Saturday, May 31, 2014

impunity and restraint

The two people fleeing Cleveland police in November of 2012 were finally subdued.

Of Cleveland's 244 officers on duty at the time, 104 had been involved in the car chase.

One officer stood on the hood of the suspects' car and fired at least 15 rounds through the windshield.

When it was all over, driver Timothy Russell had been shot 23 times. Passenger Malissa Williams was shot 24 times.

No gun was found in their vehicle.

Both were black.

Both were dead.

One of the hardest things about being a cop, I imagine, is learning the exercise of restraint. I can well imagine ingesting a daily diet of what people do wrong and how they get away with it ... until bit by bit the restraint is drowned out in a sense of, if not quite impunity, then something pretty close to it.

2 comments:

  1. The execution of black folks without due process of law isn't new, and may be on the rise. Samsara is sadsara.

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  2. Remember the Shooting of Amadou Diallo ..... Bronx, NY 1999.
    Police fired 41 shots at the unarmed man in an apartment house entry way.

    ReplyDelete