black…MYstory

If you were like me, you were horrified when you saw the footage of the killing of Oscar Grant III on the morning of New Year’s day at the hands of a police officer in an Oakland, CA train station.

The officer who shot Grant, Johannes Mehserle, abrubtly resigned right before he was to speak with internal affairs regarding this incident.

The latest on this case is that  Johannes Mehserle has been arrested in Nevada on a fugitive warrant.

The charge: suspicion of murder.

From my perspective, it seems pretty clear what happened but, as we know, what the public perceives and what happens in a courtroom are separate and distinct things.  However, in this case, I hope that justice prevails.

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Once again, we have a case of a young black man dying under suspicion circumstances in an encounter with police.  This time, it was in New Orleans, Lousiana, in the early morning of January 1, 2009.

Adolph Grimes III had relocated to Texas with his fiancée in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  He rushed back to New Orleans on New Year’s Eve of this year, along with his fiancée and 17-month-old son, to ring in the new year with his family.

According to his father, Adolph Grimes Jr., his son made it with just seconds to spare.

The family was celebrating at Adolph Grimes III’s grandmother’s house.  At approximately 3am, Grimes walked out of his grandmother’s house and was waiting in his car for his cousin when 9 undercover cops drove up and surrounded the car.

Next, there was a barrage of shooting.

Police are saying that Grime started the shooting but, police shot at Grimes a total of 48 times.  Grimes was hit 14 times, with 12 of those rounds hitting him in the back, killing him.

Grimes did have a handgun on him which, according to family members, was legally registered.  He also had a shotgun and some rounds in his trunk.  Grimes had no criminal history and had graduated from one of New Orleans’ most prestigious high schools.

A lot of questions need answering.  First of all, 9 undercover, plain-clothes officers surrounded the vehicle.  Did they identify themselves as police officers?  Secondly, do they have ballistics test showing that Grimes even fired his weapon?  If so, how are we to know if he indeed fired first or simply fired back?  Thirdly, how did Grimes go from being inside his vehicle to dying block away from his grandmother’s?  Perhaps, could he have thought that he was being carjacked as opposed to being arrested. Did he run for that reason?

My questions, obviously, are only speculation.  By some of the comments I’ve read on the articles above, there are people who want to blame Grimes because he owned a gun, something that many white men in this country do, often in even greater abundance.  The fact is, there seemed to be no reason for those officers to approach that vehicle in the way that they did.

Some are comparing this killing to that of Oscar Grant III but, I actually compare it to the killing of Sean Bell.  In both instances, you have the shooting victim encountering plain-clothes, undercover cops, who may not have identified themselves as such.  In both instances, these men died in a hail of bullets.  In both instances, these men were apparently doing nothing illegal And, in both instances, these men left fiancées, children, a host of family members and a lot of unanswered questions behind.

Let’s hope that, unlike the Sean Bell case, truth and justice prevail.

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Today, IndyMedia released new and clearer footage of the shooting of Oscar Grant.  This video was taken at a much closer range and shows, in much more detail, what transpired in the moments before, during and after, the killing of Oscar Grant III.

Thanks to RawStory.com for the video.  It can be viewed below:

 

 Oscar Grant Shooting - New Footage: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Fortunately, today, Robbie Tolan is still alive but, his potential baseball career is in jeopardy.  On December 31, 2008, Tolan and his cousing were returning to the family’s home after making a late-night run to get some food. They were driving Tolan’s parents’ SUV and had pulled into the driveway when they say a man with a gun and a flashlight approached them.

According to the two men, the officer did not identify himself.  The officer and his partner had both men on lie on the ground.  In the meantime, Tolan’s parents heard a commotion (it was in their own driveway, after all) and came out to see what was happening.  Police will only say that an “altercation” occured.  The family says that Tolan’s mother was pushed up against a wall.  The family says that when Tolan tried to lean up to see what was happening, he was shot in the chest.  The bullet went through his lung and lodged in his liver.  Tolan, the son of former Major League player Bobby Tolan, is currently recovering in a Houston hospital and the officer in question, Sgt. Jeff Cotton, and his partner are on administrative leave after the shooting.

However, this incident has sparked serious concerns about this being a case of racial profiling. The family resides in the prominent, mostly-white suburb of Bellaire.  Police officials deny that race was a factor but, many are asking what prompted the officers to suspect that the vehicle was stolen.

Both men were unarmed.

The family has retained legal counsel and is asking that charges be filed against the officer.

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I only have about 30 seconds of video on this but, it shows Philadelphia police snatching 3 men out of a car and pummeling them.

The story says a half-dozen officers beat these men but, as you can tell from the video, there are WAY more than 6 officers beating and kicking these men.

One really has to wonder what the use of force policy is for Philadelphia police.

Popularity: 10% [?]