Source: http://news.yahoo.com/2-reports-officers-shooting-ohio-boy-justified-000036314.html
The murder of a 12 year old boy caused national outcry last year, especially in the light of recent race issues. Tamir Rice was 12 years old when he was seen carrying a toy gun and a white, rookie Cleveland police officer pulled up and fatally shot him. A video was even released, showing the officer shoot the child only 2 seconds after pulling up. Apparently, a gun threat was called into the station, but no mention was made of wether or not the gun could be fake or that the "man" was only 12 years old. A Denver prosecutor and a retired FBI agent reviewed the case and labelled it justified. They said that, because he was a rookie officer and Tamir was carrying a pellet gun, there was reason to be a threat.
I think an important word in this article is "rookie". This was a rookie police officer. Why is the new guy on the job trusted with a gun? Why is he responding to gun threats? Despite the fact that this is also obviously a race issue, that is just a major flaw of the system. Fun fact: it takes more training to become a certified hairstylist than a police officer. Is that not alarming? And then we get to the video. This officer shot the boy 2 seconds after he pulled up. No exchange of words, no checking to see if the gun was actually real, just murder in cold blood. Though this is obviously a race issue, it's hard to prove that in court, so this murder is essentially justified because the officer was a rookie. In that case, I think it's the fault of the station. Send a new guy out, and a child is murdered. I think there's a large lesson to be learned here, but it seems no one is taking the hint.
If it was either colored or black with an orange tip, then there's no excuse for this. However, if the kid had sharpied over his gun or something (as many kids do without knowing the purpose of an orange tip, I even did it myself once when I was 11), then maybe there was an actual purpose to it. This probably was not the case though, as racism is a very real and prevalent problem facing our country today, centered largely around the actions of "peace" officers. Hopefully, these toy gun situations will no longer result in the deaths of African-American children by police officers (as they have in the past). -Jack Higgins 6th period
ReplyDeleteIncidents like this are completely preventable... Why the officer felt the need to shoot a twelve year old is beyond my comprehension, especially if the kid wasn't even pointing the "gun" at the officer. -Sophie Kurzius (8th)
ReplyDeleteEven if the police officer had suspected that the "boy" was a threat, he should have made wiser decisions. He could have checked the situation more carefully and found out more information about what was really going on. It's unsettling to know that the qualifications to become a police officer is so low. Putting guns in the hands of just anyone is dangerous for the entire community, and "rookies" should not really exist on the job.
ReplyDeleteJasmine Rodriguez Period 4