Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old black man, was killed by police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Tuesday night. Here's what you need to know:.
1. Cops had Sterling restrained on the ground before they killed him.
“You f*****g move, I swear to God,” said one officer pinning him down. Another officer points a gun at him and quickly shoots him. Observers said that Sterling was not reaching for a weapon and was already restrained on the ground.
2. The police officers were aggressive and callous, according to witnesses.
“They were really aggressive with him from the start,” said Abdullah Muflahi, the owner of the convenience store where the shooting occurred. And, after they killed Sterling, Muflahi heard one of the officers say to “Just leave him.”
3. Cops were wearing body cameras— but they weren't working at the time of the killing.
Remember all the talk about body cameras being the solution to police violence? Well, the officers had body cameras on, but according to Police Department spokesman Cpl. L’Jean McKneely "both body cameras came loose and dangled from the officers’ uniforms during the incident."
The police vehicle apparently had multiple dash cams, but reports indicate that only one of those has been confirmed to have captured the incident.
4. Cops immediately seized the convenience store's surveillance footage.
The owner of the convenience store where the incident occurred said that not only did police take the store's surveillance footage but they seized his entire video system, as well.
We’ve seen this before. Remember when Lacquan McDonald was killed in Chicago? Police demanded to see footage from a local Burger King, and "when the police left the restaurant almost two hours later, the video had an inexplicable 86-minute gap that included when McDonald was shot," according to the Chicago Tribune.
"I was just trying to help the police with their investigation," the restaurant manager said later. "I didn't know they were going to delete it."
Without a bystander’s cell phone footage, the disturbing details of Alton Sterling’s killing would likely have never come to life.
5. The officers could wait up to 30 days before making a statement.
Current reports indicate the Baton Rouge Police Department usually gives law enforcement officers a 24-hour reprieve before questioning them. From The Advocate:
“We give officers normally a day or so to go home and think about it” before being interviewed, McKneely said. He said being part of a shooting is a stressful situation that can produce “tunnel vision” for the officers involved and might not lead to the best information.
Still, 24 hours is not nearly the maximum time these police officers could take.
It's literally unimaginable that any suspect in a killing—even one acting in self-defense—would get a day to "think about it" out of worry for "tunnel vision." What's different about the tunnel vision of law enforcement suspects?
6. The Department of Justice will investigate the case.
From Buzzfeed:
The Department of Justice will conduct an investigation into the death of Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old black man who was shot and killed by a Baton Rouge police officer on Tuesday, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said.
Speaking at a press conference Wednesday, Edwards said the DOJ’s civil rights division would be the lead agency investigating the officer-involved fatal shooting.
7. The DA says its too early to comment.
“It would be premature for me to make a comment one way or the other,” said the District Attorney, Hillar Moore. The DA was at the scene on Tuesday, due to a policy he put in place earlier this year. Reported The Advocate in May:
Moore said prosecutors will take a more active role in investigations of all fatal police shootings and will provide reports to the public that document their evidence and reasoning if no charges are brought against the officers involved.
Prosecutors will be walking the scenes of shootings, Moore said, and will be observing all interviews with witnesses and the officers involved under a new set of procedures introduced earlier this year.
With the Department of Justice leading the investigation, its unclear what role Moore will take in this case.
8. Sterling was a father of five.
His 15-year-old son cried "I want my daddy!" on television. Here's the heartbreaking video of one of Sterling's five children, now fatherless.
And here is a picture of Sterling with his family.
9. Louisiana just enacted a Blue Lives Matter bill in May, in response to the Black Lives Matter movement and the efforts to stop police violence.
From the Washington Post:
Louisana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) signed the “Blue Lives Matter” bill into law, making the state the first in the nation where public safety workers are considered a protected class under hate-crime law.
In many states, hate crime laws call for additional penalties for those convicted of crimes who targeted victims on the basis of race, ethnicity or religion. Targeting police officers, firefighters and emergency medical service personnel now fall under Louisiana’s hate crime law.
Somehow it seems unlikely that police murdering a black man for no reason would be considered a hate crime here.
10. The NRA has been silent so far.
There's a shocker.
Louisiana requires a permit for concealed carry, but not one for open carry. At this point, police have not confirmed that Sterling was carrying a gun, although reports have stated that he had one in his back pocket. If there was a weapon, whether the gun was considered open carry or concealed has not been determined yet. Sterling also allegedly had a criminal record, which may have made such possession illegal.
Of course, when they shot him, the cops couldn't have known his criminal record nor his permit status. For all they knew the alleged gun was completely legal.
They killed him anyway.
11. Protests against the killing began immediately.
From The Advocate:
Friends and family of Sterling met outside the convenience store on Tuesday night to protest the shooting. At just about 6 p.m. around 40 to 50 people had gathered at the store, some carrying signs and chanting “Black lives matter” and “Hands up, don’t shoot.” The crowd swelled to more than 100 people by 7:30 p.m., with people, some waving homemade signs, gathered at each of the corners of the intersection of N. Foster Dr. and Fairfields Ave. Some mourners left notes and mementos on tables outside the convenience store.
12. In addition to protests, local leaders have spoken out.
From Buzzfeed:
“What I’m calling for today is that the chief law enforcement officer to fire the police chief,” Michael McClanahan, president of the NAACP chapter in Baton Rouge, said. “I’m also calling for the chief executive officer of this city to resign. We cannot have anybody who allows this type of action to take place.”
13. Of all the fatalities due to law enforcement, only .1 percent result in a conviction
Disturbingly, Alton Sterling is the 154th black person killed by police so far this year.
14. Every person killed by Baton Rouge police in the past three years has been a black man.
Discuss below.
