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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.
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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.
CLIVE MENSAH (1989-2019)
Clive Mensah died at the hands of police in his own back yard in Mississauga, Ontario, a city west of Toronto, on Nov. 20, 2019. In March 2021, the Ontario police watchdog unit ruled there would be no criminal charges against the officers involved in his death. The unit’s report concluded that, while the officers applied “significant force” against the unarmed, mentally ill Black man, it was “not unlawful.” That force included hitting him with six electric shocks from Tasers and spraying him with pepper spray, after he had obeyed their orders to lie face down.
Mensah was born in Scarborough, Ontario, in 1989, but spent much of his childhood in his parents’ home country of Ghana, where he pursued interests in music and basketball. Returning to Canada at age 18, he worked at grocery stores and as a warehouse forklift driver. In 2014 Mensah experienced several psychotic episodes and a psychiatrist diagnosed him with possible schizophrenia.
Drawing on an interview with the Peel Regional Police officer who arrived first the night Mensah died, the postmortem report indicates Mensah was walking on a sidewalk by his home in the early hours of Nov. 20, 2019. The officer, responding to calls by neighbors about a man causing a disturbance, found Mensah “flailing his arms and making unintelligible noises.” The officer had thought it was clear from Mensah’s behavior that he needed help but did not summon a 24-hour crisis response team; such teams pair a plainclothes officer with a mental health official. Two other police officers arrived, and the three followed Mensah into his backyard.
Mensah complied with their orders to lie down but after his arms flailed when told to put them behind his back, one officer fired a Taser at him. The report said Mensah got up and advanced toward them. Again an officer fired a Taser at him, after which Mensah fell face down to the ground and went rigid but was still “aggressive and combative.” The officers moved to restrain him, again fired a Taser at him, sprayed pepper spray toward the back of his head, and handcuffed him. He became unresponsive. By the time another officer arrived, he found Mensah face down with foam coming from his mouth and no pulse, and the officer began life-saving measures until paramedics arrived, at which point a fifth officer arrived and removed his handcuffs. During this time, Mensah never spoke. A hospital report noted that paramedics were delayed in reaching the stricken man because police cruisers blocked the roadway. Less than an hour passed from the time police were first called at 3:15 a.m. and when Mensah was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly after 4 a.m.
Two of the three officers involved in Mensah’s death refused to speak with investigators from the Ontario Special Investigations Unit (SIU), whose role is to determine whether there has been police wrongdoing. SIU cannot legally compel officers to speak to investigators or turn over their notes.
Mensah’s only family in Canada, his uncles William Owusu and Stephen Boakye, said they’ve never heard from Peel police about Mensah’s death and never received an apology. They waited nearly 18 months for the SIU’s report and “now, we see no one will be held accountable.”
Mensah was born in Scarborough, Ontario, in 1989, but spent much of his childhood in his parents’ home country of Ghana, where he pursued interests in music and basketball. Returning to Canada at age 18, he worked at grocery stores and as a warehouse forklift driver. In 2014 Mensah experienced several psychotic episodes and a psychiatrist diagnosed him with possible schizophrenia.
Drawing on an interview with the Peel Regional Police officer who arrived first the night Mensah died, the postmortem report indicates Mensah was walking on a sidewalk by his home in the early hours of Nov. 20, 2019. The officer, responding to calls by neighbors about a man causing a disturbance, found Mensah “flailing his arms and making unintelligible noises.” The officer had thought it was clear from Mensah’s behavior that he needed help but did not summon a 24-hour crisis response team; such teams pair a plainclothes officer with a mental health official. Two other police officers arrived, and the three followed Mensah into his backyard.
Mensah complied with their orders to lie down but after his arms flailed when told to put them behind his back, one officer fired a Taser at him. The report said Mensah got up and advanced toward them. Again an officer fired a Taser at him, after which Mensah fell face down to the ground and went rigid but was still “aggressive and combative.” The officers moved to restrain him, again fired a Taser at him, sprayed pepper spray toward the back of his head, and handcuffed him. He became unresponsive. By the time another officer arrived, he found Mensah face down with foam coming from his mouth and no pulse, and the officer began life-saving measures until paramedics arrived, at which point a fifth officer arrived and removed his handcuffs. During this time, Mensah never spoke. A hospital report noted that paramedics were delayed in reaching the stricken man because police cruisers blocked the roadway. Less than an hour passed from the time police were first called at 3:15 a.m. and when Mensah was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly after 4 a.m.
Two of the three officers involved in Mensah’s death refused to speak with investigators from the Ontario Special Investigations Unit (SIU), whose role is to determine whether there has been police wrongdoing. SIU cannot legally compel officers to speak to investigators or turn over their notes.
Mensah’s only family in Canada, his uncles William Owusu and Stephen Boakye, said they’ve never heard from Peel police about Mensah’s death and never received an apology. They waited nearly 18 months for the SIU’s report and “now, we see no one will be held accountable.”
JAMAL FRANCIQUE (1991-2020)
Jamal Derek Jr. Francique, a 28-year-old father of two who was active in the Mississauga music scene, was gunned down by a Peel Regional Police officer on January 7, 2020. He died in hospital three days later.
Details of the circumstances surrounding Francique’s death are scant and contradictory. On the evening of January 7, plainclothes officers investigating drug activity at a housing complex on Winston Churchill Boulevard, south of Eglinton Avenue and Southampton Drive in Mississauga, Ontario, fired multiple shots into Francique’s vehicle while he was driving. The officers had intended to arrest Francique who was a “person of interest” but, as Constable Sarah Patten told reporters at the scene, Francique had allegedly driven towards the officers and so they opened fire on his car. According to supporters of the slain man’s family, Francique had been shot in the back of the head. A cellphone video taken by a nearby resident shows several Peel Regional Police officers gathered around Francique after he had been pulled out of his vehicle. An officer can be seen kicking the fatally wounded man while he lay on the ground.
Francique’s grieving family wants to know what happened. They do not understand why the investigation has taken so long or why it took eight police officers to arrest one man. The Special Investigations Unit (SIU), a police watchdog that has been accused of holding a pro-police bias, issued a report on January 20, 2021, in which it said there were no reasonable grounds to charge the officer who shot Francique in front of his parents’ home. Knia Singh, the lawyer for the family, says the report contains major inconsistencies that demonstrate that the SIU does not conduct thorough and accurate investigations.
The story of Jamal Francique’s death might have remained unknown were it not for worldwide protests against the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25. The Peel Regional Police shooting of D’Andre Campbell in Brampton, Ontario, and the police intervention that resulted in the death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet in Toronto have sparked a growing concern in Canada about systemic racism and police brutality. On June 13, 2020, several hundred people attended a “Justice for Jamal” vigil in Mississauga to honor him and to shine a light on his case. Author-journalist Desmond Cole addressed the gathering: “Everywhere we look in this country, it’s the same story with police and Black and Indigenous people, and we are tired. But we are not defeated by any means.”
Details of the circumstances surrounding Francique’s death are scant and contradictory. On the evening of January 7, plainclothes officers investigating drug activity at a housing complex on Winston Churchill Boulevard, south of Eglinton Avenue and Southampton Drive in Mississauga, Ontario, fired multiple shots into Francique’s vehicle while he was driving. The officers had intended to arrest Francique who was a “person of interest” but, as Constable Sarah Patten told reporters at the scene, Francique had allegedly driven towards the officers and so they opened fire on his car. According to supporters of the slain man’s family, Francique had been shot in the back of the head. A cellphone video taken by a nearby resident shows several Peel Regional Police officers gathered around Francique after he had been pulled out of his vehicle. An officer can be seen kicking the fatally wounded man while he lay on the ground.
Francique’s grieving family wants to know what happened. They do not understand why the investigation has taken so long or why it took eight police officers to arrest one man. The Special Investigations Unit (SIU), a police watchdog that has been accused of holding a pro-police bias, issued a report on January 20, 2021, in which it said there were no reasonable grounds to charge the officer who shot Francique in front of his parents’ home. Knia Singh, the lawyer for the family, says the report contains major inconsistencies that demonstrate that the SIU does not conduct thorough and accurate investigations.
The story of Jamal Francique’s death might have remained unknown were it not for worldwide protests against the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25. The Peel Regional Police shooting of D’Andre Campbell in Brampton, Ontario, and the police intervention that resulted in the death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet in Toronto have sparked a growing concern in Canada about systemic racism and police brutality. On June 13, 2020, several hundred people attended a “Justice for Jamal” vigil in Mississauga to honor him and to shine a light on his case. Author-journalist Desmond Cole addressed the gathering: “Everywhere we look in this country, it’s the same story with police and Black and Indigenous people, and we are tired. But we are not defeated by any means.”
D’ANDRE ANTHONY CAMPBELL (1993-2020)
On April 6, 2020, 26-year-old D’Andre Campbell of Brampton, Ontario, called 911 for help because he was in mental distress and wanted to go to a hospital. Within minutes of Peel Regional Police arriving at his home, two officers tasered him and one shot and killed him.
The third of eight children of Yvonne and Claudius Campbell, D’Andre (also known as Dion and Digo) spent his early years in Toronto before the family moved to Brampton. At 17, Campbell was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Despite his illness and periodic setbacks when he had to be hospitalized, Campbell worked for four years in a shipping department, enjoyed wearing fashionable clothes, aspired to succeed in the music industry, and lived the quiet, safe lifestyle of a homebody.
According to the Ontario Special Investigations Unit (SIU), the province’s independent police watchdog, officers arrived to find Campbell appearing “not of sound mind” and that he brandished a knife at them in the kitchen. Family members say that Campbell was not a threat to anyone that day.
Peel Regional Police have not explained why they did not send an intervention team to the Campbell home, something they had done on numerous previous occasions, nor have they explained why they did not attempt to verbally calm him down instead of tasering him. The Special Investigations Unit has interviewed four Peel Regional Police officers who are considered witnesses and four Campbell family members; however, the officer who shot and killed Campbell has refused to be interviewed or to hand over his notes, and, according to SIU and Ontario law, he cannot be compelled to cooperate and has the right to not be named in the media. The SIU investigation concluded in December 2020 that the police officer who shot and killed Campbell acted in self-defense.
Campbell’s body was not released to the family for nearly two months. Only 10 people were allowed to attend his funeral, held on May 30, because of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. Despite the restrictions, the Campbell family and their minister, Bishop Devon Eccles, produced a deeply moving tribute. Some family and friends had to wait outside, and 180 guests watched the service live streamed. Campbell’s siblings, aunts, and an uncle spoke and read scripture.
The third of eight children of Yvonne and Claudius Campbell, D’Andre (also known as Dion and Digo) spent his early years in Toronto before the family moved to Brampton. At 17, Campbell was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Despite his illness and periodic setbacks when he had to be hospitalized, Campbell worked for four years in a shipping department, enjoyed wearing fashionable clothes, aspired to succeed in the music industry, and lived the quiet, safe lifestyle of a homebody.
According to the Ontario Special Investigations Unit (SIU), the province’s independent police watchdog, officers arrived to find Campbell appearing “not of sound mind” and that he brandished a knife at them in the kitchen. Family members say that Campbell was not a threat to anyone that day.
Peel Regional Police have not explained why they did not send an intervention team to the Campbell home, something they had done on numerous previous occasions, nor have they explained why they did not attempt to verbally calm him down instead of tasering him. The Special Investigations Unit has interviewed four Peel Regional Police officers who are considered witnesses and four Campbell family members; however, the officer who shot and killed Campbell has refused to be interviewed or to hand over his notes, and, according to SIU and Ontario law, he cannot be compelled to cooperate and has the right to not be named in the media. The SIU investigation concluded in December 2020 that the police officer who shot and killed Campbell acted in self-defense.
Campbell’s body was not released to the family for nearly two months. Only 10 people were allowed to attend his funeral, held on May 30, because of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. Despite the restrictions, the Campbell family and their minister, Bishop Devon Eccles, produced a deeply moving tribute. Some family and friends had to wait outside, and 180 guests watched the service live streamed. Campbell’s siblings, aunts, and an uncle spoke and read scripture.
CALEB TUBILA NJOKO (1993-2020)
On May 5, 2020, 26-year-old Caleb Tubila Njoko fell from the 15th floor balcony of his mother’s London, Ontario, apartment building during a police intervention. He died in hospital three days later.
Born in Toronto to Francophone Congolese immigrants, Nelly Wendo and Guy Tubila, Caleb attended the Monseigneur-Bruyère Catholic High School in London where he distinguished himself in basketball. In the eight years since graduation, Caleb worked odd jobs at a factory and in fast food chains in Brampton and London. His dream to follow a career in music like his grandfather was disrupted by episodes of emotional instability and run-ins with the police. Finding himself homeless during the early months of the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, Caleb moved into his mother’s apartment, a far-from-ideal arrangement for a young man who struggled with mental illness and was considered fragile by some.
On April 28, seven days before his fall from the balcony, Caleb was arrested after an altercation with the driver of a pizza truck. He was charged with alleged theft of a vehicle and obstruction. Three officers wrestled him to the ground and handcuffed him face down, an incident caught on camera and published in the online Franco-Ontarian news source ONFR+ that is strikingly similar to other images of black men being subdued by force. The three officers are all kneeling over him and appear to be applying pressure to his neck, back, and legs. The police reported that Caleb’s injuries were minor but they were serious enough for him to be sent to hospital in an ambulance.
Caleb’s parents told a different story about his injuries. His father told ONFR+ that his son lost a lot of blood. His mother described the damage to his face, cuts on his hands, oozing wounds, and a swollen neck. He was in so much pain that he could not eat on his own. He didn’t sleep for days, screamed, and threw things. Desperate to get him into a hospital where he could receive help, she called 911.
Two officers arrived. Once Caleb saw who they were, he barricaded himself inside the apartment and screamed in fear for them to go away. The officers attempted to break down the door with a battering ram and then, using a trained negotiator, spent a tense hour talking to Caleb through the door. Other officers surrounded the building from the outside. Mrs. Wendo was able to speak briefly with her son by phone. Then the line cut out and soon after she learned he had fallen from the balcony. He died 3 days later in hospital. Nelly Wendo told Global News that she strongly believes that her son’s April encounter with police contributed to his fall on May 5th and she holds the London Police responsible for his death.
The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) investigated Njoko’s death. The subject officer declined to be interviewed, as is her right under the Police Services Act, but she did provide her duty notes. In September 2020 the SIU cleared the officers, concluding that they had “not transgressed the limits of care” determined by criminal law.
Born in Toronto to Francophone Congolese immigrants, Nelly Wendo and Guy Tubila, Caleb attended the Monseigneur-Bruyère Catholic High School in London where he distinguished himself in basketball. In the eight years since graduation, Caleb worked odd jobs at a factory and in fast food chains in Brampton and London. His dream to follow a career in music like his grandfather was disrupted by episodes of emotional instability and run-ins with the police. Finding himself homeless during the early months of the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, Caleb moved into his mother’s apartment, a far-from-ideal arrangement for a young man who struggled with mental illness and was considered fragile by some.
On April 28, seven days before his fall from the balcony, Caleb was arrested after an altercation with the driver of a pizza truck. He was charged with alleged theft of a vehicle and obstruction. Three officers wrestled him to the ground and handcuffed him face down, an incident caught on camera and published in the online Franco-Ontarian news source ONFR+ that is strikingly similar to other images of black men being subdued by force. The three officers are all kneeling over him and appear to be applying pressure to his neck, back, and legs. The police reported that Caleb’s injuries were minor but they were serious enough for him to be sent to hospital in an ambulance.
Caleb’s parents told a different story about his injuries. His father told ONFR+ that his son lost a lot of blood. His mother described the damage to his face, cuts on his hands, oozing wounds, and a swollen neck. He was in so much pain that he could not eat on his own. He didn’t sleep for days, screamed, and threw things. Desperate to get him into a hospital where he could receive help, she called 911.
Two officers arrived. Once Caleb saw who they were, he barricaded himself inside the apartment and screamed in fear for them to go away. The officers attempted to break down the door with a battering ram and then, using a trained negotiator, spent a tense hour talking to Caleb through the door. Other officers surrounded the building from the outside. Mrs. Wendo was able to speak briefly with her son by phone. Then the line cut out and soon after she learned he had fallen from the balcony. He died 3 days later in hospital. Nelly Wendo told Global News that she strongly believes that her son’s April encounter with police contributed to his fall on May 5th and she holds the London Police responsible for his death.
The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) investigated Njoko’s death. The subject officer declined to be interviewed, as is her right under the Police Services Act, but she did provide her duty notes. In September 2020 the SIU cleared the officers, concluding that they had “not transgressed the limits of care” determined by criminal law.
REGIS KORCHINSKI-PAQUET (1990-2020)
Hundreds gathered in Toronto for the first annual Regis Korchinski-Paquet Memorial Walk for Justice, organized by Black Lives Matter on July 25, 2020, to honor the life of a young African-Canadian woman who fell 24 floors to her death during an encounter with police.
Regis Korchinski-Paquet, the daughter of Claudette Beals-Clayton and Peter Korchinski, was deeply proud of her Black Nova Scotia roots and Ukrainian heritage. She was a talented gymnast and dancer during her school years, and held a variety of jobs after high school, including working for a computer security company and at a deli counter.
Korchinski-Paquet was diagnosed with epilepsy five years before her death and found it increasingly difficult to maintain a job because of her seizures and the effects of epileptic postictal phenomena, a condition occurring after seizures that is marked by drowsiness, confusion, migraine, and other disorienting symptoms. On several occasions Regis experienced psychiatric crises that required hospital visits.
On the morning of May 27, 2020, during a heat wave and under COVID restrictions, Korchinski-Paquet had a seizure in the family apartment at 100 High Park Avenue in Toronto. Her mother called 911 and requested assistance in de-escalating a family conflict and getting Korchinski-Paquet safely to a hospital. At least five officers responded and met Korchinski-Paquet, her mother, and brother, in the hallway outside their apartment.
When Korchinski-Paquet asked to use the washroom, the officers followed her into the apartment but barred her mother and brother from entering. What happened next is unclear. From outside in the hallway, Korchinski-Paquet’s mother and brother heard a commotion, the words, “Mom, help,” and then silence. Officers emerged to announce that Korchinski-Paquet was dead. She fell 24 floors and her body remained on the ground outside the apartment for the next five hours.
The family believes that the integrity of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) investigation was compromised by intentional leaks to news outlets to sway public opinion. The SIU denied that it leaked information.
The family’s lawyer said the SIU has a history of pro-police bias and a high rate of clearing police officers of wrongdoing. With the help of their legal team and Howard Morton, a former head of the SIU in the 1990s, the family carried out an investigation of their own. They found a new witness and succeeded in having a second autopsy performed in Newfoundland. In a statement made July 15, 2020, lawyers for the family suggested that there might be grounds for criminal charges against the officers who were in the apartment at the time of Korchinski-Paquet’s death.
In August 2020, the SIU cleared five officers in the death of Korchinski-Paquet. The family then filed a complaint with the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, claiming misconduct and neglect of duty. They claim that officers did not follow de-escalating procedures and that the SIU report is inconsistent and missing crucial information. The family’s complaint process is ongoing.
Regis Korchinski-Paquet, the daughter of Claudette Beals-Clayton and Peter Korchinski, was deeply proud of her Black Nova Scotia roots and Ukrainian heritage. She was a talented gymnast and dancer during her school years, and held a variety of jobs after high school, including working for a computer security company and at a deli counter.
Korchinski-Paquet was diagnosed with epilepsy five years before her death and found it increasingly difficult to maintain a job because of her seizures and the effects of epileptic postictal phenomena, a condition occurring after seizures that is marked by drowsiness, confusion, migraine, and other disorienting symptoms. On several occasions Regis experienced psychiatric crises that required hospital visits.
On the morning of May 27, 2020, during a heat wave and under COVID restrictions, Korchinski-Paquet had a seizure in the family apartment at 100 High Park Avenue in Toronto. Her mother called 911 and requested assistance in de-escalating a family conflict and getting Korchinski-Paquet safely to a hospital. At least five officers responded and met Korchinski-Paquet, her mother, and brother, in the hallway outside their apartment.
When Korchinski-Paquet asked to use the washroom, the officers followed her into the apartment but barred her mother and brother from entering. What happened next is unclear. From outside in the hallway, Korchinski-Paquet’s mother and brother heard a commotion, the words, “Mom, help,” and then silence. Officers emerged to announce that Korchinski-Paquet was dead. She fell 24 floors and her body remained on the ground outside the apartment for the next five hours.
The family believes that the integrity of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) investigation was compromised by intentional leaks to news outlets to sway public opinion. The SIU denied that it leaked information.
The family’s lawyer said the SIU has a history of pro-police bias and a high rate of clearing police officers of wrongdoing. With the help of their legal team and Howard Morton, a former head of the SIU in the 1990s, the family carried out an investigation of their own. They found a new witness and succeeded in having a second autopsy performed in Newfoundland. In a statement made July 15, 2020, lawyers for the family suggested that there might be grounds for criminal charges against the officers who were in the apartment at the time of Korchinski-Paquet’s death.
In August 2020, the SIU cleared five officers in the death of Korchinski-Paquet. The family then filed a complaint with the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, claiming misconduct and neglect of duty. They claim that officers did not follow de-escalating procedures and that the SIU report is inconsistent and missing crucial information. The family’s complaint process is ongoing.
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BENJAMIN LLOYD CRUMP (1969- )
Benjamin Lloyd Crump is an American Civil Rights lawyer who is best known as the attorney of the families of Black Lives Matter victims starting with the case of Genie McMeans Jr in 2002. Crump, the oldest of nine siblings, was born on October 10, 1969 to Helen Crump and an unnamed father. Crump attended South Plantation High School in Plantation, Florida. After graduating from high school in 1987, he attended Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida where he received his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice in 1992. Crump received a Juris Doctor (JD) degree also at Florida State University in 1995. He is a member of Omega Psi Phi and Sigma Pi Phi Fraternities.
Crump’s legal career as a defender of black lives at the hands of police or vigilante violence began when he represented the family of Genie McMeans Jr, an African American driver who was shot by Kreshawn Walker-Vergenz, a white female state trooper. She was later cleared of the shooting by a Leon County, Florida grand jury. In 2007, Crump represented the family of Martin Lee Anderson, an African American teenager who died after being beaten by a guard at the Bay County Boot Camp Florida Youth Detention Center in 2006. Eight people included a nurse were acquitted on charges of aggravated manslaughter of Anderson.
Father of Trayvon Martin, Tracy Martin (left), Mother of Trayvon Martin, Sybrina Fulton (center), and Attorney Ben Crump (right) leaving the Seminole County Criminal Justice Center after a bond hearing for George Zimmerman, April 20, 2012, Sanford, FL
© John Raoux/AP, Fair use image
In 2012, Crump took on his first nationally recognized case when he represented the family of Trayvon Martin who was killed by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman. In 2013, Zimmerman was acquitted of the murder of Martin. Crump also represented Ronald Weekley Jr, a 20-year-old African American skateboarder who was beating by the police in Venice, California in 2012. The case would also be a loss in court for Crump.
In August 2012 Crump represented the family of Alesia Thomas, 35-year-old African American women who died in police custody in August 2012. Police officer Mary Callaghan was later sentenced to three years in jail in 2015. In 2014, Crump represented the family of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old man who was shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. That same year, Crump represented the family of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old African American teen who was killed by the police while holding a toy gun in Cleveland, Ohio. Crump also represented the families of Kendrick Johnson, Antonio Zambrono Montes, Terrence Crutcher, and Zeke Upshaw.
In 2017, Crump opened Ben Crump Law, PLLC. Two years later he became the lawyer for plaintiffs who filed a lawsuit because of lead-filled water in Flint, Michigan. He partnered with the Flint law firm of Pintas and Mullins which held rallies to bring national attention to the Flint Water Crisis. Also, in 2019 Crump represented plaintiffs who filed a lawsuit against Johnson and Johnson on behalf of plaintiffs who blamed the company’s talcum powder for their developing ovarian cancer. The Flint and Johnson and Johnson cases are still being adjudicated.
In 2020, Crump became one of the legal representatives of the families of five Black Lives Matter victims: Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Trayferd Pellerin, and Jacob Blake. Crump is married to Dr. Genae Angelique Crump. He has one son, Brooklyn Zeta Crump. He also the guardian of two adopted cousins, Chancellor Isiah Crump and Jemarcus Olajuwan Crump. Crump lives in Tallahassee, Florida.
Crump’s legal career as a defender of black lives at the hands of police or vigilante violence began when he represented the family of Genie McMeans Jr, an African American driver who was shot by Kreshawn Walker-Vergenz, a white female state trooper. She was later cleared of the shooting by a Leon County, Florida grand jury. In 2007, Crump represented the family of Martin Lee Anderson, an African American teenager who died after being beaten by a guard at the Bay County Boot Camp Florida Youth Detention Center in 2006. Eight people included a nurse were acquitted on charges of aggravated manslaughter of Anderson.
Father of Trayvon Martin, Tracy Martin (left), Mother of Trayvon Martin, Sybrina Fulton (center), and Attorney Ben Crump (right) leaving the Seminole County Criminal Justice Center after a bond hearing for George Zimmerman, April 20, 2012, Sanford, FL
© John Raoux/AP, Fair use image
In 2012, Crump took on his first nationally recognized case when he represented the family of Trayvon Martin who was killed by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman. In 2013, Zimmerman was acquitted of the murder of Martin. Crump also represented Ronald Weekley Jr, a 20-year-old African American skateboarder who was beating by the police in Venice, California in 2012. The case would also be a loss in court for Crump.
In August 2012 Crump represented the family of Alesia Thomas, 35-year-old African American women who died in police custody in August 2012. Police officer Mary Callaghan was later sentenced to three years in jail in 2015. In 2014, Crump represented the family of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old man who was shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. That same year, Crump represented the family of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old African American teen who was killed by the police while holding a toy gun in Cleveland, Ohio. Crump also represented the families of Kendrick Johnson, Antonio Zambrono Montes, Terrence Crutcher, and Zeke Upshaw.
In 2017, Crump opened Ben Crump Law, PLLC. Two years later he became the lawyer for plaintiffs who filed a lawsuit because of lead-filled water in Flint, Michigan. He partnered with the Flint law firm of Pintas and Mullins which held rallies to bring national attention to the Flint Water Crisis. Also, in 2019 Crump represented plaintiffs who filed a lawsuit against Johnson and Johnson on behalf of plaintiffs who blamed the company’s talcum powder for their developing ovarian cancer. The Flint and Johnson and Johnson cases are still being adjudicated.
In 2020, Crump became one of the legal representatives of the families of five Black Lives Matter victims: Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Trayferd Pellerin, and Jacob Blake. Crump is married to Dr. Genae Angelique Crump. He has one son, Brooklyn Zeta Crump. He also the guardian of two adopted cousins, Chancellor Isiah Crump and Jemarcus Olajuwan Crump. Crump lives in Tallahassee, Florida.
DARNELLA FRAZIER (2003- )
Darnella Frazier, an activist and motivational speaker, was born in 2003 in Nashville, Tennessee to parents LaTangie Gillespie and James Frazier. She has three brothers and one sister. Most of Darnella’s life, however, has been spent in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After being active in varsity basketball, she graduated from Roosevelt High School in that city in 2021.
Frazier became known to the world when she live-streamed the video of the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020. Frazier was 17 at the time and had walked her nine-year-old cousin to the Cup foods convenience store to pick up snacks. While standing outside the store, she videotaped the nine-minute death of Floyd at the hands of hands of Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis police officer. Her video showed Floyd pleading 27 times of losing his breath while lying on his stomach pinned against the pavement and the real wheel of a police vehicle. During the entire ordeal Chauvin had his knee on Floyd’s neck. The now famous video recording captured the final minutes of Floyd’s life including his anguished cries for his deceased mother. Frazier uploaded video of the horrifying event and placed it on Instagram immediately. It quickly circulated on social media. Months later Minneapolis authorities released the complete video to the general public. By that point, however, it had already been seen by millions of people around the world.
Frazier and her video would be crucial evidence in the trial of Chauvin who was fired from the Minneapolis police force, arrested, and tried for the murder of George Floyd. On March 30, 2021, Frazier testified in court at Chauvin’s trial, describing how the policeman had been completely impassive toward the deadly force he was inflicting on Floyd and refusing to acknowledge the pinned man’s inability to breathe or the cries from bystanders to remove his knee from Floyd’s neck. Frazier’s video confirmed her testimony.
Because Frazier’s video contradicted the initial Minneapolis police account of Floyd’s death, it sparked global protests regarding police abuse. Demonstrations demanding justice for Floyd exploded over the summer of 2020 involving an estimated 26 million U.S. citizens in more than 2,000 cities across the nation. Similar protests took place in over 60 nations around the world. The Frazier video sparked the greatest level of demonstrations and protest since the Vietnam War. More immediately her video led to more intense monitoring of police behavior around the world including investigations of past acts of police killings of unarmed black men, women, and children. Without her video, the Floyd death might have been ignored.
On December 8, 2020, the literary and human rights organization PEN presented her its award for her courage in videotaping the George Floyd death. On June 11, 2021, the Pulitzer Prize Board awarded an extraordinary citation to Frazier for videotaping the murder. Frazier’s video highlighted, according to a statement released by the Pulitzer Board, “the crucial role of citizens in journalists’ quest for truth and justice.”
Frazier became known to the world when she live-streamed the video of the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020. Frazier was 17 at the time and had walked her nine-year-old cousin to the Cup foods convenience store to pick up snacks. While standing outside the store, she videotaped the nine-minute death of Floyd at the hands of hands of Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis police officer. Her video showed Floyd pleading 27 times of losing his breath while lying on his stomach pinned against the pavement and the real wheel of a police vehicle. During the entire ordeal Chauvin had his knee on Floyd’s neck. The now famous video recording captured the final minutes of Floyd’s life including his anguished cries for his deceased mother. Frazier uploaded video of the horrifying event and placed it on Instagram immediately. It quickly circulated on social media. Months later Minneapolis authorities released the complete video to the general public. By that point, however, it had already been seen by millions of people around the world.
Frazier and her video would be crucial evidence in the trial of Chauvin who was fired from the Minneapolis police force, arrested, and tried for the murder of George Floyd. On March 30, 2021, Frazier testified in court at Chauvin’s trial, describing how the policeman had been completely impassive toward the deadly force he was inflicting on Floyd and refusing to acknowledge the pinned man’s inability to breathe or the cries from bystanders to remove his knee from Floyd’s neck. Frazier’s video confirmed her testimony.
Because Frazier’s video contradicted the initial Minneapolis police account of Floyd’s death, it sparked global protests regarding police abuse. Demonstrations demanding justice for Floyd exploded over the summer of 2020 involving an estimated 26 million U.S. citizens in more than 2,000 cities across the nation. Similar protests took place in over 60 nations around the world. The Frazier video sparked the greatest level of demonstrations and protest since the Vietnam War. More immediately her video led to more intense monitoring of police behavior around the world including investigations of past acts of police killings of unarmed black men, women, and children. Without her video, the Floyd death might have been ignored.
On December 8, 2020, the literary and human rights organization PEN presented her its award for her courage in videotaping the George Floyd death. On June 11, 2021, the Pulitzer Prize Board awarded an extraordinary citation to Frazier for videotaping the murder. Frazier’s video highlighted, according to a statement released by the Pulitzer Board, “the crucial role of citizens in journalists’ quest for truth and justice.”
FERGUSON RIOT AND FERGUSON UNREST (2014-2015)
The Ferguson Unrest and Ferguson Riots were a series of several riots and protest triggered by the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African American, in the city of Ferguson, Missouri, U.S. by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, on August 9th, 2014. Exact details on the incident remain uncertain and continue to be disputed. Some accounts report that Brown made no threatening movements towards the officers while others state that Brown charged at Wilson and attempted to take Wilson’s firearm. The police claimed that Brown was a suspect in a nearby store robbery and that the items had been spotted in his possession, prompting their action. Some witnesses said that Brown put his hands up and others said that he ran for his life. The conflicting accounts were the subject of much controversy in the following days. Several peaceful protests occurred in addition to incidents of looting and violent unrest. In anticipation of violence, a curfew was established in the area and riot squads were deployed.
Multiple investigations followed in the wake of the incident. St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch began a criminal investigation into whether or not the use of lethal force was justified. U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr.investigated if Brown’s civil rights had been violated; Holder attempted to determine if Wilson apprehended Brown mainly due to his race. Additionally, federal investigators delved into the records of the Ferguson Police Department in an effort to determine if there were recurring issues of excessive force, discrimination, and other such improper behavior.
A grand jury was convened to decide if Officer Wilson should be charged with any crimes based on the results of the investigations. It took multiple months to reach a decision and during this time tensions in Ferguson continued to rise. Multiple protests occurred with escalating levels of violence in police response. Tears gas was used in combination with rubber bullets, smoke bombs, and flash grenades to disperse crowds of protesters. Several media reporters on the scene at the time were similarly tear gassed and there are some reports of attempts by the police to take down their cameras and suppress coverage.
The unrest reached a breaking point when on November 24, 2014, the grand jury reached the decision to not indict Wilson on any criminal charges. Many of those waiting outside the Ferguson Police Department grew violent and the situation intensified. Multiple buildings were torched and protesters hurled rocks at parked police cars. This continued into the following day when Missouri Governor Jay Nixon deployed the National Guard and reinforced law enforcement presence in the area, effectively bringing the protests to a stop.
Several more protests occurred in the following months and investigations continued into the Ferguson police department. The Justice Department issued that Ferguson revamp its criminal justice system. Shortly after, Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson stepped down.
Multiple investigations followed in the wake of the incident. St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch began a criminal investigation into whether or not the use of lethal force was justified. U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr.investigated if Brown’s civil rights had been violated; Holder attempted to determine if Wilson apprehended Brown mainly due to his race. Additionally, federal investigators delved into the records of the Ferguson Police Department in an effort to determine if there were recurring issues of excessive force, discrimination, and other such improper behavior.
A grand jury was convened to decide if Officer Wilson should be charged with any crimes based on the results of the investigations. It took multiple months to reach a decision and during this time tensions in Ferguson continued to rise. Multiple protests occurred with escalating levels of violence in police response. Tears gas was used in combination with rubber bullets, smoke bombs, and flash grenades to disperse crowds of protesters. Several media reporters on the scene at the time were similarly tear gassed and there are some reports of attempts by the police to take down their cameras and suppress coverage.
The unrest reached a breaking point when on November 24, 2014, the grand jury reached the decision to not indict Wilson on any criminal charges. Many of those waiting outside the Ferguson Police Department grew violent and the situation intensified. Multiple buildings were torched and protesters hurled rocks at parked police cars. This continued into the following day when Missouri Governor Jay Nixon deployed the National Guard and reinforced law enforcement presence in the area, effectively bringing the protests to a stop.
Several more protests occurred in the following months and investigations continued into the Ferguson police department. The Justice Department issued that Ferguson revamp its criminal justice system. Shortly after, Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson stepped down.
BLACK LIVES MATTER, SEATTLE CHAPTER (2014– )
As the movement grew, chapters that began to appear in different cities across the United States became decentralized and diffuse, employing various methods to address a variety of issues.The Seattle, Washington chapter of Black Lives Matter was co-founded by Marissa Johnson and Mara Jacqueline Willaford. On November 28, 2014, four days after a grand jury’s decision not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown, Black Lives Matter protesters descended on downtown Seattle.
Targeting “Black Friday,” or the day after Thanksgiving that unofficially kicks off the holiday shopping season, hundreds of demonstrators blocked streets and marched through downtown malls. Some held signs reading “People over Profit,” “Hands Up, Don’t $hop,” “My Black Matters – Black Friday Doesn’t,” and “White silence is violence.” That evening, protesters mixed with thousands of shoppers and families as the march overtook the annual ceremonial tree-lighting at Westlake Park. Police used pepper spray and made five arrests, the tree-lighting ceremony was cut short, and Westlake Shopping Center closed four hours early.
In January 2015, several activists shouted and sang at a city council meeting as Chief Kathleen O’Toole discussed the Seattle Police Department’s response to protests over police abuse. The next month, a Metropolitan King County Council meeting about a new juvenile justice center was disrupted as audience members chanted “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” and “Black Lives Matter.”
On August 8, 2015, Vermont Democratic Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was preparing to address several thousand supporters who had gathered downtown in Westlake Park. Before he could, Johnson, Willaford, and several others took over the stage and grabbed the microphone. Johnson responded to sustained boos by telling the crowd, “Now that you’ve covered yourself in your white supremacist liberalism, I will formally welcome Bernie Sanders to Seattle.” Johnson also demanded a four-and-a half-minute-long moment of silence in honor of Michael Brown. Initially, Sanders and his aides pledged to stay and waited off to the side, but soon organizers effectively shut down the event.
Tensions were high as Black Lives Matter Seattle announced plans to protest again downtown on November 27, or Black Friday, 2015. Some eight hundred demonstrators blocked streets, marched through stores, and read poetry. Police reported four arrests were made, and one officer was injured. Just prior to the annual tree-lighting ceremony at Westlake Park, protesters released a clutch of balloons carrying a profane anti-police slogan. However, the demonstration was relatively calm, and the tree-lighting celebration went on as planned.
Targeting “Black Friday,” or the day after Thanksgiving that unofficially kicks off the holiday shopping season, hundreds of demonstrators blocked streets and marched through downtown malls. Some held signs reading “People over Profit,” “Hands Up, Don’t $hop,” “My Black Matters – Black Friday Doesn’t,” and “White silence is violence.” That evening, protesters mixed with thousands of shoppers and families as the march overtook the annual ceremonial tree-lighting at Westlake Park. Police used pepper spray and made five arrests, the tree-lighting ceremony was cut short, and Westlake Shopping Center closed four hours early.
In January 2015, several activists shouted and sang at a city council meeting as Chief Kathleen O’Toole discussed the Seattle Police Department’s response to protests over police abuse. The next month, a Metropolitan King County Council meeting about a new juvenile justice center was disrupted as audience members chanted “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” and “Black Lives Matter.”
On August 8, 2015, Vermont Democratic Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was preparing to address several thousand supporters who had gathered downtown in Westlake Park. Before he could, Johnson, Willaford, and several others took over the stage and grabbed the microphone. Johnson responded to sustained boos by telling the crowd, “Now that you’ve covered yourself in your white supremacist liberalism, I will formally welcome Bernie Sanders to Seattle.” Johnson also demanded a four-and-a half-minute-long moment of silence in honor of Michael Brown. Initially, Sanders and his aides pledged to stay and waited off to the side, but soon organizers effectively shut down the event.
Tensions were high as Black Lives Matter Seattle announced plans to protest again downtown on November 27, or Black Friday, 2015. Some eight hundred demonstrators blocked streets, marched through stores, and read poetry. Police reported four arrests were made, and one officer was injured. Just prior to the annual tree-lighting ceremony at Westlake Park, protesters released a clutch of balloons carrying a profane anti-police slogan. However, the demonstration was relatively calm, and the tree-lighting celebration went on as planned.
BALTIMORE PROTESTS AND RIOTS, 2015
The death of a 25-year-old black man, Freddie Gray, while in the custody of the Baltimore Police Department led to an outcry in Baltimore, Maryland and eventually across the nation. As the tensions became greater, peaceful protests became violent and resulted in the most extensive rioting in Baltimore since the 1960s. Unlike other uprisings these riots continued to be interspersed with peaceful protests.
The first violent protests came on April 18 outside the Western District police station where hundreds of citizens gathered. Although the crowd was initially peaceful as it protested Gray’s incarceration and treatment, it turned violent. The violence escalated quickly and spread over the city within hours of the announcement of Gray’s death on April 19, 2015, a week after his arrest by Baltimore police. After Gray’s funeral on April 27, rioting spread from the West Baltimore neighborhood where Gray lived into downtown Baltimore and the Inner Harbor. A mandatory curfew was ordered by Baltimore’s mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake on April 28, and the same day Maryland Governor Larry Hogan ordered in the first of 2,500 National Guard troops to Baltimore to help restore order. The mandatory curfew was rescinded on May 3 and the Maryland National Guard left the city on May 4, the last day of violence.
During that 16-day period of rioting and peaceful protests at least one hundred thirteen police officers were injured and two civilians were shot, 486 people were arrested, and 350 businesses were damaged. There were also 150 vehicle fires, including a number of police cars and vans set ablaze. Two people were shot and one injured by fire, but there were no fatalities.
On April 28, President Barack Obama was among those condemning the violence. He said the destruction was “counterproductive,” and accused the rioters of “stealing” property when they engaged in looting. Members of Freddie Gray’s own family also condemned the actions of the rioters. While expressing that she wanted justice, Gloria Darden, Gray’s mother, said “Don’t tear up the whole city for him”.
State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby brought charges against six police officers–Lieutenant Brian Rice, Sergeant Alicia White, Officer William Porter, Officer Garrett Miller, Officer Edward Nero, and Officer Caesar Goodson–in Gray’s death. Three of the officers were white and three were black. Mosely claimed the officers had not given Gray proper medical treatment after his arrest which led to his death. The officers, in turn, sued Mosby for knowingly bringing false charges against them. Eventually, separate trials would be scheduled for each of the officers. The first case, against Officer William Porter, ended in a mistrial, and three of the other officers were acquitted. By mid-July all charges were dropped against Porter and the two remaining officers. While the U.S. Justice Department had initially considered opening a civil rights investigation into the matter, they ultimately decided not to press charges in federal court. Nonetheless, the Freddie Gray case served as a rallying cry for the recently formed Black Lives Matter movement.
The first violent protests came on April 18 outside the Western District police station where hundreds of citizens gathered. Although the crowd was initially peaceful as it protested Gray’s incarceration and treatment, it turned violent. The violence escalated quickly and spread over the city within hours of the announcement of Gray’s death on April 19, 2015, a week after his arrest by Baltimore police. After Gray’s funeral on April 27, rioting spread from the West Baltimore neighborhood where Gray lived into downtown Baltimore and the Inner Harbor. A mandatory curfew was ordered by Baltimore’s mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake on April 28, and the same day Maryland Governor Larry Hogan ordered in the first of 2,500 National Guard troops to Baltimore to help restore order. The mandatory curfew was rescinded on May 3 and the Maryland National Guard left the city on May 4, the last day of violence.
During that 16-day period of rioting and peaceful protests at least one hundred thirteen police officers were injured and two civilians were shot, 486 people were arrested, and 350 businesses were damaged. There were also 150 vehicle fires, including a number of police cars and vans set ablaze. Two people were shot and one injured by fire, but there were no fatalities.
On April 28, President Barack Obama was among those condemning the violence. He said the destruction was “counterproductive,” and accused the rioters of “stealing” property when they engaged in looting. Members of Freddie Gray’s own family also condemned the actions of the rioters. While expressing that she wanted justice, Gloria Darden, Gray’s mother, said “Don’t tear up the whole city for him”.
State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby brought charges against six police officers–Lieutenant Brian Rice, Sergeant Alicia White, Officer William Porter, Officer Garrett Miller, Officer Edward Nero, and Officer Caesar Goodson–in Gray’s death. Three of the officers were white and three were black. Mosely claimed the officers had not given Gray proper medical treatment after his arrest which led to his death. The officers, in turn, sued Mosby for knowingly bringing false charges against them. Eventually, separate trials would be scheduled for each of the officers. The first case, against Officer William Porter, ended in a mistrial, and three of the other officers were acquitted. By mid-July all charges were dropped against Porter and the two remaining officers. While the U.S. Justice Department had initially considered opening a civil rights investigation into the matter, they ultimately decided not to press charges in federal court. Nonetheless, the Freddie Gray case served as a rallying cry for the recently formed Black Lives Matter movement.
BLACK LIVES MATTER, SYRACUSE CHAPTER (2015- )
The Chapter was inspired when members of the Syracuse community followed the path of the Black Lives Matter Freedom Ride to Ferguson, Missouri, in mid-August 2014. During this non-violent demonstration, Syracuse University professor, Dr. Sherri Williams, and graduate students Jeanelle Hope and Nikeeta Slade, participated in Black Lives Matter’s first major protest for justice in the wake of the death of 18-year old Michael Brown at the hands of police officer Darren Wilson. The Freedom Ride included over 500 BLM supporters from nearly 20 cities. For the seven Syracuse participants the Ride prompted the formation of the group #SUFerguson which included Syracuse University’s Department of African American Studies, Cold Case Justice Initiative, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and Syracuse Answer Coalition. #SUFerguson partnered in staging several events addressing police brutality throughout fall 2016. A year after Ferguson, a Black Lives Matter chapter was formed in Syracuse.
Similar to most local Black Lives Matter chapters, Syracuse’s chapter was created to support the national movement as well as the struggles of black, brown, and working poor people in the city. It formed in response to generations of socioeconomic neglect. Syracuse is one of the most segregated cities in America. As such the city has one of the worst public school districts and some of the most concentrated poverty for black and brown people in the U.S. The majority white and affluent populations in the metropolitan region’s suburbs have had a different experience. Since the 1980s, these communities have consistently ranked as among the top-ten best places in the U.S. to raise families. The local chapter’s response to this bifurcated reality has been to demand immediate socioeconomic change.
This chapter has been attempting to do this by providing a forum for black people and their allies to address issues that they think make their lives matter. The chapter’s website has functioned as the repository of news on police abuse and violence in blog, vlog, and linked article formats. A growing list of other posts have addressed fair housing, poverty, victims of homicide, community institutions like the South Side’s Dunbar Center. The chapter also protested against Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, during his visit to Syracuse and Central New York in April 2016.
Since its founding on August 6, 2015, Syracuse’s Black Lives Matter Chapter has demonstrated that like the national movement, this local movement, too, draws energy and organizational philosophy from the Civil Rights/ Black Power movement, Pan Africanism, Africana Womanism, the LGBT movement, the Occupy Wall Street movement, cyber activism, and socially conscious hip hop. Moreover, the movement is starting to fuse the efforts of social justice activists at predominantly white and affluent Syracuse University, with those of grassroots activists who live primarily within Syracuse’s deeply segregated South and West Sides. On July 8, this collective participated in Black Lives Matter Upstate New York rallies in Rochester, Albany and Ithaca, against police violence, institutionalized racism, and transphobia. Ten days later, the Syracuse chapter led a mass demonstration in the city’s downtown, in which most protestors wore black, and non-violently asked for fair treatment and immediate socioeconomic reform. Their hashtag for the event was #WeMatter.”
Similar to most local Black Lives Matter chapters, Syracuse’s chapter was created to support the national movement as well as the struggles of black, brown, and working poor people in the city. It formed in response to generations of socioeconomic neglect. Syracuse is one of the most segregated cities in America. As such the city has one of the worst public school districts and some of the most concentrated poverty for black and brown people in the U.S. The majority white and affluent populations in the metropolitan region’s suburbs have had a different experience. Since the 1980s, these communities have consistently ranked as among the top-ten best places in the U.S. to raise families. The local chapter’s response to this bifurcated reality has been to demand immediate socioeconomic change.
This chapter has been attempting to do this by providing a forum for black people and their allies to address issues that they think make their lives matter. The chapter’s website has functioned as the repository of news on police abuse and violence in blog, vlog, and linked article formats. A growing list of other posts have addressed fair housing, poverty, victims of homicide, community institutions like the South Side’s Dunbar Center. The chapter also protested against Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, during his visit to Syracuse and Central New York in April 2016.
Since its founding on August 6, 2015, Syracuse’s Black Lives Matter Chapter has demonstrated that like the national movement, this local movement, too, draws energy and organizational philosophy from the Civil Rights/ Black Power movement, Pan Africanism, Africana Womanism, the LGBT movement, the Occupy Wall Street movement, cyber activism, and socially conscious hip hop. Moreover, the movement is starting to fuse the efforts of social justice activists at predominantly white and affluent Syracuse University, with those of grassroots activists who live primarily within Syracuse’s deeply segregated South and West Sides. On July 8, this collective participated in Black Lives Matter Upstate New York rallies in Rochester, Albany and Ithaca, against police violence, institutionalized racism, and transphobia. Ten days later, the Syracuse chapter led a mass demonstration in the city’s downtown, in which most protestors wore black, and non-violently asked for fair treatment and immediate socioeconomic reform. Their hashtag for the event was #WeMatter.”
MILWAUKEE RIOT (2016)
On the afternoon at 3:30 p.m. of Saturday, August 13, 2016, in the Sherman Park area of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a 23-year-old black man, Sylville K. Smith, was shot and killed by a 24-year-old black police officer. Smith, along with another 23-year-old male, were pulled over by two officers. They then fled from the vehicle, causing an on-foot chase. During the chase, Smith turned around toward one of the officers while holding a handgun. Smith was told to drop then gun, and, when he didn’t, the officer shot and killed him on the scene.
Hours after the shooting and killing of Smith, a crowd of at least 200 people and 150 police officers gathered in the streets of the Milwaukee neighborhood in an outrage to protest the death of Smith. Protesters became violent in their interactions with the police officers dressed in riot gear at the scene. Objects were thrown at police and their cars, striking an officer in the head who was transported to a hospital to be treated. Some police vehicles were set on fire. Windows of nearby buildings were smashed.
Protesters damaged six local businesses, including a beauty salon and auto parts store. A gas station was set ablaze at around 7 p.m., which could not immediately be put out by firefighters due to shots being fired throughout the crowd. Three people were in the store but escaped before the flames took over. A reporter and photographer on location were chased by protesters and assaulted by one in the crowd. A supermarket and liquor store were both set on fire.
During the riot, shots were fired in the air as well as throughout the crowd, eventually damaging police cars, including a military-style vehicle. A 16-year-old was hit by a gunshot in a crossfire with non-life-threatening injuries.
As the night went on, Mayor Tom Barrett asked the protesters to leave the area, but the crowds grew due to the use of social media by protesters. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker alerted the National Guard, but they were not deployed to the city. Police officers had left briefly to come back in more riot gear and in larger numbers in an effort to disperse the crowd and end the protest.
The morning of Sunday, August 14, officers, community leaders, and residents came together to clean up the area. By Sunday evening, protesters sent threats to those volunteers, sparking more unrest that night. By the morning of Monday, August 15, the riot ended. Seventeen people were arrested, and four officers were injured but treated on the scene.
Hours after the shooting and killing of Smith, a crowd of at least 200 people and 150 police officers gathered in the streets of the Milwaukee neighborhood in an outrage to protest the death of Smith. Protesters became violent in their interactions with the police officers dressed in riot gear at the scene. Objects were thrown at police and their cars, striking an officer in the head who was transported to a hospital to be treated. Some police vehicles were set on fire. Windows of nearby buildings were smashed.
Protesters damaged six local businesses, including a beauty salon and auto parts store. A gas station was set ablaze at around 7 p.m., which could not immediately be put out by firefighters due to shots being fired throughout the crowd. Three people were in the store but escaped before the flames took over. A reporter and photographer on location were chased by protesters and assaulted by one in the crowd. A supermarket and liquor store were both set on fire.
During the riot, shots were fired in the air as well as throughout the crowd, eventually damaging police cars, including a military-style vehicle. A 16-year-old was hit by a gunshot in a crossfire with non-life-threatening injuries.
As the night went on, Mayor Tom Barrett asked the protesters to leave the area, but the crowds grew due to the use of social media by protesters. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker alerted the National Guard, but they were not deployed to the city. Police officers had left briefly to come back in more riot gear and in larger numbers in an effort to disperse the crowd and end the protest.
The morning of Sunday, August 14, officers, community leaders, and residents came together to clean up the area. By Sunday evening, protesters sent threats to those volunteers, sparking more unrest that night. By the morning of Monday, August 15, the riot ended. Seventeen people were arrested, and four officers were injured but treated on the scene.
CHARLOTTE RIOT OF 2016
The Charlotte Riot of 2016 was a protest that lasted for three days and came in the wake of the Keith Lamont Scott shooting. Beginning on September 20, the riot resulted in violence with one protester killed and numerous injured police officers.
On September 20, a black Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer, Brentley Vinson, shot and killed a 43-year-old black man named Keith Lamont Scott. After the shooting, groups of demonstrators came to Uptown Charlotte (the downtown section of the city) holding up signs saying “Black Lives Matter” and “Stop Killing Us.” Many of the demonstrators also chanted “No justice, no peace.” Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts urged the community to remain calm and to wait for the facts of the case. However, groups such as the local Nation of Islam chapter called for the black community to boycott white-owned businesses. Much of the anger surrounding the shooting was also based on a belief, largely advanced by a few bystanders, that the department had covered up the fact that Scott’s shooting was actually at the hands of a white officer.
On the first night of the protests, one officer found he was trapped in a car surrounded by a group of protesters. When other officers tried to assist him, protesters surrounded them as well, leading to police in riot gear coming in and using tear gas, non-lethal bullets, and sting grenades in an attempt to stop their interference. Sixteen police officers were injured in this incident.
On September 21, about a thousand protesters showed up at Marshall Park to protest the Scott shooting. While most of the protesters were peaceful prior to 8:00 p.m. the night turned ugly when the protesters began damaging some of the downtown buildings, including the Omni Hotel. Soon after this episode 21-year-old Justin Carr was shot and killed. Later Rayquan Brown, admitted that he used the confusion of the protests to kill Carr.
The Charlotte Riot caused North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory to declare a state of emergency in Charlotte in order to bring in the North Carolina National Guard and the State Highway Patrol. Governor McCrory condemned the violence and stated that the extra law enforcement in the city had cost about $300,000. As the National Guard made their presence felt in Uptown Charlotte, the violence of the protest began to die down. Mayor Roberts instituted a midnight to 6:00 a.m. city-wide curfew. The rioting also prompted President Barack Obama to publicly call for an end to the violence on ABC’s Good Morning America.
The protests ended with minimal conflict by September 23. In the aftermath, Officer Vinson was indicted, tried, and found not guilty in the shooting death of Lamont Scott. His acquittal prompted additional protests by local Black Lives Matter activists but these protests remained peaceful.
On September 20, a black Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer, Brentley Vinson, shot and killed a 43-year-old black man named Keith Lamont Scott. After the shooting, groups of demonstrators came to Uptown Charlotte (the downtown section of the city) holding up signs saying “Black Lives Matter” and “Stop Killing Us.” Many of the demonstrators also chanted “No justice, no peace.” Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts urged the community to remain calm and to wait for the facts of the case. However, groups such as the local Nation of Islam chapter called for the black community to boycott white-owned businesses. Much of the anger surrounding the shooting was also based on a belief, largely advanced by a few bystanders, that the department had covered up the fact that Scott’s shooting was actually at the hands of a white officer.
On the first night of the protests, one officer found he was trapped in a car surrounded by a group of protesters. When other officers tried to assist him, protesters surrounded them as well, leading to police in riot gear coming in and using tear gas, non-lethal bullets, and sting grenades in an attempt to stop their interference. Sixteen police officers were injured in this incident.
On September 21, about a thousand protesters showed up at Marshall Park to protest the Scott shooting. While most of the protesters were peaceful prior to 8:00 p.m. the night turned ugly when the protesters began damaging some of the downtown buildings, including the Omni Hotel. Soon after this episode 21-year-old Justin Carr was shot and killed. Later Rayquan Brown, admitted that he used the confusion of the protests to kill Carr.
The Charlotte Riot caused North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory to declare a state of emergency in Charlotte in order to bring in the North Carolina National Guard and the State Highway Patrol. Governor McCrory condemned the violence and stated that the extra law enforcement in the city had cost about $300,000. As the National Guard made their presence felt in Uptown Charlotte, the violence of the protest began to die down. Mayor Roberts instituted a midnight to 6:00 a.m. city-wide curfew. The rioting also prompted President Barack Obama to publicly call for an end to the violence on ABC’s Good Morning America.
The protests ended with minimal conflict by September 23. In the aftermath, Officer Vinson was indicted, tried, and found not guilty in the shooting death of Lamont Scott. His acquittal prompted additional protests by local Black Lives Matter activists but these protests remained peaceful.
ERICA GWEN-ELISE SNIPES GARNER (1990-2017)
Erica Garner was an activist, writer, and leader in the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. Garner was thrust into a life of activism after the untimely murder of her father Eric Garner, who was killed while held in an illegal chokehold by a New York Police Department (NYPD) officer in 2014. Garner was at the time being arrested for allegedly selling loose cigarettes on a street corner.
Erica Garner was born on May 29, 1990 to Eric Garner and Esaw Snipes-Garner. She was raised in Brooklyn, New York, and was the eldest of her father’s children. After the untimely death of her father, Garner stepped into the forefront of activism focused on police brutality. For a full year after her father’s death, Garner held rallies twice a week in Staten Island, where she would perform a “Die-In”, by lying on the ground prone in the spot where her father was killed. She also worked closely with Rev. Al Sharpton on her father’s case and spoke out on police brutality issues.
Garner eventually became involved with the Black Lives Matter movement, traveling and speaking around the world at marches and peaceful protests. She wrote numerous articles about unpublicized incidents of police brutality towards African Americans. In early 2016, Garner became an early supporter of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, appearing in a video for the candidate. She also took her fight for justice for her father to the White House. In July of 2016, Garner met with then-President Barack Obama after a Town Hall meeting on the second-year anniversary of her father’s death, to talk about the policies and politics that follow police brutality cases.
Following the birth of her son in September of 2017, Garner was notified by doctors that she had an enlarged heart, and was in imminent danger of other serious medical issues. In late December 2017, Garner suffered a major asthma attack, with caused her to have a heart attack. She was placed into a medically induced coma, and was treated at Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center in Brooklyn, but incurred major brain damage due to the lack of oxygen to her brain during her heart attack. Garner passed away on December 30, 2017. She was 27 years old.
Rev. Al Sharpton delivered the eulogy for Garner’s funeral at First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York. In addition to her grandmother Gwen Carr, mother Esaw Snipes-Garner, and siblings, Garner left behind eight-year-old daughter Alyssa and four-month-old son Eric, whom she named after her father.
The fight for justice that Erica Garner waged on behalf of her father continues. Although a $6 million out-of-court settlement was paid to the Garner family by the city of New York in 2015 in response to the death of her father, the Justice Department has yet to decide on bringing civil rights charges in the case of Eric Garner against the NYPD. Also, the Staten Island Grand Jury did not indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo, the NYPD officer who placed Garner in an illegal chokehold. Additional civil charges are still pending against the officer.
Erica Garner was born on May 29, 1990 to Eric Garner and Esaw Snipes-Garner. She was raised in Brooklyn, New York, and was the eldest of her father’s children. After the untimely death of her father, Garner stepped into the forefront of activism focused on police brutality. For a full year after her father’s death, Garner held rallies twice a week in Staten Island, where she would perform a “Die-In”, by lying on the ground prone in the spot where her father was killed. She also worked closely with Rev. Al Sharpton on her father’s case and spoke out on police brutality issues.
Garner eventually became involved with the Black Lives Matter movement, traveling and speaking around the world at marches and peaceful protests. She wrote numerous articles about unpublicized incidents of police brutality towards African Americans. In early 2016, Garner became an early supporter of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, appearing in a video for the candidate. She also took her fight for justice for her father to the White House. In July of 2016, Garner met with then-President Barack Obama after a Town Hall meeting on the second-year anniversary of her father’s death, to talk about the policies and politics that follow police brutality cases.
Following the birth of her son in September of 2017, Garner was notified by doctors that she had an enlarged heart, and was in imminent danger of other serious medical issues. In late December 2017, Garner suffered a major asthma attack, with caused her to have a heart attack. She was placed into a medically induced coma, and was treated at Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center in Brooklyn, but incurred major brain damage due to the lack of oxygen to her brain during her heart attack. Garner passed away on December 30, 2017. She was 27 years old.
Rev. Al Sharpton delivered the eulogy for Garner’s funeral at First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York. In addition to her grandmother Gwen Carr, mother Esaw Snipes-Garner, and siblings, Garner left behind eight-year-old daughter Alyssa and four-month-old son Eric, whom she named after her father.
The fight for justice that Erica Garner waged on behalf of her father continues. Although a $6 million out-of-court settlement was paid to the Garner family by the city of New York in 2015 in response to the death of her father, the Justice Department has yet to decide on bringing civil rights charges in the case of Eric Garner against the NYPD. Also, the Staten Island Grand Jury did not indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo, the NYPD officer who placed Garner in an illegal chokehold. Additional civil charges are still pending against the officer.
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