Four stories involving police officers have piqued my interest this weekend. The first is the police officer out of Dallas, Texas, whom the media wanted us to believe entered an apartment she thought was her own, saw someone who shouldn’t be there, and shot him dead. Unfortunately, the apartment belonged to the person she shot dead. As I write this column early Monday morning, the 10th day of September, the officer has been arrested and charged with manslaughter. I can’t wait for more details to come out because this case smells to high heaven!
The other police news story going across social media involved the white guy who stood on top of a police car. He stomped on it. He broke the lights at the top. He even sat down and kicked in the rear window. All the while he kept up his antics, not once did I see a police officer pull out their gun or their taser. When he was finally apprehended, he was neither tased nor shot in the process. Such glaring examples of police tolerance at one level and intolerance at the next helps to further eradicate any understanding between an oppressed community and the controlling police force.
But now many people have learned of the story of the young girl who went into a Kroger store in Cincinnati and began to shoplift. She was accompanied by two of her friends. First they shoplifted a book bag and then proceeded to put stolen merchandise into it. When spotted by store security and an off-duty police officer, they ran. He gave chase, and pulled out his taser. He managed to hit the fleeing girl in the back. It turns out the girl is 11 years old.
The cop chastised the girl, but what goes viral is the fact that she is 11 and he tased her. I am quite disturbed that a lot of the conversations have moved away from the fact that that young girl is already stealing at age 11. She had over $50 worth of things in the book bag. Instead the emphasis has been on ignoring the crime, while lamenting the police officer’s decision to use his taser. His decision was wrong. The reality is that we live in a world where that type of behavior can lead to death. Social Services need to immediately intervene with that family. The mother of the 11-year-old when speaking about the situation referred to her daughter’s actions as “not cool.” That mother obviously comes from the school of MDM: Modern Day Mamas. When I was 11, if I had stolen $50 worth of stuff, I would rather be tased than allow my mother to get to me. My mother’s notion of “not cool” would be my butt burning!
Lastly the question has to be asked? Did Maywood have its own version of the Laquan McDonald shooting this weekend? Late Sunday night a video began to surface. In the video, you can see something going on between a young black guy and a white officer. The guy runs away and the officer shoots. I counted 14 gunshots. The young man drops.
As we go to press, the condition of the person who was shot is unknown to me. However, whatever would cause a person to believe he could outrun somebody with a gun is beyond belief!
It is no secret that there is a skin color disparity involving criminal activity and police response. As a community we need to focus on eliminating the former while continuously addressing the latter!
