Federal prosecutors say they will review an incident in which a Seattle police officer punched and seriously injured a handcuffed, intoxicated woman, after King County prosecutors said Friday they won’t charge the officer.
Emily Langlie, spokeswoman for acting U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes, said her office will look at the June 22 incident involving Officer Adley Shepherd for a possible federal criminal civil-rights violation.
The decision comes after King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg announced that his office would not seek a state felony charge against Shepherd, 38, a nine-year department veteran, for punching Miyekko Durden-Bosley in the back of his police cruiser.
This case is a little different than what we have all seen lately on the news.
For one the woman lived, and two the cop that injured her is black not white.
However even though race may not the issue this time around the unnecessary use of force most certainly is an issue.
Just take a look at the video of the arrest. (Punch is at the 2:50 mark.)
It is clear from the tape that the woman, was intoxicated and being quite disruptive.
However it is also clear that the police officer struck her in anger and NOT because he was trying to subdue her or in fear of personal injury. She had her hands locked behind her back for fuck's sake.
And once again there is video to prove that something terribly wrong happened, and STILL the Seattle prosecutor did not do his job.
That has to make ALL of us wonder just how many miscarriages of justice are happening every day where there is no video and nobody ever even knows they happen?
Yes cops need to be outfitted with cameras. That is step one.
But then when prosecutors see on those tapes that the police did something like this, they need to respond appropriately. THAT is step two.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment