Police fired at unarmed Black man 20 times because he was holding a cell phone
Source: Think Progress
The two officers fired at 22-year-old Stephan Clark 20 times, claiming they believed he had a gun.
MELANIE SCHMITZ
MAR 21, 2018, 12:32 PM
A unarmed Black man was shot by two police officers in Sacramento, California this weekend, after officers said they believed their lives were in danger because the man was holding a cell phone they thought was a gun.
Stephan Clark, 22, was in the backyard of his grandparents house, where he had been living, when officers approached him on Sunday. Police said they were responding to reports that a man had been breaking into cars with a toolbar; deputies in a Sacramento County Sheriffs Department helicopter had informed them that the suspect was allegedly hiding in a backyard and pointed them in Clarks direction.
When officers confronted Clark, they saw the cellphone in his hand and opened fire, discharging their weapons at least 20 times.
The officers believed the suspect was pointing a firearm at them, Sacramento police said in a statement afterward. Fearing for their safety, the officers fired their duty weapons striking the suspect multiple times.
Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/police-shoot-black-man-cell-phone-f29ffb8714e5/
d_r
(6,907 posts)look, i know people like to start taking video of police but probably should not at this point if you are the one they are targeting
Ohiogal
(31,929 posts)wonder why some athletes kneel before the American flag.
marble falls
(57,014 posts)its time to change the law and start jailing cops.
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(107,766 posts)marble falls
(57,014 posts)Unarmed Black Woman Shot and Killed by Chicago Police Officer Less Than a Month After Trayvon Martin Shooting
Friday, April 06, 2012 By Rania Khalek, Truthout | News Analysis
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Rekia BoydRekia Boyd."Her death certificate says killed by police, but I feel like my sister was murdered," says Martinez Sutton, whose 22-year-old little sister, Rekia Boyd, was shot in the head by an off-duty Chicago detective on Wednesday, March 21. She died the following day at Mount Sinai Hospital.
Boyd's death comes less than a month after the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, leaving many troubled by the regularity with which unarmed people of color are shot, particularly by individuals claiming self-defense. And for those left grieving, the failure of authorities to hold the shooter accountable is the greatest injustice of all.
In the case of Boyd, Chicago police almost immediately echoed the account of the off-duty detective responsible for her death. Police say the officer in question drove up to a group of people in Chicago's Douglas Park around 1 AM on Wednesday, March 21, to investigate a disturbance near his home. He rolled down his window and asked them to quiet down at which point police say 39-year-old Antonio Cross pulled out a gun forcing the detective to open fire in self-defense, hitting Cross in the hand and striking Boyd in the head.
But neighbors, witnesses and Cross paint a vastly different picture. Cross told WGN News that he was unarmed and on his cell phone at the time of the shooting. When Cross asked why the officer shot him, he says the officer's response was, "I thought your phone was a gun." Cross has since been charged with a misdemeanor of aggravated assault.
Local news outlets initially reported that police failed to recover Cross' alleged weapon. However, Police would not confirm or deny this to Truthout and referred all further questions to the Chicago Independent Police Review Authority (IRPA), the outside body tasked with handling the investigation. The IPRA's Deputy Chief Administrator William Weeden declined to comment on any details as well, saying, "We cannot comment on an open and ongoing investigation."
Rekia Boyd's older brothers, Martinez Sutton and Darian Boyd, told Truthout that their family has received no explanation or even condolences from the Chicago Police Department. "We've made multiple attempts to contact them and even asked news stations to please contact them since they won't talk to us," said Darian Boyd, adding, "It just makes it that much harder to deal with the grief."
Darian Boyd said it was both maddening and heartbreaking to hear Police Superintendent Gary McCarthy call the shooting "justified" in an interview with WGN without any mention of his sister on the very day she died in the hospital from a gunshot wound to the head.
According to Sutton, the only encounter the family has had with police since the shooting was when they came to his home, where Rekia lived, to notify him that his sister was injured. "The police came to my house and told me 'Your sister has been involved in a crime. She's been shot in the head and she's in critical condition.' They gave me no information besides the name and number of the hospital and said 'we're sorry' and walked away."
no_hypocrisy
(46,038 posts)Shot in the vestibule of his home while reaching for his wallet to show identification when police demanded it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Amadou_Diallo
Baconator
(1,459 posts)... only because it's the opposite of what we have here.
Video from two angles looks like a cold-blooded killing by police and only on a 3rd video angle can you see the weapon.
Always stuck with me about verifying what I think I see on a screen and being open to alternatives.
Video is NSFW... (because of the shooting)
weissmam
(905 posts)Them selves
and his family should sue until they own the police department
sinkingfeeling
(51,438 posts)man. Why? Are they so trained ? What has changed in the last 30 or 40 years?
One can hardly comprehend a person being shot in their own yard holding a cell phone.
Cal Carpenter
(4,959 posts)It has been happening all along.
poboy2
(2,078 posts)Nitram
(22,768 posts)Fuck!
liberalhistorian
(20,814 posts)between a goddamned cell phone and a gun, then they should not be anywhere near a police force, let alone serving on one.
TheFrenchRazor
(2,116 posts)IronLionZion
(45,380 posts)to get people to think twice about pulling out their phone to record the police
#WhoseLivesMatter?
Igel
(35,282 posts)LiberalFighter
(50,795 posts)If the "good apples" are going to protect the "bad apples" then the "good apples" are no longer "good apples".
Hermit-The-Prog
(33,264 posts)In the article:
Shaun King
After first saying #StephonClark had a gun, then changing it to a crowbar, then admitting he just had a cell phone, we now learn that the Sacramento Police shot this man 20 times in his own backyard.
But Dylann Roof was apprehended peacefully & given a Value Meal.
Is this when we're all supposed to stand, put our hands over our hearts and say, "Blue lives matter"?
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,315 posts)The first thing that came to mind was "what the fuck are these cops doing running around all amped up guns drawn over some broken windows? They are going to get someone killed"
And then it happened.
There's no doubt in my mind we have a race problem in these shootings
But we also have a over trained to shoot at ANYTHING that moves problem. And yeah, I'm sure it's ten times worse in minority neighborhoods. See: racism, over policing and racism
I wonder if ANY poor dude unfortunate to be in these cops' path that night would have come out alive.
See this long version. The news shorter version makes it seem like a quick surprise. I think anyone who crossed these guys path was doomed.
https://m.
Duppers
(28,117 posts)The poor kid DIED!
Damn them. Charge them with murder and sue them.
Judi Lynn
(160,454 posts)Sophia Bollag and Don Thompson, Associated Press
Updated 8:27 pm, Thursday, March 22, 2018
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) Protesters decrying this week's fatal shooting of an unarmed black man marched from Sacramento City Hall and onto a nearby freeway Thursday, disrupting rush hour traffic and holding signs with messages like "Sac PD: Stop killing us!"
Hundreds of people rallied for Stephon Clark, a 22-year-old who was shot Sunday in the backyard of his grandparents' home. Police say they feared he had a handgun when they confronted him after reports that he had been breaking windows in the South Sacramento neighborhood.
But police found only a cellphone.
"We are at a place of deep pain" because of recent violence directed at black people in Sacramento and elsewhere," said the Rev. Les Simmons, a community leader. He said the city's first black police chief, Daniel Hahn, is doing what he can but protested the actions of Hahn's officers.
More:
https://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Protest-planned-shooting-Stephon-Clark-Sacramento-12772423.php