Summary: Yet another shooting of an unarmed African American individual has taken place. On Friday, September 16th Terence Crutcher was fatally shot by police in Tulsa, Oklahoma by white police officials. A statement has been released saying that they found no gun on the man or in his vehicle. It is not yet clear what made the officer decide to shoot Mr. Crutcher, but there is video footage from a police helicopter showing that he was backing away from the officers with his hands above his head. The Tulsa police chief has even stated the the video is "very disturbing".
Analysis: This event is truly appalling. The video is very hard to watch and I would like to warn anyone who wishes to watch it. It has been reported that Mr. Crutcher, "wasn't obeying commands". If that is true, that still doesn't warrant a man getting shot to death. The fact that he was tasered, and then shot makes no sense to me. If he was tasered he would have been stunned and practically defenseless. How then, would the use of an extremely fatal weapon be necessary? This tragic incident leaves me both angry and confused, but sadly, not surprised.
Synthesis: This act of violence by police is just one of many senseless deaths of African American men. It's becoming ridiculous how accustomed we are to hearing about how unarmed men are being murdered in the streets, simply bases on how they look. Such deaths include Trayvon Martin, Micheal Brown, Eric Garner, and hundreds more.
The excuse most commonly used for police to get out of facing charges for these types of deaths is that they under stress due to suspects not cooperating, and they basically blame the victim. So trained officers are allowed to panic when unarmed men resist arrest, but regular citizens aren't allowed to panic when someone starts yelling at them and shoves a gun in their face? Interesting logic.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/09/19/man-fatally-shot-by-tulsa-police-was-unarmed-chief-says-as-disturbing-video-is-released/?utm_term=.922eaa9097ce
I was appalled when I first heard about this incident, but of course, not shocked. This has become such a regular occurrence, I think we are becoming numb to it which is almost scarier. I don't know what we can do as helpless and powerless teenagers in Texas, but we need to something. This violence has got to end.
ReplyDelete-Linnea Soderlund
I really agree with you and Linnea. The amount of stories in the news about police brutality is overwhelming and awful. It's time for a change.
ReplyDeleteThis is terrible. The excuse that police officers who kill innocents are under duress and therefore not responsible for their actions reminds me very much of the "trans panic" and "gay panic" defenses employed by people who have murdered members of the LGBTQ+ community. I believe that it is, in some cases, still a legal grounds of defense. Police officers need to be able to restrain themselves from shooting innocent people (seriously someone who feels compelled to shoot someone after immobilizing them should really not be employed with a job that necessitates ownership of a lethal weapon). Killing people because they freak you out is not okay. Just don't kill people. Especially after immobilizing them. This is ridiculous and utterly abominable.
ReplyDelete-Cal Thompson
Incidents like this are only creating more tension and if something does't change the situation Will escalate.
ReplyDeleteThe whole situation is disgusting, I also wrote about this incident. I am disappointed that even after light has been shed on the issue it still continues to happen.
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