black…MYstory

Last month, I posted a story about Robbie Tolan.  Tolan, a minor league baseball player and son of form MLB player Bobbie Tolan, was shot in his own driveway in an affluent Houston suburb by a police officer who claims to have believed he was driving a stolen vehicle.

The circumstance surrounding the shooting, as well as the races of those involved. are raising clear questions about whether or not Tolan was racially profiled. Since that time, though not willing to come out and say that her city has a problem, the mayor of the suburb of Bellaire, TX, has already hired an outside consultant to look into traffic data in her town to determine if there is a pattern of racial profiling.

More importantly, perhaps, is that Robbie Tolan and his family will get a chance to tell their side of the story to the nation.  Tomorrow night, on HBO’s Real Sports, there will be a segment highlighting this incident.  Here’s some of what was discussed in that interview:

(Sgt. Jeff) Cotton “never said a word. He never said ‘shut up.’ He never said ‘get down’ or ‘stay down.’ He never said a word. He picked his gun, he took his gun and he just shot him,’” she said.

Robert Tolan told Gumbel that he found it difficult to return to the family home because “even though they cleaned it up, I can see the blood on the floor and on the concrete. I mean, I see everything that night.”

His parents remain critical of the manner in which the case has been handled by Bellaire officials and skeptical about their chances for a just resolution.

Referring to general comments by Bellaire Mayor Cindy Siegel in support of police, Marian Tolan said, “We’re residents of Bellaire. They didn’t serve and protect us. We weren’t passing through. We weren’t visiting. We’ve lived here.”

Real Sports will air Tuesday, February 17,2009.  Check your local listings for times.

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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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Last month, 14-year-old DeOnte Rawlings died after being shot in a confrontation with two off-duty D.C. police officers. Now, the results of his autopsy are raising some very serious questions about police actions in this incident.

According to the police account, Officer James Haskel solicited the help fellow officer and friend Anthony Clay to help him find a minibike Haskel believed had been stolen from his home. So the two off-duty officers, out of uniform, went riding around looking for it. They came up DeOnte, who was riding the minibike.

The officers claim DeOnte shot at them and Officer Haskel exited his vehicle, pursued DeOnte on foot and shot him.

However, the recent autopsy report is somewhat disconcerting. First, it clearly indicates that DeOnte was shot in the back of the head. Secondly, there was no gunshot residue on his hands or fingers, which could very well have been there if he had indeed fired a gun. Thirdly, DeOnte’s family says that there was no gun recovered at the scene. Finally, there were serious traumatic injuries to the side and back of his body. These could have come from the fall or they could have come from him being hit.

Currently, this case is being investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s office, the FBI and DC police.

Personally, I believe something stinks here. Armed, off-duty police officers, out of uniform, tracking down stolen property and end up in an encounter killing a 14-year-old? Call me paranoid or conspiratorial but, I smell a cover-up.

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