Crutcher's Ground Case Study

“From that point on,” after witnessing the body—and Mamie’s courage—“Mississippi began to move” (Bush 3). On July 2nd 1964, John F. Kennedy signed the civil rights act into law. Now, This was meant to be a turning point in history and the act of gunning down a black youth became a staple case of racism considering it was the case that led to the enactment of the Civil Rights Act. However, within the emergence of this new racism, “African American males between the ages of 15 and 34 comprised more than 15% of all deaths logged in 2015 by investigation into the use of deadly force by police” (Swaine 1) even though African American males only make up 2% of the population. From Emmett Till’s gunning down in 1955 to Walter Scott’s in 2015, we are witnessing history repeat itself when America can clearly see, “of course the evidence is not there, but we are still claiming skin color was not a factor” (Crump 2). The city of North Charleston, S.C., was all too willing to accept the officer’s version of events, even though the physical evidence clearly showed that the officer had landed four out of eight bullets in Scott’s

Paula Austin, addresses police brutality and their relationship with guns. She opens up her discussion by providing us with images of newspaper articles that demonstrate the image of police brutality. She then goes further in depth and illustrates the increase in gun kills demonstrated by the police force. She provides us with statistical data on the increase in deaths caused by police through guns. Moreover, she then draws the connection between police and race. She addresses to us on how African Americans are way more targeted against by police than any other race. She provides us with the most recent example of “ Stephon Clark” an unarmed black man who was killed by police on the notion that he was “armed”. She then examines this event and illustrates the further connection towards guns and

On a Wednesday evening at 9:05pm in Minnesota, an African American couple was driving in their car with a four-year-old daughter in the back seat. After being pulled aside by Joronimo Yanez, a police officer, for a broken tail light, Philando Castile, the driver, stopped his car. Officer Yanez asked Castile for his license and registration. Castile handed the officer his car license and registration, but also told him he has a weapon in his car, for which he was licensed to carry. Officer Yanez immediate words were “Don’t move!” As Castile put his hands up where the officer could clearly see them, officer Yanez shot him repeatedly four times in the arm to the horror of Castile, his girlfriend, and their four-year-old daughter. Completely stupefied by the event, Castile’s girlfriend, Reynolds, took out her phone and began streaming an online video directly to Facebook showing the immediate aftermath of the incident. In the video, Reynolds narrates the accident’s story and exclaimed, “You shot four bullets into him, sir. He was just getting his license and registration, sir. Please don’t tell me he’s dead.” While recording, her four-years-old asked “Mammy, I’m scarred!” Reynolds answered, “It’s okay, I’m right here with you.” Officer Yanez returned and ordered Reynolds on her knees out of the car. Still being recorded, the other officers on the scene asked officer Yanez of his mindset, checking if he’s ok, completing ignoring the true victim, Castile. Castile was left bleeding

Walter Scott’s shooting by a police officer in April 2015 defines the racism in the American policing from a new perspective. In the incident, 33-year-old American police officer Michael Slager shot Walter Scott eight times in the back when Scott tried to run away from him. Slager had asked Scott to pull over because of some issues in the taillight of the car. Slager claimed before the court that he had to take this action because Scott had taken away his taser, and he was afraid that Scott might be a threat to his own life. However, later evidence from Feidin Santana, a passerby, revealed to the media a video that Santana had shot at the time of this incident. In this video, it was evident that Slager and Scott indulged in a little brawl before Scott tried to run away. Slager had his taser intact because the video clarifies that while tackling the dead body of Scott, Slager was seen handling his taser - it was not in the victim 's hands. Slager was dismissed with immediate effect from his post, and he was accused of murder (Infobase). The injustice of Walter Scott 's death clearly demonstrates that it is crucial for all police officers to wear body cameras. Police officers in body cameras will prevent violence between officers and civilians, hold officers accountable for inappropriate behavior, and serve as on-hand evidence for future judicial actions.

A young man’s brutal death at the hands of the police is found justified in a court of law due to his “suspicious” appearance: a black hoodie and his hands in his pocket. An elderly woman is fatally shot in her home for her relation to a suspected criminal. A married man with two toddlers is choked to death after a minor traffic stop by an officer who later claimed that his unarmed victim was wielding a gun. These people all have a few commonalities: the color of their skin, their presumed guilt at first sight, and their ultimate unjustified death administered by the law force. These are not uncommon occurrences. Due to the staggeringly disproportionate rate of African-Americans killed by the police, and the underlying rampant racial profiling, police brutality towards blacks in America must be called to light.

On July 13th, 2015, Sandra Bland, a 28-year old African-American female, was found dead in a jail cell in Walker, County Texas. Bland was pulled over for a minor traffic violation three days prior. With the release of the official dash cam that shows unnecessary violence, this case became a topic of interest to the American public as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation. There has been an increase in incidents where police officers have been known to use more brutal and often excessive force when detaining individuals of a certain race. Over the last few months, the topic of racial profiling has been a highlight in the media. The Center for Constitutional Rights, CCR, created the Impact of Stop and Frisk Campaign, aimed to educate

Did you know that about 88 percent of all Stop and Frisk incidents result in finding the victim to be “clean” meaning ruled completely innocent without cause for an arrest? Remember this statistic and several others that I give you, because they are alarming. Currently, the Stop and Frisk situation in the United States seems to be at a crossroad. The Stop and Frisk practice originated during the 1950’s, when crime rates were at an all-time high within cities. The purpose of this practice was to help eliminate crime off the streets within these major inner cities. This practice was used by law enforcement during a time where racial segregation and racial tension began to build up; and a feud between black citizens and white law enforcement grew rapidly. Unfortunately, we still today live in a world where individuals often times find themselves in the middle of a “wrongdoing” in the eyes of the law enforcement. The results of these situations through history have not always turned fatal, but recently it seems that the end result from these situations do so. How many of you are aware of the incident that occurred between Eric Garner, a 43-year-old black Staten Island male, and the New York Police Department (NYPD)? For those of you who are not, victim Eric Garner was approached by the NYPD under the suspicion of selling untaxed cigarettes. This led to a Stop and Frisk altercation between

I am concerned with the issue on police officers killing unarmed African American men. The information that I gathered for this letter should be brought to your attention because police officers should not be getting away with killing innocent people. In society you hear and see many unarmed African American men getting killed by police officers. We never hear or see the police officer getting charged with anything for committing the crime. The Terence Crutcher case in Tulsa Oklahoma is an example of a police officer killing an innocent African American man. The footage of Terence walking with his hands up in the air showed that he was compliant with the officers. There was no footage of Terence trying to harm anyone, but the officer still managed to shoot him. According to the source of information that I am using in this letter, it stated that Terence didn’t have a criminal record, and the only thing that was on file was an old traffic violation (Unarmed man killed by Tulsa Police 2016, p.1). Numerous cases that deal with a police officer killing an unarmed man was because they viewed

Granderson writes in several story highlights he's been repeatedly stopped, and hassled by police for no good reason, as a result, he reports -Trayvon Martin's shooting shows similar injustice, which is, he says,- it has echoes of how police handled Amadou Diallo case, Rodney King, Sean Bell. Lastly, he reports by far the predominant reason, LZ says, Cover ups, lax investigations show black people why they can't trust police (Granderson, 2012). McKay, (2015), shows an appalling video exposing how the police really treat black teens in America. The video uncovers why black Americans are more likely to be restrained with a lethal weapon as opposed to a non-lethal weapon. The results of McKay research also show how American activists have decided to challenge Congress to administratively address the deprivation of Rights under the color of Law Statute (McKay,

On March 5, 2016 Earledreka White, a black 28-year old social worker, was pulled over by a Metro Police officer in Huston, Texas for crossing the double white line. During this incident White was placed in handcuffs and charged with resisting arrest and search, a misdemeanor that carries a potential six-month sentence, and jailed for two days on $1,000 bond. Later on in the case White’s attorney released the surveillance video that shows the arrest with the 911 call playing as it unfolds. While watching the surveillance video I was shocked to see the treatment White was receiving for a traffic stop and the way the metro police officer handled the situation. Before this incident White had no criminal record, but the police officer treated her

On July 28, an eighteen-year-old black male named Paul O’Neal was driving a stolen vehicle when he was chased down, shot, and killed by police after a heavy car and foot pursuit. The collection of an ABC7 News written report (“Paul O’Neal Chicago,” 2016) along with police body and vehicle dashboard cameras gives a clear picture of what took place. Indeed, there were a number of psychological concepts at play during the incident, and it is crucial for authorities and the public to understand the extent to which the human mind and body are, at times, inevitably predisposed to these phenomena.

Kaepernick began his silent, kneeling protest at the beginning of last season, not as an assault against the United States military or the flag but as a dissent against a system that has, with a great degree of consistency, failed to hold accountable police who kill unarmed citizens. Since he did this, forty-one unarmed individuals have been fatally shot by police in the United States, twelve of them African-American, according to a database maintained by the Washington Post. The city of St. Louis recently witnessed three days of protests after the acquittal of Jason Stockley, the former officer who, while still working for the city’s police force, fatally shot Anthony Smith, an eighteen-year-old African-American motorist who had led officers on a chase. Stockley emerged from his vehicle, having declared that he would “kill the motherfucker,” then proceeded to fire five rounds into the car. Later, a firearm was found on the seat of Smith’s car, but the weapon bore only Stockley’s DNA. The issue is not imaginary.

In the article, “Police, Protesters Clash In St. Louis After Police Shooting,” police a young black teen by the name of Michael Brown was gunned down by an off-duty officer. The officer said the teen had fired off several rounds from a stolen 9mm Ruger, but the family of the gunned down teenager denies he was armed. The department of police notes the officer fire 17 consecutive rounds before his gun had jammed. I believe this assault by the officer was institutionalized by the fact that most black teens are seen as potentially dangerous criminals in the white man’s criminal

In a recent case, in South Carolina, Sean Groubert, a trooper, was at a gas station and he asked Levar Jones for his driver’s license. Jones was tapping his back pocket to see if it was there and then he reached into his SUV. Groubert immediately got out of his car and shouted “Get out of the car”. He shot Levar Jones several times. After Jones was shot, he asked “why did you shoot me?” He clearly stated at the end of the dashcam video that “He told me to get my license, I reached for my license and he shot me”. What astonishes me the most is that Jones was apologizing when he was clearly the victim. If Jones was a white guy this wouldn’t have happened. When you are a minority, you have to say I am reaching for the glove box when a cop pulls you over or else you might get shot. This is a

Racism is a prominent social issue that has existed for decades. However, incidents such as the shooting of Michael Brown, the deaths of Eric Garner and Tamir Rice have brought the issue of racism back into the light. Today, this issue is a national focus among both black and white communities. In the midst of these massacres, many white people argue that segregation no longer exists and that the life of an unarmed twelve year old African American boy was not lost because of his skin color. Yet, those who are constantly experiencing redundant confrontations with the police because of their race argue differently. It is often voluntary ignorance that causes a white person to argue that it’s okay for a black person or Latino to get stopped by the police if they look “suspicious”.