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Colorado Police Shooting of Black Man Underscores Distrust of Law Enforcement
Bodycam footage shows lies told to protect police misconduct
In Douglas County, Colorado recently, a sheriff’s deputy aimed his AR-15 at a 23-year-old Black man in a parking lot and pulled the trigger.
The young man had a handgun, but he wasn’t waving it or threatening anyone. The officer, without announcing he was a cop, yelled, “Drop the gun!” and before the young man had time to react or comply, fired nine shots into his back.
Not his chest. Not his arm. In his back.
The young man fell into the car and died next to his pregnant girlfriend, who was waiting for him to get in.
Deputies had been called to the scene, an arcade and entertainment center in the mostly white Highlands Ranch community, on reports of an active female shooter inside the venue.
According to all accounts, a group of young women had gotten into a fight with another group of young women in the women’s bathroom, and a woman was shot and wounded. While the cop had no information about the man he was about to shoot, the suspected shooter was the Black man’s stepsister.
As the chaos inside unfolded, the young Black man in the parking lot had taken out his firearm — which was properly registered — to protect himself and his girlfriend.
He had the gun in his hand, but he hadn’t pointed it at anyone. He hadn’t threatened anyone. He was simply doing what gun advocates around America keep saying we need to do to protect ourselves in case there’s a problem. That’s all he was doing.
Yet he still ended up dead.
We’ve all watched too many news reports over the years with a similar story and headline.
Police Officer Kills Black Man.
For most of us with no connection to a particular story, we want to know.
Was the person killed a threat? Did he point a weapon? Did he have something in his hand that looked like it could be a weapon that he was about to use?
We all know police have a very difficult and dangerous job when called to the scene of a crime. Stress levels are…
