When are we accountable for our actions? by Robert Tornabene
"We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions..." Ronald Reagan
I have read this quote oh so many times, regardless of your political affiliation, your like or dislike for the person who spoke it, you can not argue with the words and the meaning that stands behind them. In the past few weeks we have seen much of the two toned lack in understanding of the precept of personal accountability and law.
What would have happened in these three very high profile incidents in which people lost their lives and these incidents were the catalyst for the #Blacklivesmatter movement.
Lets start with:
What would have happened in these three very high profile incidents in which people lost their lives and these incidents were the catalyst for the #Blacklivesmatter movement.
Lets start with:
- Michael Brown, yes anyone's death is tragic. Life is a very precious gift and for someone young, to have their life ended so abruptly is sad. That being said had personal accountability been taken in by Michael Brown then this incident would most not likely have occurred and on
that day, Michael Brown would not have encountered Ofc Darren Wilson....Had Michael brown not made the personal decision to steal " several packages of cigarillos from a nearby convenience store and shoved the store clerk. Brown was accompanied by his friend Dorian Johnson. Officer Wilson had been notified by police dispatch of the robbery and descriptions of the two suspects. " Then they two would not have met that day. The circumstances that unfolded after the theft occurred would not have brought these to men in contact on that day in August of 2014.Quick points to remember, yes a law was broken, Law Enforcement Officers are supposed to enforce laws, they are not supposed to pick and chose which ones they enforce. The actions of the individual, i.e., the person who committed the crime are part of the circumstances that placed the two men to cross paths. Third, we do know that systemic issues were present in Ferguson that may have contributed to the distrust and fear in the community when encountering a Law Enforcement Officer. Ferguson PD, was working not from a public safety perspective but from a revenue based side of policing as detailed in the DOJ report from March of 2015.A final report by the Department of Justice about the way Ferguson PD handled themselves is scathing and clearly shows systemic failures from the City down to the Chief of Police, to line officers which what contributed to the unrest, protest and the birth of a movement.
- Eric Garner, although race was clearly brought into the issue, the death of Eric Garner is more a lack of good quality training and recognition of 'positional asphyxia', than race. This will be
addressed shortly.
We do know that on March 27, a caller to the city’s 311 hotline complained about the issue, of the sale of "loosely" cigarettes, saying a group of men had been selling untaxed cigarettes, and sometimes marijuana, on Bay St. every day for the past three years, a second source said. The caller identified one of the sellers as “a man named Eric.” The next day, Garner was arrested
for selling untaxed cigarettes, one of three pending cases before his death. Sometime in early July, a memo was sent to the Staten Island borough command, a source said. The memo stressing the need to address quality-of-life issues was then forwarded to bosses in the 120th Precinct for “immediate attention,” according to the source.
Prior to Eric Garners death, roughly two weeks, Eric Garner had a run in with NYPD, in this incident it played out similarly as the arrest on the day of his death. He flailed his arms and refused to be arrested. But in this incident the Officers, one of which was present on the day of his death, let him go with a warning, without incident.
We do know that Eric Garner had stated he was "tired of being harassed.", "this stops now", are all which was heard on the video taken by his friend. The pictures above clearly show know Eric Garner was clearly taller and much bigger than the Officers present. Garner is also seen on video flailing his arms. Clearly NOT in an attempt to strike or hurt the Officers, but possibly to prevent himself from being arrested as in the previous incident. Eric Garner was not a small person standing at 6'2", weighing 395 lbs he had size and weight as a factor that may have been contributory. Not only to his attempted arrest, but also his untimely death. His death was more an issue of lack of property training and positional asphyxia than of police brutality or unlawful arrest.
Absolutely Officers involved in the incident were culpable in Eric Garner's death. Did the officers act with will full disregard for Mr. Garner's safety? No. As was stated earlier Mr. Garner previously acted in a manner in which he in the previous incident was non-complaint and resistant to the Officers. The Officer involved in that incident was also present at the time Mr. Garner died. So prior knowledge of behavior, Eric Garner's unwillingness to comply with lawful orders, the increased request for law enforcement action being instituted from the District Commander all created a perfect storm for this incident to reach it's tragic end.
- Walter Scott, many of my Law Enforcement brothers and sisters will most likely cringe at what I am going to say, but this was a cold blooded murder. So what occurred? Officer Slager stopped Mr Scott for a third taillight out, while driving a 1991 Mercedes, in the parking lot of an auto parts store. Slager approaches the car, has a conversation with Mr. Scott and then Slager goes back to his patrol vehicle. It is at that time that Mr. Scott exits his car and starts to run. Slager gives chandelier on foot and deploys a taser, which does not appear to work.it is that time that Slager shoots at Mr. Scott a total of eight times, hitting him five times. Slager put out over his radio,"Shots fired, suspect down, he tried to take my taser..." Slager approaches Mr. Scott giving orders to put his hands behind his back, Slager eventually handcuffs Mr. Scott. This is all caught on video. Slager then goes back to where he starting shooting and picks up something, possibly his Taser. He is later seen on tape a short time later dropping something on the grown, which is suspected to be his taser. There are other things wrong including that officers on scene allegedly reported they performed CPR, but that is not seen on tape.
Okay my opinion...Officer Slager, killed Walter Scott? There was no reason to shoot a man running on foot, unarmed away from a confrontation. As a matter of fact case law going back to 1985, which is taught in every law enforcement academy in the country clearing addresses it, the case is Tennessee vs Garner.
Justice White delivered this ruling for the Supreme Court - This case requires us to determine the constitutionality of the use of deadly force to prevent the escape of an apparently unarmed suspected felon. We conclude that such force may not be used unless it is necessary to prevent the escape and the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others. - See more of the Case Law
The death of this man is definitely not acceptable, but the question is does he bear some burden on the circumstances that unfolded? Walter Scott had a bench warrant for $18,000 for failure to pay child support. http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/walter-scott-shooting/walter-scott-shooting-warrant-over-child-support-court-records-show-n339151. It was also reported that Mr. Scott had cocaine and alcohol in his system at the time of his death. Could alcohol and drugs contributed to poor decision making on Mr. Scott's part? Perhaps. Could the warrant, and fear of going to jail contributed to his fleeing as well. In reality it does matter, Officer Slager was not under the influence of any illegal substances, he was not physically injured, a fleeing unarmed person does not pose a threat to his safety. The incident did not reach the burden of the "Fleeing Felon" doctrine.
Most of all the action of the Officer does not meet the standard of human decency and to the Officers own Oath of Office. It's such a shame, that his actions have triggered such hatred towards Police Officers, but at the same time, it shines a light on an issue facing policing in this Century, that Some people just should not be Police Officers.
I raised specific issues with all three cases, all of which had a significant impact on the anti-police, #blacklivesmatter movement. All of which for very specific reasons either fueled by failure to properly address community concerns, a lack of connectivity to the community as a whole, or failure to be properly train or be trained in situations that can be fatal or in at the least potentially fatal.
As I was conducting research on this posting, I came across this story about Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman.
- Seattle Seahawks star cornerback Richard Sherman addressed an imposter Wednesday who made a social media post in his name that garnered attention. The social media post claiming to be Sherman responded to an image posted on black supremacist King Noble’s site of Sherman with his arm around teammate Marshawn Lynch with the caption, “When we gon Kill These KKKrakas Bro." He addressed this issue quickly with the following statement...
"But I also think that there’s a way to go about things, and there’s a way to do things. And I think the issue at hand needs to be addressed internally, and before we move on, because from personal experience, you know, you have living in the hood, living in the inner city, you deal with things, you deal with people dying. Dealt with a best friend getting killed … it was two 35-year-old black men. Wasn’t no police officer involved, wasn’t anybody else involved, and I didn’t hear anybody shouting “black lives matter” then … and I think that’s the point we need to get to is that we need to deal with our own internal issues before we move forward and start pointing fingers and start attacking other people. We need to solidify ourselves as people and deal with our issues, because I think as long as we have black-on-black crime and, you know, one black man killing another … if black lives matter, then it should matter all the time. You should never let somebody get killed — that’s somebody’s son, that’s somebody’s brother, that’s somebody’s friend. So you should always keep that in mind." (Source)
I applaud his openness, because as he is shining the light on the internal issues facing his own community, race and culture we too in Law Enforcement must do the same thing. The "Blue Wall" is something we too in Law Enforcement must open up too.
There are people that have come into the Law Enforcement field who came into this field not because it is a "calling" but because it's a job and that it pays the bills. Many can not compartmentalize their own personal bias, issues or failings, while doing the job, and over time that begins to bubble to the surface. When that happens, coupled with poor training, poor tactics and poor planning it can lead to tragic results. As Officers who came into this job for the right reasons, who have a commitment to the agency, the community and our code of conduct we can not allow the "Blue Wall" to continue.
We need to be willing to shine the light just a strongly as our own agency and it's members when they fail, do wrong or are corrupt, just like when we shine our flashlight in that dark alley when we are chasing a Perp. Be honest with yourself, are you the type of police officer who says, "Its Us against Them", we took the oath of office to uphold the law, not look the opposite way when it involves one of our own. When we can do that as an entire group, nationwide, then we will rebuild the distrust that has been building for decades against us.
When are we accountable for our actions?
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