14 Times Cops Weren't Held Accountable For The Death Of Black Victims

mercredi 27 juillet 2016

It was announced Wednesday that charges against the three remaining officers waiting to stand trail in the death of Freddie Gray were dropped.

Gray, 25, died on April 12, 2015, a week after he sustained severe spinal cord injuries during an arrest. His death, which was ruled a homicide, prompted a series of protests that rocked Baltimore, and many other parts of the country.

On Wednesday, similar outrage resurfaced over the lack of accountability for Gray’s death. Sadly, the anger is a familiar feeling for those who have witnessed the repeated acquittal of cops who have been involved in the unjust killings of black men and women, often over prosecutors claims of “lack of evidence.”

Time and again, the nation has mourned the loss of black lives and taken to the streets and social media to demand both an end to these killings and accountability for those involved. Here are 13 other cases where officers have escaped prosecution and walked away free.

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Patrick Dorismond, 26, was killed by undercover cops while he was waiting for a taxi outside of a New York City bar in 2000. A scuffle ensued after the cops approached him and asked to buy drugs. Witnesses said police didn't reveal themselves until after one cop fired his gun. The officer who pulled the trigger was cleared of criminal charges.
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Sean Bell, 23, was shot and killed in Queens, New York just hours before his wedding in 2006 by four plainclothes officers and an undercover detective. Only three out of five of the detectives involved in his killing went to trial. They were all found not guilty of all charges.
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Aiyana Stanley-Jones, 7, was asleep when she was shot and killed by Detroit police officer Joseph Weekley during a raid on the wrong home in 2010. Weekley was charged of involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment with a gun. The first trial ended in a mistrial in 2013. He was cleared of his involuntary manslaughter charge during a retrial in 2013 and cleared of the remaining charge in 2015.
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Kenneth Chamberlain was fatally shot by White Plains, New York police after he inadvertently triggered his medical alert necklace while he was home alone in 2011. Cops demanded the 68-year-old retired Marine open the door. He refused, telling them he didn't need help. Police broke down the door, Tasered him and shot him. A grand jury declined to indict the officer that killed him.
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Officer Richard Haste shot Ramarley Graham, 18, in the bathroom of his grandmother's New York City apartment in 2012. Haste entered the home despite not having a warrant. There are still many unanswered questions revolving around his death, especially since there were no witnesses. Haste was charged with manslaughter but the charge was later dropped.
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Rekia Boyd, 22, was killed when an off-duty Chicago detective, Dante Servin, fired five shots at a group in a dark alley in 2012. One of the bullets hit Boyd in the head and she died. Servin claimed his life was in danger and said one person in the group pointed a weapon at him. Servin did not tell the group he was a detective before he fired. Though his actions were "beyond reckless," according to the judge, Servin was found not guilty on all charges.
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Eric Garner, 43, said "I can't breathe" 11 times while NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo held him in a chokehold in July 2014 after accusing him of selling loose cigarettes. Garner's encounter with the police was caught on camera, yet a grand jury did not indict Pantaleo. The man who recorded the last moments of Garner's life, however, has been sentenced to four years in prison on unrelated charges.
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When former Ferguson cop Darren Wilson fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown six times, his dead body lay in the street for four hours on August 9, 2014. Brown's death resulted in civil unrest and eventually led to the revelation of corruption within the city's government. The Justice Department decided not to prosecute former Ferguson cop Darren Wilson.
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Tamir Rice, 12, was playing with a toy gun at a park in Cleveland when he was killed in November 2014. Two officers responded to a call that a man had a pistol, though the 911 dispatcher didn't relay that the caller said the gun was "probably fake." Before the car came to a complete halt, Officer Timothy Loehmann jumped out of the car and shot the child in his torso. He later stated that it looked like Rice was reaching towards a gun in his waistband. Loehmann did not face charges.
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John Crawford III was shot and killed in a Beavercreek, Ohio Wal-Mart after police responded to a report that he was waving a gun and pointing it at other customers in 2014. Crawford, who was actually holding a BB gun which was sold at that store, was shot when police arrived. The cops involved weren't charged in the 22-year-old's death.
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Jerame Reid, 36, was shot and killed by Bridgeton, New Jersey police during a traffic stop in 2014. Reid exited the passenger side of the car with his hands up. Cops told him not to move; they allege there was a gun in the glove compartment. On a dashcam recording, Reid is heard saying “I ain’t got no reason to reach for nothing" right before Officer Braheme Days shot him. Days was not indicted for the shooting.
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In 2014, Jason Harris, a 38-year-old man who was mentally ill, was shot five times in front of his mother by Dallas police only moments after they told him to drop a screwdriver he was holding. His mother has called the police initially to request their help in getting him to the hospital because he had stopped taking his meds. Harris was dead seconds after answering the door. A Texas grand jury decided not to indict the officers involved.
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None of the six officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray, 26, who sustained a severe spinal injury and fell into a coma while being transported in a police van on April 12, 2015 in Baltimore, were found guilty. He died a week after his arrest. After the first three officers -- including the driver and the highest-ranking officer -- were acquitted in their individual cases, charges against the remaining officers were dropped.