editorial
BY BRONX TIMES
How many more times must a Black
person be shot and killed by a police
offi cer in America before this country
fully realizes that something has gone
terribly wrong?
Daunte Wright, 20, joined the list of
casualties Sunday night when a police
offi cer shot and killed him in a “routine”
traffi c stop in suburban Minneapolis,
Minnesota. The offi cer who pulled
the trigger on him claimed it was a
tragic mistake; she allegedly thought
she had pulled out her Taser, not her
gun.
A Glock handgun, similar to that
which the offi cer had, weighs 34 ounces
of heavy metal; by comparison, a Taser,
made largely of plastic, weighs just
eight ounces. The weight difference
alone makes the offi cer’s claim almost
implausible.
Even if this incident was merely a
tragic mistake, as the offi cer claims, it
proves her incompetence as a police offi
cer — and she should no longer be on
the force. But the fi rst instinct to draw
her gun, rather than her Taser, seemed
to subconsciously say it all.
FILE PHOTO: Protesters rally outside Brooklyn Center Police Department as it is guarded by members of the police and National Guard, a
day after Daunte Wright was shot and killed by a police offi cer, in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, U.S. April 12, 2021.
REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo
Police unions and their supporters
in government have bristled at
any new governance of police. In New
York, they’ve seethed at attempts to restrict
the use of chokeholds and ending
qualifi ed immunity, which effectively
protects cops from being sued for civil
rights violations.
But this case — along with other
high-profi le police deaths such as
George Floyd and Breonna Taylor —
further underscores the urgent need
for police reform in America, and in
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, A 12 PR. 16-22, 2021 BTR
New York.
There must be a culture change
within law enforcement that ensures
“equal justice under law” for every
American. In this moment of time, we
shouldn’t have to live in a society where
families of color have to give “the talk”
to their children as to how to behave in
interacting with police, lest they risk
being shot.
No person in this country should get
behind the wheel thinking that if they
get pulled over for an infraction, they
may not live to drive away. It is this
scenario that causes further anxiety
among Black and Brown Americans,
and further distrust in offi cers sworn
to protect and serve them.
The answer is not to tell them not to
be anxious or mistrustful.
The answer is to eliminate the anxiety
and mistrust by reforming police
departments to protect citizens and offi
cers alike — and to get rid of any offi
cer incapable or unwilling to equally
protect and serve.
More than
a mistake
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