Sadly, it has come time to update this post.
On Jan. 29, 2010, it was Aaron Campbell, 25, who was shot while walking backwards towards police with his hands locked behind his head. Campbell had been suicidal over the death of his younger brother, and his girlfriend’s aunt had called the police to do a welfare check on the family knowing Campbell’s mental state and the fact that he owned a gun. The city of Portland settled a civil rights lawsuit relating to his death for $1.2 million. Initially, the officer who killed Campbell, Ron Frashour, was deemed to have used “inappropriate force" and was fired from the Portland police force. However, the Portland Police Association appealed the ruling and won. The city of Portland was ordered to reinstate Frashour. Portland Mayor Sam Adams decided to reinstate Frashour, pay him nearly 2 years of back pay, and place him on paid leave…all while he fought the ruling to reinstate Frashour to his job in the first place. Frashour never faced any criminal charges.
On June 5, 2010, it was Tyrone Brown, 32, who was shot by an off-duty police officer with his service weapon after a confrontation outside a club. Brown had apologized was attempting to walk away from the confrontation when he was shot six times.
On February 11, 2011, it was Travis McNeil, 28, who was shot in the head during a traffic stop when he reached to retrieve a fallen cell phone. His passenger, Kareem Williams, was also wounded in the incident. While the officer who shot McNeil and Williams was fired, he was cleared of any criminal acts and he never faced any charges.
On July 18, 2011, it was Alonzo Ashley, 29, who was killed when police at the Denver Zoo tasered him. He was trying to cool his head under a water fountain when security guards told him to stop. Ashley became “agitated" and police were called. While the death was ruled a homicide by the medical examiner, no charges were filed against the eight officers involved.
On March 24, 2012, it was Kendrec McDade, 19, who was shot in Pasadena, CA after two officers who were responding to a report of a robbery began to chase him. After one officer had already shot McDade, the other shot him again. He had nothing but a cell phone in his pocket. Prosecutors ruled the shooting was justified.
Also on March 24, 2012, it was Ervin Jefferson, 18, this time in Atlanta, GA. Jefferson was shot by two security guards while trying to protect his sister. The guards were arrested for impersonating police officers, but I was unable to find any information on charges relating to Ervin’s death.
On September 2, 2012, it was Mario Romero, 23, who was shot by police officers while sitting in a car outside of his own home. Officers pulled up to the car and shined their lights into it, ordering Romero and his passenger, brother-in-law Joseph Johnson, 21, to put up their hands, though they never identified themselves as police. The police claim that Johnson put his hands up but that Romero opened the car door and appeared to be exiting. The cops maintain that they saw a gun in Romero’s waistband as he was exiting while simultaneously claiming that their view of Romero was obscured by the open car door. However, a witness to the shooting, Cynquita Martin, Romero’s sister, said the officers never gave the men a chance to put their hands up and began shooting immediately after ordering them to put their hands up. The shooting was ruled as "self-defense."
On November 29, 2012, it was Timothy Russell, 43, and Malissa Williams, 30, who died after 13 officers fired 137 rounds into their car after a chase. Radio chatter during the chase had warned the driver was “waving a gun" out of the car window, but no gun or shell casings were ever found either in the car or on the chase route. 12 of the 13 officers who opened fire were white.
On March 9, 2013, it was Kimani Gray, 16, who was shot by NYPD officers after they saw him “acting suspiciously." While a .38-caliber pistol was recovered from the scene, witnesses stand by their claim that Kimani had no gun.
Sadly, I could keep going. The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement has identified 313 extrajudicial killings of Black people in 2012 alone. In 44% of these cases, the victim had no weapon on their person at the time of their death.
How many names did I miss? How many more names are we going to have to add to the list? What will it take for us to wake up? How much more blood will be spilled before we own up to the fact that racism is still alive and well in America, that being “colorblind" has not worked to stop the death and the pain?
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