Lost in the Margins (9/29/15): A Delaware councilman and a local NAACP are calling for a federal investigation into the death of Jeremy McDole. Police were called out to respond to a report that a man shot himself in a parking lot. When they arrived, they found McDole bleeding in his wheelchair. Multiple officers fired at least 10 shots into Jeremy, claiming his was waving a gun at them menacingly. Witness videos challenged this narrative (warning, the video features very graphic images) however, showing a clearly injured McDole without a gun and struggling with commands. Police begun to revise their account of what occurred. On Monday, they announced finding a gun by his side, instead of in his hands, and have just stopped short of saying “he got what he asked for.”
McDole sits at a unique intersection often ignored in the conversation on police brutality: violence against people who are potentially suffering through a mental illness and those who are a living with a physical disability. He also is one on a growing list of people who the police were originally called out to help, but instead were killed (like James Anderson several days later). These victims of state violence are often the most convenient to label as worthy of lethal force, as many do in fact have a weapon. However, even when police are aware of the potential mental state of these citizens, they do nothing to adjust their approach/tactics. In essence, people like McDole are doubly pathologized, not just for being black but for also being sick. More must be done to uplift the stories of Tanisha Anderson, Janisha Fonville, Lavall Hall, James Anderson, and countless others who have been stolen from us. Rest in Power. We fight for you now too. #staywoke #farfromover
McDole was also killed on the same day as unarmed 19-year old Keith McLeod (who was murdered by police after pointing his fingers like a gun).
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