MOSCOW, December 6 (Sputnik) — Over the past two years, most notably in 2014, cases of killings by US police officers have reinstated debate over police brutality and racism, sparking a wave of mass protests and riots across the country.
On December 4, a police officer in Phoenix, Arizona fatally shot 34-year-old African American Rumain Brisbon suspected of selling drugs. In a struggle with the officer, Brisbon was shot twice in the chest after reaching for his pocket, as the officer believed that he was reaching for a weapon. The suspected weapon, however, turned out to be a pill vial.
On November 22, a police officer shot and killed Tamir Rice, 12 at a playground in Cleveland, Ohio after he was seen brandishing a BB gun that resembled a real weapon. At least one bullet hit the boy in the stomach. The officers were responding to reports that a young man, possibly a juvenile, was threatening people with a firearm. In a recording of a phone call to the emergency response centre, the caller is heard stating that the weapon is probably fake. The boy died the day after the shooting.
On November 20, an unarmed New York City resident, Akai Gurley, was shot by a police officer as he was walking up the stairs towards his girlfriend's apartment. After hearing a rustling noise on the stairs, the police officer opened fire without warning and wounded Gurley in the chest. The 28-year-old later died at a hospital. Probationary Police Officer Peter Liang was stripped of his gun and badge after the incident.
On October 8, an off-duty white police officer shot and killed African-American teenager Vonderrit Deondre Myers in St. Louis, Missouri. According to the police, the 18-year-old was armed and fired first. St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said Myers had fired his gun at least three times at the police officer, and that the deceased teenager had had some run-ins with the law. The relatives of the deceased teen, though, insisted that he had no gun.
On August 9, Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old African-American, was shot dead by white police officer Darren Wilson during an altercation in Ferguson, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. The shooting triggered mass protests against police brutality and racism in Ferguson and across the country. A new string of often-violent protests broke out last week following a grand jury's decision not to indict Wilson.
In July, African-American Eric Garner, who suffered from asthma, died from suffocation after being put in chokehold by white police officer Daniel Pantaleo during an arrest. The 43-year-old father of six was being arrested on the suspicion of illegally selling cigarettes. On December 4, thousands of protesters across the country took to the streets to protest a New York grand jury's decision not to charge Pantaleo.
On April 7, sheriff's deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) mistakenly shot John Winkler,30, whom they mistook for a suspect. The policemen were responding to a call about a suspicious knife-wielding man inside an apartment in eastern Los Angeles and saw two men run toward them as they arrived at the scene. Winkler was following a bleeding man and the three deputies, who believed Winkler to be the attacker, discharged their service side-arms and hit him four times. Winkler later died at hospital from his wounds.
The previous year has also seen several high-profile cases of police killings.
On December 8, 2013, a police officer fatally shot Robert Redus, 23, a student at the University of the Incarnate Word, a Catholic private university in San Antonio, Texas. Redus was reportedly speeding and driving erratically near the university campus and resisted arrest. During a scuffle with the student, the police officer pulled the trigger several times, killing Redus on the spot.
On October 22, 2013 a sheriff's deputy in Santa Rosa, California, fatally shot Andy Lopez, a 13-year-old boy who was carrying an airsoft gun designed to resemble the Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifle. The police said the officer demanded that the boy drop his rifle and opened fire, reportedly without waiting for a response. The boy died of his wounds on the spot. The incident triggered a string of protests in Santa Rosa, with local residents calling to punish the shooter. In December, Deputy Erick Gelhaus from the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office, who killed the boy, was allowed to resume work.
On October 3 of the same year, police in Washington, DC chased a car, whose driver, an African-American woman named Miriam Carey, crashed through gates in front of the White House and on Capitol Hill. Carey, 34, was fatally shot near the Capitol. Police found her 12-month-old daughter, who was unharmed, in the back seat. Carey lived in Stamford, Connecticut, and worked as a dental hygienist. According to her family, she had a history of mental health problems.
On March 10, 2013 police officers fatally shot 16-year-old Kimani Gray, who was allegedly threatening them with a gun in Brooklyn, New York City. Forensic experts established that the boy had been shot seven times, with several bullets hitting him in the back. The incident caused outrage among local residents. Brooklyn district attorney's office reportedly chose not to file charges against the officers responsible for Gray's death.
