Tag: police shooting

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Featured

Video Shows Police Shooting Eddie Irizarry While He Sat in Car

Originally, police tried to justify the shooting by saying the victim, 27-year-old Eddie Irizarry, exited his car and came after them. But two days later, Police Commissioner, Danielle Outlaw corrected that original report telling reporters that the victim was actually shot while sitting in his car.

Surveillance video showed that happened.

Video shows an officer exiting the passenger side of the patrol vehicle and pulling out a firearm from his belt as he crosses the front of the patrol vehicle and heads toward Irizarry’s car yelling what sounds like, “Show us your hands!” and then “Show me your hands” two times.

Approximately five seconds elapse between the time that the officer gets out of his patrol car, runs over to the driver’s side of Irizarry’s vehicle, and fires his gun what appears to be six times with at least one shot striking Irizarry’s front windshield. While firing his weapon, the officer is heard shouting what sounds like, “Drop the knife!”

As the officer runs over toward Irizarry who’s seated in the driver’s seat, Irizarry is seen pulling up the driver’s side window before the officer shoots inside his vehicle.

The video shows the officer appearing to recoil and run back toward his patrol car as he’s shooting at Irizarry.

Both officers responding to the traffic stop then appear to try to get into Irizarry’s vehicle but the doors are locked. The officers are then able to open Irizarry’s car and then drag him out of the vehicle and place him into the patrol car.

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Featured

Atlanta Police Chief Resigns, after yet another Black man dies at the hands of Police

Atlanta Police Chief Ericka Shields voluntarily stepped down from the city’s department Saturday afternoon following the deadly police shooting of 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks Friday night outside of a local Wendy’s drive-thru, The Hill Reports.

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced Shields’ withdrawal from the department during a press conference Saturday, while also calling for the “immediate termination” of the officer who shot Brooks.

“Chief Ericka Shields has been a solid member of APD for over two decades and has a deep and abiding love for the people of Atlanta,” Bottoms said.

 
After he fell asleep in his car at a Wendy’s drive thru, police arrived and engaged in a scuffle with Rayshard Brooks, another black man. Brooks is seen on video taking a stun gun from one of the officers as he ran off. Police gave chase. Brooks is seen turning around as he ran and appears to fire the stun gun at one of the officers. He is shot to death shortly after.
 
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BLM Celebrities

Kerry Washington’s “Rant” about Recent Police Shootings

After giving birth to her second child and thanking well wishers, the ‘Scandal’ star took to twitter to “rant” about the recent police killing of Deborah Danner, the 66-year-old woman with schizophrenia, killed by a New York police officer.

“It’s a quiet Saturday afternoon. So, a few things I wanna get off my chest…,” she started. “I saw all your very kind & thoughtful congratulatory tweets. So yeah we thank you. Xo”

The “Scandal” actress also addressed the death of Danner in the Bronx, where Washington grew up.

“Also the loss of #DeborahDanner has rattled my core. Not only becuz of painful truth that we must continue to affirm that #BlackLivesMatter,” she tweeted. “But also becuz #DeborahDanner was killed in the community where I was raised. Community filled w/people I know & love. So when I #sayhername.”

Washington continued, “My heart aches. For lives lost and for the lives we must protect. For the humanity we must work to illuminate and preserve and affirm. #BLM.”

The actress ended her self-described “rant” by encouraging her Twitter followers to check out “Moonlight,” a film released Friday that centers on the story of a young black man in Miami coming to terms with his sexual identity.

“It is artful food for your soul,” Washington said. “At a time when so many of us need to be lovingly nourished.”

She concluded her series of tweets with: “End of rant XOXOXOXOX.”

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Racial profiling

Charlotte Police Chief Will Not Release Police Video of Keith Lamont Scott’s Killing – Video

So much for transparency. After yet another police shooting of yet another black man, this time in Charlotte North Carolina, the chief of police decided to keep the video showing the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott a secret.

Asked by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer why he chose not to release the video, Chief Kerr Putney said that releasing the video was “not the transparency” he’s speaking of. Then he had the nerve to compare Lamont’s killing to “domestic violence and sexual assault.”

Well, um, what I am doing is allowing the family to view it… they’ve asked, and I have that authority. I’m not going to release it because ultimately I think I have to do what I can to protect the integrity of the investigation.

Also, I don’t want to set a bad precedent that I am releasing lots of video. And I think you can be destroying some of the trust of some of our most vulnerable victims, especially those of domestic violence and sexual assault!

You got that? It is apparently Chief Putney’s conclusion that showing the people what really happened to Keith Lamont Scott will stop victims of domestic violence and sexual assault from coming forward, because these victims would think the chief would release their video too?

One thing has absolutely nothing to do with the other. But when it comes to protecting a fellow officer from facing possible criminal charges, this police chief is willing to allow his community to burn instead of doing what the people wants and showing the video. To hell with transparency. Protect a possible criminal cop at all costs!

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BLM Domestic Policies News Police Shooting Politics

We Need to Calm Down

If we need anything now, it’s to stop talking and let the investigations into the tragedies of the past week move forward. After all, in the overwhelming number of big news stories, the early information is usually the least reliable, but that’s the information that becomes the narrative. Then when we get contradictory evidence, it’s much more difficult to alter our thinking and change our views because it doesn’t reinforce the narrative.

So let’s calm down and stop talking across each other. We should mourn, grieve, cry, reflect, breathe, consider, reconsider, and learn. This country is divided enough and social media isn’t helping. As a matter of fact, it’s hurting us right now. My conservative friends are full of bile and contempt for President Obama, Hillary Clinton and Black Lives Matter. My liberal friends have turned up the hate, if that’s even possible, on Donald Trump, the NRA and racist police officers.

Please stop.

This is our collective problem and we all share the blame for creating a society that has no patience for different perspectives. I abhor racism and justice denied, but I also detest making scapegoats out of police officers and people who legally carry firearms. I despise what Donald Trump and his supporters have said about women, Hispanic groups and African-Americans, but I also loathe the dismissal of Hillary Clinton’s email server and her misjudgement and rationalizations for setting one up at her house.

Enough.

In the absence of someone who can bind up the nation’s wounds or appeal to a vast majority of Americans, we will need to get through this ourselves, so we’ll need to be a little more rational about this. The first step is to reach out to people you know who don’t share your political philosophy and to engage them in discussion without calling them an idiot or a Neanderthal or a mouth-breather. When you talk to them, describe what you feel and ask questions, as opposed to labeling and accusing them of being part of the problem. We are all part of the problem, and to deny that is to deny reality. Neither side has a monopoly on the truth.

Try it now while we wait for information that might make today’s news headlines obsolete and wrong. This is too important to let emotions rule the day.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

Categories
BLM Politics Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin Says Black Lives Matter is a “Farce”

It is sickening to think that there are people in this nation who supported Sarah Palin. And it is even more sickening to think that someone like Sarah Palin was considered to be our vice president. Oh wait! We now have Donald Trump and he wants to be President!!!

Black people in this country have been lynched, beaten, stoned and murdered since the days of slavery. There have been advancements in race relations since those days but thanks to cellphone videos and the Black Lives Matter movement, the rest of the world is getting a look at what black people go through every day in America… land of the free…!

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin however, says the Black Lives Matter movement is a “farce” and said Americans who hyphenate their racial backgrounds — such as African-Americans and Asian-Americans — “further divide our nation.”

#‎BlackLivesMatter‬ is a farce and hyphenating America destroys us,” the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee wrote on her Facebook page. “Shame on our culture’s influencers who would stir contention and division that could lead to evil such as that in Dallas.”

“Shame on politicians and pundits giving credence to thugs rioting against police officers and the rule of law in the name of “‘peaceful protests.’ It is a farce. #BlackLivesMatter is a farce.”

The former vice presidential candidate said black lives matter more than activists “can grasp.”

“Black Lives Matter? Yes – more than BLM “protestors” can grasp, as evidenced by their self-destructive provocateurism,” she wrote. “Doesn’t it go without saying that Native lives matter, too? And Asian; and Eskimo; and Hispanic; and Indian… and every other race comprised of people who see clearly the agenda at play to weaken America through disunity.”

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BLM Newt Gingrich Politics

Newt Gingrich – White People “don’t understand being black in America” – Video

In his conversation with Van Jones, former Republican House Speaker, Newt Gingrich, came to the shocking truth that black Americans live with every day – black lives do not matter  to white America and white Americans could care less about blacks being gunned down every day by police.

“It took me a long time, and a number of people talking to me through the years to get a sense of this. If you are a normal white American, the truth is you don’t understand being black in America and you instinctively under-estimate the level of discrimination and the level of additional risk,” Gingrich said.

He continued, speaking about his childhood: “It was still legally segregated, which meant the local sheriff and National Guard would impose, by force, the taking away of rights of Americans. We’ve come a fair distance, now we have a black mayor of Atlanta, and have had a series of them in fact. We have John Lewis who went from marching on Selma to a Democratic whip in Congress. But we’ve stalled out on the cultural, economic, practical progress we needed.”

That lack of progress, Gingrich said, “creates the kind of alienation where it begins to become legitimate to think about, whether it’s in songs or slogans or whatever, the shooting of policemen. If we were to continue in this direction of alienation on both sides, you could really be a very coarse and dangerous society in 10 or 15 years.”

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jeb bush Politics Tamir Rice

Jeb Bush say Grand Jury Correct in Tamir Rice’s Killing – “There’s No There There” – Video

First of all, Jeb Bush did not know who Tamir Rice was. After the reporter asked him if he thought the grand jury was correct in refusing to bring charges against the two police officers who killed the 12-year-old boy in Ohio, Jeb began his answer saying something about Chicago. The reporter had to tell him that Tamir Rice was killed in Cleveland.

With that out of the way, Jeb continued answering the question. He told the reporter that the grand jury’s failure to indict the officers meant, “the process worked,” and that sometimes when these type of cases are brought, the grand jury often sees that “there’s no there, there” and they usually do the right thing.

Absolutely amazing. This is coming from the man who wants to be president of the United States. And while I’m sure his total ignorance on Tamir Rice’s killing will be welcomed by some Republicans, this ignorance solidifies what many in the minority community already knows – like his brother George, Jeb Bush “doesn’t care about black people.”

Thanks for the quote Kanya!

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Categories
Police Shooting

An Emotional Antonio LeGrier Breaks Down While Talking About His Son’s Murder – Video

He called 911 looking for help with his son from the Chicago police but instead of getting that help, the father of Quintonio went on CNN today and shared his emotional story, telling the network how Chicago police shot and killed his 19 year old son over the weekend.

During the CNN interview, Antonio LeGrier struggled on numerous occasions to maintain his composure, causing the CNN host to lament, “This just doesn’t feel right,” before the network broke for a commercial break.

“I’m doing this interview and the lawsuit so no one can just walk away and sweep it under the rug. Because my son’s life will not be in vain. I need the nation to know that I, Antonio LeGrier, father of Quintonio LeGrier, raised a good son.”

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News Police Shooting

Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed in Police Shooting of Quintonio LeGrier

The father of Quintonio LeGrier, the teenager fatally shot by Chicago police over the weekend, has taken legal action against the city of Chicago, CNN reports.

On Monday, Antonio LeGrier filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court, alleging the officer shot his son without justification, used excessive force and failed to provide medical care as he lay bleeding on the floor.

Antonio LeGrier also sued on grounds of false arrest. He is seeking damages exceeding $100,000.

City officials did not immediately reply to CNN’s request for comment on the lawsuit.

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Featured Police Shooting Tamir Rice

Tamir Rice’s Killer Goes Free – No Indictment

Twelve year old Tamir Rice is dead and gone. The little boy was shot and killed by an Ohio police officer in 2014. Today however, over a year after Rice was killed, a grand jury stated that the officer was absolutely correct and within his right to pull up on Tamir Rice and killed the boy within 3 seconds of getting on the scene.

Are you really surprised?

The white police officer who fatally shot Tamir Rice, an African American 12-year-old, will not face criminal charges, it was announced on Monday – more than a year after the shooting in Cleveland.

A grand jury declined to indict officer Timothy Loehmann, who opened fire on Tamir less than two seconds after arriving at a park where the 12-year-old was playing with a toy gun on 22 November 2014. Loehmann’s partner, Frank Garmback, will also face no charges, Cuyahoga county prosecutor Timothy McGinty announced at a press conference.

McGinty argued that Tamir’s death was caused by a “perfect storm of human error, mistakes and miscommunications by all involved that day” but there was no evidence of criminal misconduct by police. The two officers believed they were responding to a “potential active shooter situation” and had not been provided with crucial details of a 911 call reporting that Rice was likely a juvenile with a gun that was “probably fake”, McGinty said.

“Had the officers been aware of these qualifiers, the training officer who was driving might have approached the scene with less urgency; lives may not have been put at stake,” McGinty said.

Categories
Police Shooting

Police Shooting in Chicago left Two Citizens Dead, One Critically Injured

A 55-year-old mother of 5 and a 19-year-old college student were both shot and killed by Chicago police Saturday morning. And another person was shot and critically wounded by police. The police involved shootings all happened within a 12 hour time period.

According to reports, the father of 19-year-old Quintonio LeGrier called police saying his son was threatening him with a baseball bat. When police arrived, the father in an upstairs appartment called to his downstairs neighbor, Bettie Jones and asked her to open the door for police. When 55-year-old Jones opened the door, witnesses said Quintonio came running down the stairs. Police opened fire, killing both Bettie Jones and Quintonio LeGrier.

The police department released a statement saying, “upon arrival, officers were confronted by a combative subject resulting in the discharging of the officer’s weapon which fatally wounded two individuals.” The statement continued, “the 55 year old female victim was accidentally struck and tragically killed. The department extends it’s deepest condolences to the victim’s family and friends.”

“He was having a mental situation” said Quintonio’s mother, Janet Cooksey. “Sometimes he would get a little loud, but not violent.” Cooksey went on to say she saw her son on Christmas but after the shooting, viewed his body at the hospital and that Quintonio was shot 7 times.

For their work protecting and serving the citizens of Chicago, the police involved in the shootings will be placed on desk duty for 30 days while an investigation into the shooting proceeds.

 

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