Since 2013, I’ve been adding to the “Justice for…” list of links in the sidebar of this blog.
A set of names, one article per person — almost entirely black people who were killed by police, some people who were severely injured by police, some who were killed by other incidents of reckless violence. All of which got brushed off by a legal system that didn’t think their lives mattered. (Sometimes it came back later and got around to giving them justice. Usually not.)
It’s not comprehensive, and doesn’t try to be. It’s just the ones that I, personally, have read about, and want to be able to remember.
As of starting this post, it has 75 entries. (The sidebar only shows a random subset at a time — you have to refresh for more.)
Here’s some new additions.
“In February 1999, Diallo was returning to his building when four officers, dressed in plain clothes as part of the Street Crime Unit, approached him and fired 41 shots, hitting him 19 times. The officers said they thought he had a gun, which later turned out to be his wallet, and that he fit the “general description” of a serial rapist.” A civil suit was filed, and settled, but it looks like there were no criminal charges, ever. Justice for Amadou Diallo.
2012: “I must call the NYPD to task for the rapid public release of information regarding this victim, which may have taken place before notification of the shooting to her family. They should show greater care in the handling of a sensitive inquiry in its early stages, or at the least provide equity to the balance of facts being released; the record of the shooter, who reportedly has a number of outstanding civil rights complaints himself and carries an unfavorable reputation in the community, should be treated with the same level of consideration as the record of the deceased.” Justice for Shantel Davis.
2016: “Danner discussed the need for more mental health training for police officers and described a deadly scenario with a cop that foreshadowed her final moments alive. ‘We are all aware of the all too frequent news stories about the mentally ill who come up against law enforcement instead of mental health professionals and end up dead,’ she wrote.” Justice for Deborah Danner.
2019 (fallout of a 2016 shooting): “A jury found a gunshot fired by Ofc. Royce Ruby that killed Gaines and injured her then 5-year-old son, Kodi Gaines, was not reasonable. Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge Mickey Norman dismissed the family’s claim, writing in an opinion that Ruby was entitled to qualified immunity.” Justice for Korryn Gaines. And for Kodi Gaines.
2019: “‘He absolutely knew that Taser could not be fired again without her changing the cartridge,’ Turner’s family’s attorney, Ben Crump, told Houston Public Media. ‘And he did not have to use deadly force while she was laying on her back.’” Justice for Pamela Turner.
May 21: “The FBI has opened an investigation into the shooting death of Breonna Taylor, an EMT who was killed after officers forced their way inside her home.” Justice for Breonna Taylor.
June 1: “He fed the police and didn’t charge them nothing. My son was a good son. All he did on that barbecue corner is try to make a dollar for himself and his family. And they come along and they killed my son.” Justice for David McAtee.
June 4: “Justin Howell, a 20-year-old political science student at Texas State, was critically injured after being shot with a bean bag round by a police officer during a protest in Austin on May 31. Howell is currently hospitalized and in critical condition after suffering a fractured skull as well as brain damage.” Justice for Justin Howell.
June 5 (update on an April death): “[British Transport Police] said “there was insufficient evidence to support a prosecution based upon the allegation that the man spat deliberately on [railway worker] Mrs Mujinga or said that he had the virus’.” Meanwhile, people who spit on cops get jailed, even when the officers don’t die of COVID-19 a few weeks later. Justice for Belly Mujinga.
