immediately startled by a noise in the stairwell. He later claimed that the noise caused him to discharge his weapon. The single bullet ricocheted off the wall and struck Gurley in the chest. Startled, Gurley ran down two flights of stairs before realizing he was shot and collapsed on the 5th floor.
Neither officer stopped to perform any life-saving techniques on Gurley. Officer Liang chose to call his union representative while officer Landau called in the situation to the local police station house. When paramedics arrived, Gurley was pronounced dead at the scene. Both officers Landau and Liang were removed from duty, pending court proceedings. Officer Landau returned to duty but after a Grand Jury indictment, prosecutors ordered the arrest of Officer Liang. Facing up to 15 years in prison for second degree manslaughter, Officer Liang pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was convicted in the shooting of Akai Gurley. He was fired from the NYPD. On April 19, 2016, however, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun Officer reduced Liang’s sentence to just five years on probation and 800 hours of community service. No charges were filed against officer Landau. The Gurley family continued to press its lawsuit against the city and was awarded $4.1 million dollars. Additionally, the housing authority paid $400,000 and Officer Liang ordered to pay $25,000 to Ballinger, the mother of Gurley’s daughter.
On November 22, 2014, Rice was walking in a park outside the Cudell Recreation Center, a place he frequented. Rice had a black Airsoft pellet gun, without the orange safety indicator usually found on the barrel, and was playing with it around the park. A 911 caller reported Rice’s activities but expressed uncertainty to the dispatcher about whether the gun was real. Two Cleveland police officers, Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback, both white, responded to the call but were not informed that the gun might be a fake. Security camera footage showed a police cruiser driven by the forty-six-year-old Garmback, who had been with the force since 2008, race into the frame and stop.
Within two seconds, Loehmann had opened the passenger door and fired two shots at Rice, who was approximately ten feet away. Loehmann claimed he had told Rice to raise his hands three times as the car pulled up, but Rice failed to obey. This could not be verified independently since the footage did not have audio. Rice, who fell to the ground immediately after being shot, died the next day in the hospital. Officer Loehmann was a twenty-six-year-old rookie who had been on the job in Cleveland for eight months. Prior to this, he had been rejected for police jobs in several nearby towns and cities as well as the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department. Loehmann was hired by the police department in Independence, Ohio, but resigned in November 2012 after a poor performance review.
The timing of these events came on the heels of the Michael Brown case in Ferguson, Missouri, and the beginnings of the Black Lives Matter movement. Several hundred protesters gathered in downtown Cleveland on November 25 in response to both Rice’s killing and the decision not to indict the police officer who fatally had shot the unarmed eighteen-year-old Brown in August 2014. Demonstrators temporarily blocked rush-hour traffic after marching down an exit ramp to a busy freeway.
Tamir Rice’s funeral was held on December 3, 2014, at Mt. Sinai Baptist Church. On October 27, 2015, a grand jury began hearing the Tamir Rice case. Officers Loehmann and Garmback were subpoenaed and appeared in front of the grand jury on December 1 to read their sworn statements. On December 28, the grand jury returned a decision not to indict either officer in the deadly shooting. On January 1, 2016, more than one hundred protesters marched to the home of Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty in West Cleveland. Police accompanied the group along the way and stood in McGinty’s driveway but did not intervene as demonstrators repeatedly called for the prosecutor’s resignation. McGinty lost his bid for re-election in March 2016, after a single tumultuous term.
Gurley was 28 years of age at the time of the shooting. He was born in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and moved to New York with his family as a child. On November 20, 2014, Gurley was getting his hair braided by his girlfriend Kimberly Ballinger at the Louis H. Pink Houses in the East New York section of Brooklyn, New York. The two lived together with their two-year-old daughter, Akaila. Gurley and Ballinger exited the building by way of the stairs since the building elevator was out of service. The lights were also malfunctioning, so the stairwell was dark. Gurley and Ballinger entered the stairwell on the 7th floor, just a floor below Officers Shaun Landau and Peter Liang, who were performing a routine patrol of the building.
As the two officers approached the next stairwell, Officer Liang, a 27-year-old rookie who had just graduated the academy a year before this incident, pulled out his flashlight and unholstered his service firearm, a 9mm Glock. Officer Liang opened the door to the stairwell and was immediately startled by a noise in the stairwell. He later claimed that the noise caused him to discharge his weapon. The single bullet ricocheted off the wall and struck Gurley in the chest. Startled, Gurley ran down two flights of stairs before realizing he was shot and collapsed on the 5th floor.
Neither officer stopped to perform any life-saving techniques on Gurley. Officer Liang chose to call his union representative while officer Landau called in the situation to the local police station house. When paramedics arrived, Gurley was pronounced dead at the scene. Both officers Landau and Liang were removed from duty, pending court proceedings. Officer Landau returned to duty but after a Grand Jury indictment, prosecutors ordered the arrest of Officer Liang. Facing up to 15 years in prison for second degree manslaughter, Officer Liang pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was convicted in the shooting of Akai Gurley. He was fired from the NYPD. On April 19, 2016, however, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun Officer reduced Liang’s sentence to just five years on probation and 800 hours of community service. No charges were filed against officer Landau. The Gurley family continued to press its lawsuit against the city and was awarded $4.1 million dollars. Additionally, the housing authority paid $400,000 and Officer Liang ordered to pay $25,000 to Ballinger, the mother of Gurley’s daughter.
NATASHA MCKENNA (1978-2015)
The tragic death of Natasha McKenna helped propel the Black Lives Matter Movement, which was founded in 2013, to address issues of individual treatment while in police custody and the tactics used to address citizens who suffered from mental health issues. Natasha McKenna was born on January 9, 1978, to Marlene Williams. She graduated from W.T. Woodson High School in Fairfax County, Virginia, where she was on the basketball team. McKenna had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder as well as schizophrenia at the age of twelve.
Natasha McKenna was arrested on January 26, 2015, after initially calling to report an assault. Four weeks later, McKenna died on February 8, 2015, as the result of the misuse of a stun gun by officers inside of the Fairfax County Jail in Fairfax County, Virginia. However, medical examiners within Fairfax County labeled McKenna’s death as cardiac arrest as a result of excited delirium. Consequently, Fairfax County medical examiners ruled McKenna’s death an accident.
Officers involved in this event claim that McKenna had an outstanding warrant for assaulting an officer in Alexandria, Virginia. Following her hospital examination for the assault that she reported, she was detained in the Fairfax County Jail. After a week-long delay in transport, McKenna’s mental health began to deteriorate and her behavior became erratic. This behavior, according to county jail officers, was the cause of McKenna’s hands and feet being shackled together before and during the time of her death. The excessive use of physical restraints and a stun gun were key arguments in the misconduct case following her death.
The events leading up to McKenna’s death were documented by security cameras in the jail. Officers claimed the stun gun was used to restrain McKenna, following a mental health episode. McKenna, who weighed 130 pounds, and was about five feet, three inches tall, withstood well over 100,000 volts of electricity. She is one of hundreds of people who have died in the United States as a result of the excessive or misuse of a stun a gun.
McKenna was survived by her then-seven-year-old daughter, as well as her mother and two siblings. Her death illustrated the police injustice that dozens of black women face in society. Following a long legal investigation of the Fairfax County Jail, as well as its officials, no charges were filed. A legal battle for compensation is still underway.
Natasha McKenna was arrested on January 26, 2015, after initially calling to report an assault. Four weeks later, McKenna died on February 8, 2015, as the result of the misuse of a stun gun by officers inside of the Fairfax County Jail in Fairfax County, Virginia. However, medical examiners within Fairfax County labeled McKenna’s death as cardiac arrest as a result of excited delirium. Consequently, Fairfax County medical examiners ruled McKenna’s death an accident.
Officers involved in this event claim that McKenna had an outstanding warrant for assaulting an officer in Alexandria, Virginia. Following her hospital examination for the assault that she reported, she was detained in the Fairfax County Jail. After a week-long delay in transport, McKenna’s mental health began to deteriorate and her behavior became erratic. This behavior, according to county jail officers, was the cause of McKenna’s hands and feet being shackled together before and during the time of her death. The excessive use of physical restraints and a stun gun were key arguments in the misconduct case following her death.
The events leading up to McKenna’s death were documented by security cameras in the jail. Officers claimed the stun gun was used to restrain McKenna, following a mental health episode. McKenna, who weighed 130 pounds, and was about five feet, three inches tall, withstood well over 100,000 volts of electricity. She is one of hundreds of people who have died in the United States as a result of the excessive or misuse of a stun a gun.
McKenna was survived by her then-seven-year-old daughter, as well as her mother and two siblings. Her death illustrated the police injustice that dozens of black women face in society. Following a long legal investigation of the Fairfax County Jail, as well as its officials, no charges were filed. A legal battle for compensation is still underway.
WALTER LAMAR SCOTT (1965-2015)
The shooting death of Walter Lamar Scott, an unarmed black man, by Michael Thomas Slager, a white police officer, during a daytime traffic stop, helped fuel the Black Lives Matter movement. Many people viewed the shooting as racially motivated, and the incident sparked national protests similar to those following the shooting deaths of Trayvon Martin and Tamar Rice.
Walter Scott was born on February 9, 1965, in North Charleston, South Carolina. He served two years in the U.S. Coast Guard but was given a general discharge because of a drug-related incident. After leaving the Coast Guard, Scott worked as a forklift operator. By 2015, the fifty-year-old had fathered four children and owed $18,000 for two years of back child support payments for two of his children.
On April 4, 2015, around 9:30 a.m., Scott drove his 1991 Mercedes into the parking lot of an auto parts store at 1945 Remount Road in North Charleston. As he was parking, Slager stopped him for a nonfunctioning brake light. Slager’s patrol car dashcam recorded him approaching Scott’s car and speaking to Scott. When Slager returned to his car, Scott exited his vehicle and started to flee. Slager chased on foot and fired his Taser at Scott. The chase continued into a lot behind a pawnshop at 5654 Rivers Avenue where the men got into a physical altercation. Slager again fired his Taser but Scott ran away. Slager then drew his handgun and fired eight rounds at Scott. Five rounds hit Scott, including three in the back, killing him.
An eyewitness, Feidin Santana, recorded the incident between Scott and Slager on his cell phone and later shared the video with Scott’s family and the local news media. Slager was arrested on April 7 for Scott’s murder and the North Charleston Police Department fired him the next day. A few days later, Scott’s funeral took place in Summerville, South Carolina, about twenty miles from North Charleston.
Scott’s killing intensified the national debate about police officers killing unarmed African Americans. The national Black Lives Matter movement immediately protested Scott’s death. They and others pointed out that local residents of North Charleston, a city that was 63 percent black but with an 80 percent white police force, had long complained about racial profiling and police brutality. A bill, named in honor of Scott was introduced into the South Carolina state legislature, requiring all police officers to wear body cameras.
On June 8, 2015, a South Carolina grand jury indicted Slager for murder. His trial began on October 31, 2016, in North Charleston. The court proceeding lasted for two months before Judge Clifton B. Newman declared a mistrial after the jury deadlocked. Eleven of the twelve jurors favored a conviction. A few months later, on May 2, 2017, in a plea agreement, the murder charges were dropped when Slager pled guilty to federal charges of civil rights violations. In an out-of-court settlement, the City of North Charleston agreed to pay $6.5 million to the family of Walter Scott.
Walter Scott was born on February 9, 1965, in North Charleston, South Carolina. He served two years in the U.S. Coast Guard but was given a general discharge because of a drug-related incident. After leaving the Coast Guard, Scott worked as a forklift operator. By 2015, the fifty-year-old had fathered four children and owed $18,000 for two years of back child support payments for two of his children.
On April 4, 2015, around 9:30 a.m., Scott drove his 1991 Mercedes into the parking lot of an auto parts store at 1945 Remount Road in North Charleston. As he was parking, Slager stopped him for a nonfunctioning brake light. Slager’s patrol car dashcam recorded him approaching Scott’s car and speaking to Scott. When Slager returned to his car, Scott exited his vehicle and started to flee. Slager chased on foot and fired his Taser at Scott. The chase continued into a lot behind a pawnshop at 5654 Rivers Avenue where the men got into a physical altercation. Slager again fired his Taser but Scott ran away. Slager then drew his handgun and fired eight rounds at Scott. Five rounds hit Scott, including three in the back, killing him.
An eyewitness, Feidin Santana, recorded the incident between Scott and Slager on his cell phone and later shared the video with Scott’s family and the local news media. Slager was arrested on April 7 for Scott’s murder and the North Charleston Police Department fired him the next day. A few days later, Scott’s funeral took place in Summerville, South Carolina, about twenty miles from North Charleston.
Scott’s killing intensified the national debate about police officers killing unarmed African Americans. The national Black Lives Matter movement immediately protested Scott’s death. They and others pointed out that local residents of North Charleston, a city that was 63 percent black but with an 80 percent white police force, had long complained about racial profiling and police brutality. A bill, named in honor of Scott was introduced into the South Carolina state legislature, requiring all police officers to wear body cameras.
On June 8, 2015, a South Carolina grand jury indicted Slager for murder. His trial began on October 31, 2016, in North Charleston. The court proceeding lasted for two months before Judge Clifton B. Newman declared a mistrial after the jury deadlocked. Eleven of the twelve jurors favored a conviction. A few months later, on May 2, 2017, in a plea agreement, the murder charges were dropped when Slager pled guilty to federal charges of civil rights violations. In an out-of-court settlement, the City of North Charleston agreed to pay $6.5 million to the family of Walter Scott.
FREDDIE GRAY, JR. (1989-2015)
The death of Freddie Gray in 2015 while in police custody brought increased attention to the national debate on interactions between law enforcement and African Americans and inspired the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement. Freddie Gray Jr. was born on August 16, 1989, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Gloria Darden and Freddie Gray Sr. Along with his older sister, Carolina and twin sister Fredericka, Gray grew up in poverty with their mother. During his childhood, the family moved frequently. Darden battled drug abuse, and Gray, diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, struggled in school. A 2008 lawsuit filed against the landlord of a home the family lived in during the 1990s found damaging levels of lead from paint in all three Gray children. The suit, settled in 2010 before going to trial, alleged the lead caused Freddie Gray multiple medical, behavioral, and educational problems. As an adult, Gray had multiple run-ins with the law and served time in prison for destruction of property, assault, and drug offenses.
On the morning of April 12, 2015, Baltimore Police officers on bike patrol made eye contact with Gray who then ran away. Gray surrendered a short time later and was restrained by the officers on his stomach until a police van arrived. Arrested for illegal possession of a switchblade, a shackled Gray was placed in a Baltimore Police van but not secured with a seatbelt, against department policy. When the van arrived at the Western District police station roughly forty minutes later, Gray was unresponsive and not breathing. He was transferred to the University of Maryland’s Shock Trauma Center where he lay in a coma for a week with a severe spinal cord injury. Twenty-five-year-old Freddie Gray Jr. died on April 19, 2015.
Immediately, demonstrations in Baltimore demanded police accountability. Following Gray’s funeral on April 27, the initially non-violent protests began to turn into riots as cars and buildings were burned, businesses were looted, schools were closed, and a mandatory curfew was imposed by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. Major League Baseball’s Baltimore Orioles were forced to cancel one game and play another in an empty stadium. All told, fifteen structural fires and 144 vehicle fires were reported, some twenty police officers were injured, and more than two hundred arrests made. The governor of Maryland, Larry Hogan, declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard.
Following the medical examiner’s report that ruled Gray’s death a homicide, state’s attorney for Baltimore Marilyn Mosby on May 1 issued six indictments to officers—Caesar Goodson, Garrett Miller, Edward Nero, and William Porter, Lt. Brian Rice, and Sgt. Alicia White—on charges, including false imprisonment, assault, and manslaughter. Rice, Miller, and Nero were white, and Porter, White, and Goodson, the driver of the police van, were black. In December 2015, Porter received a mistrial, and between May 23, and July 18, 2016, Nero, Goodson, and Rice were acquitted of all charges by Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams. On July 27, prosecutors dropped all charges on all of the remaining officers in the Freddie Gray case.
On the morning of April 12, 2015, Baltimore Police officers on bike patrol made eye contact with Gray who then ran away. Gray surrendered a short time later and was restrained by the officers on his stomach until a police van arrived. Arrested for illegal possession of a switchblade, a shackled Gray was placed in a Baltimore Police van but not secured with a seatbelt, against department policy. When the van arrived at the Western District police station roughly forty minutes later, Gray was unresponsive and not breathing. He was transferred to the University of Maryland’s Shock Trauma Center where he lay in a coma for a week with a severe spinal cord injury. Twenty-five-year-old Freddie Gray Jr. died on April 19, 2015.
Immediately, demonstrations in Baltimore demanded police accountability. Following Gray’s funeral on April 27, the initially non-violent protests began to turn into riots as cars and buildings were burned, businesses were looted, schools were closed, and a mandatory curfew was imposed by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. Major League Baseball’s Baltimore Orioles were forced to cancel one game and play another in an empty stadium. All told, fifteen structural fires and 144 vehicle fires were reported, some twenty police officers were injured, and more than two hundred arrests made. The governor of Maryland, Larry Hogan, declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard.
Following the medical examiner’s report that ruled Gray’s death a homicide, state’s attorney for Baltimore Marilyn Mosby on May 1 issued six indictments to officers—Caesar Goodson, Garrett Miller, Edward Nero, and William Porter, Lt. Brian Rice, and Sgt. Alicia White—on charges, including false imprisonment, assault, and manslaughter. Rice, Miller, and Nero were white, and Porter, White, and Goodson, the driver of the police van, were black. In December 2015, Porter received a mistrial, and between May 23, and July 18, 2016, Nero, Goodson, and Rice were acquitted of all charges by Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams. On July 27, prosecutors dropped all charges on all of the remaining officers in the Freddie Gray case.
SANDRA ANNETTE BLAND (1987-2015)
The 2015 death of twenty-eight-year-old Sandra Bland in a Texas jail cell helped serve as a reminder that Black Lives Matter meant women as well. Sandra Annette Bland, the second-youngest of five daughters, was born on February 7, 1987, in Naperville, Illinois. Raised by a single mother, Bland became active in the church at age ten and began playing the trombone.
Bland graduated from Willowbrook High School in Villa Park, Illinois, in 2005 and earned a marching band scholarship to Prairie View A&M University, a historically black institution in Prairie View, Texas. There she became a member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority. Bland completed her degree in agriculture at Prairie View in 2009 and soon moved back to Illinois.
In January 2015, Bland began posting a series of videos on social media under the title “Sandy Speaks” in which she editorialized about a number of topics, including police brutality, inattentive parents, and her own emotional struggles. On July 9, she traveled back to Texas for a job interview at Prairie View A&M and was hired as a community outreach coordinator at her alma mater.
The next day, Bland returned to Prairie View to fill out some paperwork. Shortly after leaving the university, she was pulled over by Brian Encinia, a white state trooper, for changing lanes without signaling. Dashcam video from the trooper’s car recorded Encinia ordering Bland to extinguish her cigarette, and then ordering her out of the car when she refused to do so. Bland questioned Encinia, who drew his stun gun. After Bland exited her car, the two disappeared from view and sounds of a struggle were heard. Bland was soon handcuffed and booked into the Waller County Jail in Hempstead, Texas, on suspicion of felony assault on a public servant. Her bail was set at $5,000. Over the next three days, Bland made several phones calls from jail to friends and family.
On morning of July 13, 2015, police reported Sandra Bland had used a plastic bag to hang herself in her cell. Bland’s friends and family immediately questioned the story, which came in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement and unprecedented scrutiny and discussion of professional misconduct by law enforcement against African Americans. Waller County Sheriff R. Glenn Smith said Bland stated that she had previously attempted suicide during her booking, but she was not placed under suicide watch. Friends and family insisted that Bland was not depressed or suicidal but simply angry about being in jail and the circumstances surrounding her arrest. In addition, serious questions about the credibility of the Dashcam footage were raised as Texas officials, who were forced to publicly deny any editing had taken place, released multiple versions of the video.
A series of demonstrations in Hempstead followed, which included Black Lives Matter protesters and armed members of the New Black Panther Party who gathered at the jail where Bland had died. Two separate inquiries into the matter were launched by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Texas Rangers. In December 2015, a grand jury declined to indict anyone in the death of Sandra Bland. In January 2016, the same grand jury indicted Trooper Brian Encinia on a charge of perjury for claiming in his arrest report that he removed Bland from the car “to more safely conduct a traffic investigation.”
Bland graduated from Willowbrook High School in Villa Park, Illinois, in 2005 and earned a marching band scholarship to Prairie View A&M University, a historically black institution in Prairie View, Texas. There she became a member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority. Bland completed her degree in agriculture at Prairie View in 2009 and soon moved back to Illinois.
In January 2015, Bland began posting a series of videos on social media under the title “Sandy Speaks” in which she editorialized about a number of topics, including police brutality, inattentive parents, and her own emotional struggles. On July 9, she traveled back to Texas for a job interview at Prairie View A&M and was hired as a community outreach coordinator at her alma mater.
The next day, Bland returned to Prairie View to fill out some paperwork. Shortly after leaving the university, she was pulled over by Brian Encinia, a white state trooper, for changing lanes without signaling. Dashcam video from the trooper’s car recorded Encinia ordering Bland to extinguish her cigarette, and then ordering her out of the car when she refused to do so. Bland questioned Encinia, who drew his stun gun. After Bland exited her car, the two disappeared from view and sounds of a struggle were heard. Bland was soon handcuffed and booked into the Waller County Jail in Hempstead, Texas, on suspicion of felony assault on a public servant. Her bail was set at $5,000. Over the next three days, Bland made several phones calls from jail to friends and family.
On morning of July 13, 2015, police reported Sandra Bland had used a plastic bag to hang herself in her cell. Bland’s friends and family immediately questioned the story, which came in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement and unprecedented scrutiny and discussion of professional misconduct by law enforcement against African Americans. Waller County Sheriff R. Glenn Smith said Bland stated that she had previously attempted suicide during her booking, but she was not placed under suicide watch. Friends and family insisted that Bland was not depressed or suicidal but simply angry about being in jail and the circumstances surrounding her arrest. In addition, serious questions about the credibility of the Dashcam footage were raised as Texas officials, who were forced to publicly deny any editing had taken place, released multiple versions of the video.
A series of demonstrations in Hempstead followed, which included Black Lives Matter protesters and armed members of the New Black Panther Party who gathered at the jail where Bland had died. Two separate inquiries into the matter were launched by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Texas Rangers. In December 2015, a grand jury declined to indict anyone in the death of Sandra Bland. In January 2016, the same grand jury indicted Trooper Brian Encinia on a charge of perjury for claiming in his arrest report that he removed Bland from the car “to more safely conduct a traffic investigation.”
SAMUEL DUBOSE (1972-2015)
The shooting death of Samuel DuBose, an unarmed black man, by Ray Tensing, a University of Cincinnati police officer during a traffic stop for a missing front license plate and a suspended driver’s license, contributed to the growth of the Black Lives Matter Movement. The incident sparked national protests similar to those in the wake of the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, and Walter Lamar Scott.
Samuel DuBose was born on March 12, 1972, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Over the course of his life DuBose had been a rapper, music producer, entrepreneur, and motorcycle enthusiast, who was the founder of an of a motorcycle club called Ruthless Riders. He was also the father of thirteen children. Between 1995 and 2009, he was charged thirteen times for driving without a license and four times for not having a proper license plate. In 2005, he served just under a year in state prison on a marijuana trafficking charge.
On July 19, 2015, at around 6:30 pm, DuBose was stopped by Tensing for failure to display a front license plate in the Mount Auburn district of Cincinnati. The incident was recorded on Tensing’s body camera. When Tensing asked for DuBose’s driver license, Dubose told him he had a driver license but did not have it with him. Tensing then asked DuBose if his driver license was suspended. At that point he started to open the driver’s door while ordering DuBose to remove his seat belt. DuBose closed the door and put the car in the drive to leave the scene when Tensing pulled out his pistol and shot DuBose, who died instantly. Different accounts debated whether DuBose’s car was actually moving before Tensing fired the shot.
The day after the shooting, local newspapers reported that DuBose was driving with a suspended driver license and had four bags of marijuana and about $2,600 cash in the car. In his subsequent police report Tensing claimed his reason for shooting DuBose was because that he dragged when his arm was caught in the car near the steering wheel. It was later was determined that Tensing was not dragged by DuBose’s car.
On July 29, 2015, Ray Tensing was indicted on charges of murder and voluntary manslaughter. Tensing was also fired from the University of Cincinnati Police Department. On July 30, 2015, Tensing pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released on a $1 million bond. The next day, a Black Lives Matter vigil and rally in support for DuBose and his family was held in Cincinnati.
The Tensing trial began on October 21, 2016. On November 12, 2016, the judge declared a mistrial after the jury became deadlocked. A retrial occurred on May 25, 2017, and that trial ended in a hung jury on June 23, 2017. At that point, the charges against Tensing were dismissed. A settlement between the DuBose family and the University of Cincinnati was later reached, which included free undergraduate education for DuBose’s children, the creation of a memorial in his name, an apology from university president Santa J. Ono, and engagement by the family in police reform at the university.
Samuel DuBose was born on March 12, 1972, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Over the course of his life DuBose had been a rapper, music producer, entrepreneur, and motorcycle enthusiast, who was the founder of an of a motorcycle club called Ruthless Riders. He was also the father of thirteen children. Between 1995 and 2009, he was charged thirteen times for driving without a license and four times for not having a proper license plate. In 2005, he served just under a year in state prison on a marijuana trafficking charge.
On July 19, 2015, at around 6:30 pm, DuBose was stopped by Tensing for failure to display a front license plate in the Mount Auburn district of Cincinnati. The incident was recorded on Tensing’s body camera. When Tensing asked for DuBose’s driver license, Dubose told him he had a driver license but did not have it with him. Tensing then asked DuBose if his driver license was suspended. At that point he started to open the driver’s door while ordering DuBose to remove his seat belt. DuBose closed the door and put the car in the drive to leave the scene when Tensing pulled out his pistol and shot DuBose, who died instantly. Different accounts debated whether DuBose’s car was actually moving before Tensing fired the shot.
The day after the shooting, local newspapers reported that DuBose was driving with a suspended driver license and had four bags of marijuana and about $2,600 cash in the car. In his subsequent police report Tensing claimed his reason for shooting DuBose was because that he dragged when his arm was caught in the car near the steering wheel. It was later was determined that Tensing was not dragged by DuBose’s car.
On July 29, 2015, Ray Tensing was indicted on charges of murder and voluntary manslaughter. Tensing was also fired from the University of Cincinnati Police Department. On July 30, 2015, Tensing pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released on a $1 million bond. The next day, a Black Lives Matter vigil and rally in support for DuBose and his family was held in Cincinnati.
The Tensing trial began on October 21, 2016. On November 12, 2016, the judge declared a mistrial after the jury became deadlocked. A retrial occurred on May 25, 2017, and that trial ended in a hung jury on June 23, 2017. At that point, the charges against Tensing were dismissed. A settlement between the DuBose family and the University of Cincinnati was later reached, which included free undergraduate education for DuBose’s children, the creation of a memorial in his name, an apology from university president Santa J. Ono, and engagement by the family in police reform at the university.
CHRISTIAN TAYLOR (1995-2015)
The shooting death of Christian Taylor, a 19-year-old college student, by Arlington, Texas police officer Brad Miller at a car dealership in the city in the early morning hours of August 7, 2015 helped continue the ongoing debate promoted by Black Lives Matter and other social justice groups concerning young African Americans dying at the hands of law enforcement. Taylor’s case was unusual, however, because he was a rare college student killed by police in a controversial deadly force incident.
Christian Taylor was born on October 13, 1995 to Adrian Taylor Sr. and Tina Taylor. Much of Christian’s childhood is unknown. He attended Mansfield High School, a public secondary school in Mansfield, Texas, graduating from the institution in 2014. Taylor had played varsity football for Mansfield High. At the time of his death in 2015, Taylor was attending Angelo State University as a sophomore. Taylor was also played defensive back for the Angelo State Rams Football team.
On August 7, 2015, surveillance videos at an Arlington car dealership show Taylor pulling up at the front of the dealership around 1:00 a.m. Taylor began wandering around the dealership parking lot before smashing the windows of several vehicles. A security guard then called the 911 and six Arlington police arrived at the scene. There they discovered that Taylor had driven his car through the dealership’s window and entered its showroom on foot. While five officers remained outside of the showroom, anticipating that they could capture Taylor without incident, Brad Miller—a 49-year old rookie police officer still on probation and without previous policing experience—pursued Taylor inside the dealership on his own. Miller confronted Taylor, ordering him to get down on the showroom floor. What occurred next is uncertain, but Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson later stated that Taylor refused to comply with Officer Miller’s orders and began to actively advance toward the officer. Miller shot Taylor, who was about seven feet away. As Taylor continued to approach Miller, the officer shot him again three times, killing him.
Miller was fired four days after the shooting death of Christian Taylor. A grand jury in Arlington, however, did not charge him with any crime related to the shooting death of Taylor. An autopsy revealed that Taylor had a mixture of drugs in his system at the time of his death, including marijuana and a powerful hallucinogen LSD-like substance nicknamed N-Bomb.
The Taylor family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Arlington. In 2017, a settlement was reached. The Taylor family was awarded $850,000 from the city of Arlington, Texas for the wrongful death of Christian Taylor.
Christian Taylor was born on October 13, 1995 to Adrian Taylor Sr. and Tina Taylor. Much of Christian’s childhood is unknown. He attended Mansfield High School, a public secondary school in Mansfield, Texas, graduating from the institution in 2014. Taylor had played varsity football for Mansfield High. At the time of his death in 2015, Taylor was attending Angelo State University as a sophomore. Taylor was also played defensive back for the Angelo State Rams Football team.
On August 7, 2015, surveillance videos at an Arlington car dealership show Taylor pulling up at the front of the dealership around 1:00 a.m. Taylor began wandering around the dealership parking lot before smashing the windows of several vehicles. A security guard then called the 911 and six Arlington police arrived at the scene. There they discovered that Taylor had driven his car through the dealership’s window and entered its showroom on foot. While five officers remained outside of the showroom, anticipating that they could capture Taylor without incident, Brad Miller—a 49-year old rookie police officer still on probation and without previous policing experience—pursued Taylor inside the dealership on his own. Miller confronted Taylor, ordering him to get down on the showroom floor. What occurred next is uncertain, but Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson later stated that Taylor refused to comply with Officer Miller’s orders and began to actively advance toward the officer. Miller shot Taylor, who was about seven feet away. As Taylor continued to approach Miller, the officer shot him again three times, killing him.
Miller was fired four days after the shooting death of Christian Taylor. A grand jury in Arlington, however, did not charge him with any crime related to the shooting death of Taylor. An autopsy revealed that Taylor had a mixture of drugs in his system at the time of his death, including marijuana and a powerful hallucinogen LSD-like substance nicknamed N-Bomb.
The Taylor family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Arlington. In 2017, a settlement was reached. The Taylor family was awarded $850,000 from the city of Arlington, Texas for the wrongful death of Christian Taylor.
COREY LAMAR JONES (1984-2015)
The shooting death of 31-year-old Corey Lamar Jones in 2015 by Pakistani-American police officer Nouman K. Raja when Jones was waiting by his disabled car contributed to the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement. The incident sparked national protests similar to those in the wake of the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Walter Lamar Scott, and Samuel DuBose.
Jones was born on February 3, 1984 to Clinton Jones Sr. and Anita Banks in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Jones also has siblings, including one brother and three sisters. Jones also had two cousins who are professional athletes playing in the National Football League (NFL): Vince Wilfork and Anquan Boldin.
Corey Jones attended Santa Luces Community High School where he was on the school football team. After graduating from high school in 2002, Jones attended the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio where he double-majored in music and business administration and earned both degrees upon graduation in 2006. After graduation Jones worked as a youth mentor for a nonprofit organization, My Brother’s Keeper. He was also an Inspector/ Assistant Property Manager and part-time drummer for a band called Future Presidents at his church, the Bible Church of God in Boynton Beach, Florida.
On October 18, 2015, at around 3:15 a.m., Officer Nouman Khan Raja of Palm Beach Gardens police department, who at the time was working as a plainclothes undercover police officer, responded to a phone call of a disturbance at the Marriott Hotel in Palm Beach Gardens, Flordia. Raja spotted a Hyundai Santa Fe parked on the west shoulder of the I-95 off-ramp near the hotel. Raja thought the car was an abandoned SUV but Jones was sitting in the Hyundai because he was having car trouble at the time after returning for a performance with his band at the Johnny Mangos Bar and Grill in Jupiter, Florida. Despite his car problems, Jones told his brother not to come and get him since he needed his car for church the next morning and he didn’t want to abandon it. Jones’s bandmate Matthew Huntsburger came to help him by bringing oil, but they could not get the car running. Jones also called the Florida Highway Patrol’s AT&T hotline to get help as well.
After Huntsburger left, Officer Raja stopped and approached Jones. They exchanged words before Raja opened fire, shooting Jones six times and killing him. After an investigation of the shooting, on June 1, 2016, a Palm Beach County grand jury charged Raja with manslaughter by culpable negligence and attempted first-degree murder with a firearm. On March 7, 2019, Raja was found guilty and on April 25, 2019, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Raja is currently incarcerated at the Wakulla Correctional Institution located in Tallahassee, Florida.
The Corey Jones killing was the catalyst for a series of protests by NFL players sparked by San Francisco 49ers Quarterback Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the playing of the National Anthem at a pre-season game with the Green Bay Packers on August 26, 2016. Kaepernick was suspended and eventually released from the team but his protest created a national uproar and debate about the role of professional athletes in social protest. It also prompted an NFL-sponsored commercial, giving national attention to the Corey Jones death at the 2020 Super Bowl.
Jones was born on February 3, 1984 to Clinton Jones Sr. and Anita Banks in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Jones also has siblings, including one brother and three sisters. Jones also had two cousins who are professional athletes playing in the National Football League (NFL): Vince Wilfork and Anquan Boldin.
Corey Jones attended Santa Luces Community High School where he was on the school football team. After graduating from high school in 2002, Jones attended the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio where he double-majored in music and business administration and earned both degrees upon graduation in 2006. After graduation Jones worked as a youth mentor for a nonprofit organization, My Brother’s Keeper. He was also an Inspector/ Assistant Property Manager and part-time drummer for a band called Future Presidents at his church, the Bible Church of God in Boynton Beach, Florida.
On October 18, 2015, at around 3:15 a.m., Officer Nouman Khan Raja of Palm Beach Gardens police department, who at the time was working as a plainclothes undercover police officer, responded to a phone call of a disturbance at the Marriott Hotel in Palm Beach Gardens, Flordia. Raja spotted a Hyundai Santa Fe parked on the west shoulder of the I-95 off-ramp near the hotel. Raja thought the car was an abandoned SUV but Jones was sitting in the Hyundai because he was having car trouble at the time after returning for a performance with his band at the Johnny Mangos Bar and Grill in Jupiter, Florida. Despite his car problems, Jones told his brother not to come and get him since he needed his car for church the next morning and he didn’t want to abandon it. Jones’s bandmate Matthew Huntsburger came to help him by bringing oil, but they could not get the car running. Jones also called the Florida Highway Patrol’s AT&T hotline to get help as well.
After Huntsburger left, Officer Raja stopped and approached Jones. They exchanged words before Raja opened fire, shooting Jones six times and killing him. After an investigation of the shooting, on June 1, 2016, a Palm Beach County grand jury charged Raja with manslaughter by culpable negligence and attempted first-degree murder with a firearm. On March 7, 2019, Raja was found guilty and on April 25, 2019, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Raja is currently incarcerated at the Wakulla Correctional Institution located in Tallahassee, Florida.
The Corey Jones killing was the catalyst for a series of protests by NFL players sparked by San Francisco 49ers Quarterback Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the playing of the National Anthem at a pre-season game with the Green Bay Packers on August 26, 2016. Kaepernick was suspended and eventually released from the team but his protest created a national uproar and debate about the role of professional athletes in social protest. It also prompted an NFL-sponsored commercial, giving national attention to the Corey Jones death at the 2020 Super Bowl.
JAMAR O’NEAL CLARK (1991-2015)
Jamar Clark, a twenty-four-year-old African American killed by two Minneapolis, Minnesota police officers, Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze, added to the growing debate sparked by Black Lives Matter. Clark was born on May 3, 1991, in Hennepin County, Minnesota. He was adopted by Wilma and James Clark when he was four. Despite living with his adopted parents, he remained in a close relationship with his biological parents and his fourteen siblings. Not much is known about Clark’s early life. At the time of his death he was employed at Copeland Trucking and he hoped to attend college.
Clark had past encounters with the law enforcement going back to 2010 when he received a conviction for first-degree aggravated robbery. The conviction resulted in a 41 months prison sentence. Clark was convicted a second time for threats against his ex-girlfriend after a March 2015 breakup. In November 2015, he was on probation for that crime. Also at the time of his death, Clark was awaiting trial for a high-speed chase arrest from July 2015.
On November 15, 2015, Clark attended Nekelia Sharp’s birthday party at her apartment on the 1500 block of Plymouth Avenue North in Minneapolis. Sharp and her husband began arguing when Clark’s girlfriend, RayAnn Hayes, attempted to break up a fight between Sharp and her husband. Clark grabbed Hayes in attempted to prevent her from intervening in the fight. Hayes began fighting Clark and broke her ankle in that struggle. Paramedics were called to treat Hayes’s injured ankle. When the police arrived on the scene at the same time, they asked Clark to step away from the ambulance. When he did not comply, they attempted to arrest Clark, wrestling him to the ground. An EMS supervisor placed a knee on Clark’s chest and then he was shot by police.
There were widely differing accounts of why Clark was killed. One account described Clark as getting into a confrontation with paramedics which led police officers to respond, generating the struggle where Clark was killed. Another account claimed that Clark grabbed a police officer’s gun, prompting the other officer to shoot him. Hennepin County District Attorney Mike Freeman explained that Clark was resisting arrest but was not handcuffed while Nekelia Sharp described the shooting as occurring while Clark was handcuffed and not resisting. Other witnesses claimed Clark lay still on the ground when he was shot, that he had his hands behind his back, or that his hands were up in the air when police shot him.
Clark’s death was protested by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and Black Lives Matter (BLM). The two officers who were reasonable for Clark’s death, Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze, was placed on paid administrative leave while the investigation was ongoing. On March 30, 2016, Hennepin County Attorney announced that no charges would be filed against the officers.
Clark had past encounters with the law enforcement going back to 2010 when he received a conviction for first-degree aggravated robbery. The conviction resulted in a 41 months prison sentence. Clark was convicted a second time for threats against his ex-girlfriend after a March 2015 breakup. In November 2015, he was on probation for that crime. Also at the time of his death, Clark was awaiting trial for a high-speed chase arrest from July 2015.
On November 15, 2015, Clark attended Nekelia Sharp’s birthday party at her apartment on the 1500 block of Plymouth Avenue North in Minneapolis. Sharp and her husband began arguing when Clark’s girlfriend, RayAnn Hayes, attempted to break up a fight between Sharp and her husband. Clark grabbed Hayes in attempted to prevent her from intervening in the fight. Hayes began fighting Clark and broke her ankle in that struggle. Paramedics were called to treat Hayes’s injured ankle. When the police arrived on the scene at the same time, they asked Clark to step away from the ambulance. When he did not comply, they attempted to arrest Clark, wrestling him to the ground. An EMS supervisor placed a knee on Clark’s chest and then he was shot by police.
There were widely differing accounts of why Clark was killed. One account described Clark as getting into a confrontation with paramedics which led police officers to respond, generating the struggle where Clark was killed. Another account claimed that Clark grabbed a police officer’s gun, prompting the other officer to shoot him. Hennepin County District Attorney Mike Freeman explained that Clark was resisting arrest but was not handcuffed while Nekelia Sharp described the shooting as occurring while Clark was handcuffed and not resisting. Other witnesses claimed Clark lay still on the ground when he was shot, that he had his hands behind his back, or that his hands were up in the air when police shot him.
Clark’s death was protested by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and Black Lives Matter (BLM). The two officers who were reasonable for Clark’s death, Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze, was placed on paid administrative leave while the investigation was ongoing. On March 30, 2016, Hennepin County Attorney announced that no charges would be filed against the officers.
GREGORY GUNN (1958-2016)
Fifty-eight-year old Gregory Gunn was walking home when a confrontation with a Montgomery, Alabama police officer caused the officer to shoot Gunn in front of his home. With his death, Gunn became one of the oldest victims in an incident that would be later publicized by the Black Lives Matter Movement.
On February 25, 2016, Gunn was walking home from a nearby neighbor’s home in Montgomery after a late-night game of cards. Officer Aaron Cody Smith was patrolling the area, when he saw Gunn walking down the street. The officer stopped Gunn for questioning, but did not have his body camera turned on, so it is unclear how the next series of events occurred.
For reasons unknown, Officer Smith began beating Gunn with his baton, prompting the older man to run toward a nearby home. A neighbor, Colvin Hinson, was awakened around 3 o’clock in the morning by the sound of Gunn frantically knocking on his bedroom window, yelling for help. Hinson reached for his phone to call the police. While he dialed the police, he saw Officer Smith shoot Gunn several times with a stun gun, and then heard multiple gun shots. Another neighbor, Scott Muhammed, heard a fight outside, and went out to break it up when he saw Officer Smith point his weapon and shoot the unarmed Gunn several times. More police and an ambulance arrived at the scene of the shooting, but no life-saving techniques were performed on the victim. Gunn was pronounced dead at the scene.
Officer Smith later claimed that Gunn was non-compliant in his questioning and confrontational. He said Gunn was armed with a pole, but Gunn’s fingerprints were not found on the weapon in question. Other officers reported that they found Gunn unarmed and clutching only a baseball cap in his hand. Officer Smith, 23, was removed from duty and eventually terminated by the Montgomery Police Force. After a preliminary hearing in March 2016, a judge found probable cause and forwarded the case to the grand jury. Officer Smith was arrested and charged with murder of Gregory Gunn. As of this writing, no date has been set for his trial.
Brothers Franklin and Kenneth Gunn believe their brother was racially profiled, being stopped by Officer Smith for no other reason than being black. There were no outstanding warrants against Gunn and he had no criminal record. Gunn was, instead, a beloved member of his community. He had lived in the area his entire life, attending local schools, and was a graduate of Alabama State University with a degree in accounting. He was also an active member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. Gunn lived at home with his elderly mother, providing financial support to help care for her and maintain the home. It is unclear if the family has pursed any punitive damages from the city of Montgomery.
On February 25, 2016, Gunn was walking home from a nearby neighbor’s home in Montgomery after a late-night game of cards. Officer Aaron Cody Smith was patrolling the area, when he saw Gunn walking down the street. The officer stopped Gunn for questioning, but did not have his body camera turned on, so it is unclear how the next series of events occurred.
For reasons unknown, Officer Smith began beating Gunn with his baton, prompting the older man to run toward a nearby home. A neighbor, Colvin Hinson, was awakened around 3 o’clock in the morning by the sound of Gunn frantically knocking on his bedroom window, yelling for help. Hinson reached for his phone to call the police. While he dialed the police, he saw Officer Smith shoot Gunn several times with a stun gun, and then heard multiple gun shots. Another neighbor, Scott Muhammed, heard a fight outside, and went out to break it up when he saw Officer Smith point his weapon and shoot the unarmed Gunn several times. More police and an ambulance arrived at the scene of the shooting, but no life-saving techniques were performed on the victim. Gunn was pronounced dead at the scene.
Officer Smith later claimed that Gunn was non-compliant in his questioning and confrontational. He said Gunn was armed with a pole, but Gunn’s fingerprints were not found on the weapon in question. Other officers reported that they found Gunn unarmed and clutching only a baseball cap in his hand. Officer Smith, 23, was removed from duty and eventually terminated by the Montgomery Police Force. After a preliminary hearing in March 2016, a judge found probable cause and forwarded the case to the grand jury. Officer Smith was arrested and charged with murder of Gregory Gunn. As of this writing, no date has been set for his trial.
Brothers Franklin and Kenneth Gunn believe their brother was racially profiled, being stopped by Officer Smith for no other reason than being black. There were no outstanding warrants against Gunn and he had no criminal record. Gunn was, instead, a beloved member of his community. He had lived in the area his entire life, attending local schools, and was a graduate of Alabama State University with a degree in accounting. He was also an active member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. Gunn lived at home with his elderly mother, providing financial support to help care for her and maintain the home. It is unclear if the family has pursed any punitive damages from the city of Montgomery.
PHILANDO DIVALL CASTILE (1983-2016)
Philando Divall Castile, killed in a controversial police shooting in 2016, was born on July 16, 1983, in St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated from Saint Paul Central High School in 2001 and got a job working for the Saint Paul Public School District from 2002 until his death. Castile took an interest in the field of nutrition and started his career as a nutrition services assistant at Chelsea Heights Elementary School and Arlington High School, both in St. Paul, Minnesota. He then moved on to a higher position at J. J. Hill Montessori Magnet School in St. Paul in August 2014.
On July 6, 2016, Castile was pulled over as part of a traffic stop by Officers Jeronimo Yanez and Joseph Kauser in Falcon Heights, a suburb of St. Paul. According to officers, Castile and the passenger allegedly resembled suspects involved in an earlier robbery. Castile and his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, were returning from grocery shopping earlier in the evening. He had gotten a haircut, had dinner with his sister, Allysza, and picked up Reynolds from his residence in St. Paul. Yanez walked up to the side window and requested that Castile hand over his license and proof of insurance. Castile did and told Yanez he had a gun in his possession. Moments later Officer Yanez told Castile not to take it out. Castile said he was not pulling out the gun. Yanez yelled, “Don’t pull it out!” and pulled his own gun from his holster, striking Castile seven times at point blank range. Castile died on the scene.
Castile’s shooting prompted demonstrations by members of Black Lives Matter and their supporters. One demonstration on June 16, 2017, involved over 2,000 protesters who walked the streets of St. Paul and who eventually blocked Interstate 94, the main east-west traffic route through the city. Eighteen people were arrested during the demonstration including one journalist.
Two days after the shooting, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi requested a “prompt and thorough” investigation into the crime. After the investigation, Yanez was arrested on November 16 and tried for the shooting on June 16, 2017 where he faced up to 10 years in prison. The jury, consisting of five women and seven men, including two African Americans, found Yanez not guilty. Following the trial, Castile’s mother, Valerie Castile, received nearly a $3 million settlement by the city of St. Anthony, Minnesota, where Yanez was employed.
In remembrance of Philando Castile, the Philando Castile Memorial Scholarship was established at St. Paul Central High School. Castile’s death was the latest in a number of police killings of African Americans that sparked demonstrations and led to demands for police reform across the nation.
On July 6, 2016, Castile was pulled over as part of a traffic stop by Officers Jeronimo Yanez and Joseph Kauser in Falcon Heights, a suburb of St. Paul. According to officers, Castile and the passenger allegedly resembled suspects involved in an earlier robbery. Castile and his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, were returning from grocery shopping earlier in the evening. He had gotten a haircut, had dinner with his sister, Allysza, and picked up Reynolds from his residence in St. Paul. Yanez walked up to the side window and requested that Castile hand over his license and proof of insurance. Castile did and told Yanez he had a gun in his possession. Moments later Officer Yanez told Castile not to take it out. Castile said he was not pulling out the gun. Yanez yelled, “Don’t pull it out!” and pulled his own gun from his holster, striking Castile seven times at point blank range. Castile died on the scene.
Castile’s shooting prompted demonstrations by members of Black Lives Matter and their supporters. One demonstration on June 16, 2017, involved over 2,000 protesters who walked the streets of St. Paul and who eventually blocked Interstate 94, the main east-west traffic route through the city. Eighteen people were arrested during the demonstration including one journalist.
Two days after the shooting, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi requested a “prompt and thorough” investigation into the crime. After the investigation, Yanez was arrested on November 16 and tried for the shooting on June 16, 2017 where he faced up to 10 years in prison. The jury, consisting of five women and seven men, including two African Americans, found Yanez not guilty. Following the trial, Castile’s mother, Valerie Castile, received nearly a $3 million settlement by the city of St. Anthony, Minnesota, where Yanez was employed.
In remembrance of Philando Castile, the Philando Castile Memorial Scholarship was established at St. Paul Central High School. Castile’s death was the latest in a number of police killings of African Americans that sparked demonstrations and led to demands for police reform across the nation.