WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — On Tuesday, the British newspaper The Guardian reported that Middlebrooks, an Alexander, Alabama police officer, proposed murdering Bias after he was recently released on bail for drug-related offenses and then suggested covering up the murder as “self-defense.”
“Even if [Officer Troy] Middlebrooks’ threats to kill [Vincent] Bias were determined to be not criminal, the underlying racism would not be tolerated in, for example, a public school teacher.”
Fullinwider argued the case provided further proof that US police officers were not held to the same standards as other public employees.
He expressed skepticism that Alexander’s African American residents could trust its own police force.
“We need a new institutional culture in America’s police departments,” Fullinwider said.
Fullinwider also claimed that a “blue wall of silence” still protected racist US police officers from being exposed by their colleagues.
“If we are going to have any real change, police chiefs must encourage whistle-blowers to come forward on police brutality and corruption. Without that, the blue wall of silence will continue to protect bad cops and tolerate racist cops.”
The United States has seen multiple protests prompted by high-profile, documented cases of police brutality and killings over the past year.
