Update: There have been a number of suggestions that the mysteriously disappeared videos of the shooting may be available in the cloud. Any ideas on how they might be recovered?
___________________________________________________________________________________
I’m both deeply uncomfortable writing this and not really sure what to say. My beautiful beloved spiritual sister, best friend for more than 20 years, and god-mother to all three of my children is in pain this week. Her baby brother (now 40, but still her baby brother) was shot in the chest on Monday by police in Decatur, IL. He will survive, but just got out of the ICU and is still hospitalized.
According to the police report, which the family has a copy of, they were responding to an f'ing noise complaint. He said he had a knife on his wrist, carefully took it off and laid it on the ground, told them he had a bb gun at his waist, and was then shot in the chest. Yesterday, he was finally conscious enough to be told that he's being charged with violently resisting arrest and his phone--and those of his friends who filmed the encounter—were confiscated. The videos of the shooting incident they’d put on FB were taken down and they have no idea how.
The Decatur police are telling the press that they were reporting to a report of a man with a gun and that he met the description. That is NOT what the police report said. It’s been given over to another department for investigation, which I have to hope is a good sigh.
This is not a hotheaded kid. We’re talking about a 40-year-old man with a house, a steady girlfriend, two dogs, and a job. Not that if he WERE a hotheaded kid, this bullshit would be ok, but it’s even worse as is because it hit home even harder how not a damn person is safe.
This will not stop until we make it stop. Police can’t just shoot black men because. No white man in his 40s would have been shot in this position.
Where should they be going for help? He needs to be protected from these charges and the man who shot him needs to be held accountable. I have scant hope about that last, but hope I'm wrong. Any contacts that I can pass on would be deeply, gratefully received.