Police Brutality and Its Impact on African American Citizens
It is ironical that the law enforcement agencies mandated by the law to protect American citizens are the same orchestrators behind the killings of some of the citizens they swore to protect. Police brutality in the United States is not news anymore, the extent at which police brutalize and even kill the same citizens they are entitled to protect is a worrying trend that faces the criminal justice system in America. African American citizens are the most affected by police brutality and most cases of police harassment or killing of individuals trace back to African Americans. Studies also indicate that African American males are at the receiving ends of most killings and brutality by the law enforcers. This is based on the assumption created in the American society that African Americans as mostly criminals and that most of them engage in illegal activities such as drug trafficking and other organized crime. As much as these stereotypes might hold some truth, it does not warrant a law enforcement officer shooting an unarmed citizen on the basis that he/she is of black origin. This is because not all African Americans are criminals or engage in illegal activity. The law stipulates that unless a suspect is armed and possess a threat to the law enforcer, a law enforcement officer is not expected to shoot with an intention of killing the suspect. All suspects to any illegal or criminal activity according to the United States constitution are subject to trial and subsequent sentencing if found guilty of any illegality or criminal activity hence shooting a suspect regardless of his color or race is immoral, unethical and unwarranted for. This paper therefore analyzes the killing of an African American male as well as suggest possible situation to handling this worrying trend.
Philando Castile: A Victim of Police Brutality
On July 6, 2016, Philando Castile, a 32-year old black American was pulled over and killed by Jeronimo Yanez, a policer officer attached to St. Anthony Minnesota police. The incident sparked protests over the streets of Minnesota which also attracted global attention with people condemning the shooting. The victim is said to have been driving in Falcon Heights before he was fatally shot and killed by the law enforcer. Castile is said to have been in the company of his wife and their four-year old daughter when he was pulled over by Yanez who was also in the company of another officer. It is said that Yanez had asked Castile to produce his driver’s license and in response to the officer’s inquiries, Castile had admitted that he had a firearm with him. Yanez had them ordered him not to reach out for the firearm and the response that Castile gave was that he had no intentions of reaching out for the gun. As Castile was reaching out for his driver’s license presumably from the car’s dashboard, he was shot seven times by Yanez and ended up succumbing to the gunshot wounds. The shooting that took place at around 9.00 pm was so brutal that it only took 37 minutes for the victim to succumb to the gunshot wounds he had suffered as reports from the County’s Medical Examiner indicates that the victim met his death at around 9.37 pm (Mitch, 2017). The video shot by Reynolds, Castile’s wife records the immediate aftermath of the shooting.
The Need for Justifiable Force in Law Enforcement
Castile’s shooting by a law enforcement officer is just one in many of the brutal killings of African American males in the United States. Yanez argument that the reason he and his colleague had stopped Castile’s car for question was that Castile resembled a robbery with violence suspect with a “Wide-nose” who had been engaged in the crime two days prior to the shooting. This is a lame reason to not only to suspect someone because of his appearance but to shoot him based on such baseless accusations is even more brutal. Borrowing from Castile’s family attorney, if at all the interception of Castile’s car was aimed at stopping a suspect linked to a robbery with violence case, it would have not been a normal traffic stop to confirm the suspects driving license and insurance instead it would have been a felony traffic stop where the suspect is subjected to a gunpoint stop and surrender.
Ensuring Fairness and Justice in Law Enforcement
This case raises eyebrows on the circumstances that a police enforcement has a right to shoot with an intention of killing a suspect. Under no circumstances is a law enforcement officer entitled to shooting a suspect who has identified himself/herself and declared having possession of a licensed firearm. Castile’s act of declaring his possession of a firearm can be deemed in good faith and that he had no intentions of firing the gun at the officer. It is also advisable for any firearm older once intercepted by a law enforcer to declare his possession of the firearm so as to erase any suspicion that he/she might be a criminal if he/she is later found to be in possession of the firearm by the officer. If Castile had not declared having a firearm and upon being frisked by the officer, he is found with the firearm and in response he tries to threaten the officer using the firearm, then maybe the officer’s action could be deemed as a self-defense reaction (Pat " Claude, 2016).
The Importance of Accountability and Punishment
The issue that this case presents is that we are not sure if the victim, Castile had actually reached out for his gun as the law enforcer who shot at him insinuates. This is because the only evidence to the case is the video recording the aftermath of the shooting. This however does not grant the law enforcer the right to shoot the individual as it is against to legal code of conduct of law enforcers to shoot with an intention of killing a suspect who is perceived at the time of the incident to be unarmed. Shooting the person seven times on the arm and chest cannot be treated as a way of neutralizing a threat posed by the suspect by it is categorized as shooting with an intention to kill. Reports from the County’s Medical Examiner indicates that Castile’s was short in the arm and two of the gunshots had found the heart of the victim piercing it which is probably why the victim had succumbed to the gunshot injuries. There were therefore other ill intentions of the shooting and basing on the recent rampant cases of shooting of African American males, one would not be wrong if he/she terms this as a racist ac (Martinelli, 2016).
Ensuring Accountability and Justice for Victims
Long-term solutions to end the brutality by law enforcement officers especially on African Americans would only be effective is law enforcers found guilty of such brutality face the full force of the law and treated just like any other criminals. Unfortunately, some of the cases of police brutality end up with the offenders roaming free after charges on them are dropped either by lack of evidence or eye witnesses accounts to pin them down or neglect by investigating agencies. In this case for example, after being charged with three accounts of felonies: second-degree manslaughter on one account and two accounts of dangerous discharge of firearm, surprisingly Yanez was acquitted of all the three charges on June 16, 2017. This shows how acts of brutality by law enforcement end up going unpunished.
References
Martinelli, R. (2016). The truth about the Black Lives Matter movement: And the war on police. Temecula, CA: Martinelli " Associates.
Mitch, S. (2017, June 26). "Philando Castile Family Reaches $3 Million Settlement". The New York Times [New York]. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/26/us/philando-castile-family-settlement.html
Pat, P., " Claude, P. (2016, July 7). Aftermath of fatal Falcon Heights officer-involved shooting captured on video". Star Tribune. Retrieved from http://www.startribune.com/aftermath-of-officer-involved-shooting-captured-on-phone-video/385789251/
