Talking Points Memo has an AP report following up on the story I originally
diaried on Friday over the police shooting of Darrien Hunt [shown above].
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/...
Before the statement [by the police] was issued, Susan Hunt told the Deseret News: "They killed my son because he's black. No white boy with a little sword would they shoot while he's running away.
"Those stupid cops thought they had to murder over a toy. This is my baby. This is my family. And they ruined my family."
Susan Hunt said her son was carrying a Katana, a souvenir sword bought from an Asian gift store that has a rounded edge, not a blade.
"My son is a tender heart who would not hurt anybody," she said. "My son is a beautiful, bright-eyed, intelligent boy."
One thing that makes this story jump out and may get it a bit more notice than the fact that the blade Darrien was carrying was unsharped, and the fact that witnesses seem to contradict the police's account, is the fact that Susan Hunt, Darrien's mother - is White.
Please read the remainder below the fold.
It's not supposed to make a difference. It's supposed to mean anything. We're used to Black parents like the parents of Trayvon Martin, or Michael Brown, or Oscar Grant, or Renisha McBride, or John Crawford, or Ezell Ford, or Eric Garner, or Kendrec McDade, or Johnny Gammage, or Amadour Diallo, or Patric Dorismond, or Sean Bell, or Jonathan Ferrel, all claiming that their children we're killed - because they were Black.
But we don't usually hear that as a plausible explanation when the mother herself, isn't Black.
This is Susan Hunt holding a photo of her family [Courtesy Michelle Tessier, Deseret News]
Do we feel the tears of White mothers more deeply? When it comes to
missing and dead white girls, we certainly seem to. Not so much with dead black boys. Will people sympathize with her loss in a way that they couldn't with the mother of Michael Brown, with his "
incredibly strong, scary self"? Will they tell her she should have "gotten off welfare" and raised her son better so that would know how to
show the proper respect and deference to police so as to not get himself shot?
Did she not give him, the Talk? Did she not teach him the lesson that his very body, his very existence is a "Lethal Weapon" in the eyes of the law? That he could have a plastic spork in his hands, and he could be considered "Armed and Dangerous"? That he's already "armed", if he's still breathing.
So much of this story sounds exactly like what we've heard so many times before. And of course, none of it racial at all. Not even a little bit. For example. Via Deseret News.
"When the officers made contact with Mr. Hunt, he brandished the sword and lunged toward the officers with the sword, at which time Mr. Hunt was shot," a prepared statement from Utah County Chief Deputy Attorney Tim Taylor said.
"There is currently no indication that race played any role in the confrontation between Mr. Hunt and the police officers."
He "brandished the [unsharped ceremonial,
and according to witnesses still sheathed] sword and
lunged toward the officers" did he? Is that why he was
shot in the back, after fleeing?
But an attorney for the man's family questioned that scenario, saying an autopsy shows Darrien Hunt was shot numerous times from behind as he ran away from police.
Oops.
I think that right there, the fact that the Police primary claim is contradicted by the physical evidence would seem to damage their credibility when they say "there is currently no indication that race played a role". Oh yeah? Well, bullet holes in his back are a pretty good indication that something is fishy here!
It's very difficult to "lunge" at someone backwards.
I'm a former gymnast, and I can't do that.
As I reported on Friday witness have already come forward and been recorded on camera saying that just prior to the shooting Darrien and the Officers were talking calmly, until a point where Darrien fled and Officers pursued "guns drawn".
http://fox13now.com/...
“They had stopped him, and they were all having a conversation,” said Jocelyn Hansen, who was parked at the gas station. “It didn’t look escalated, or heated at all.”
Hansen said she watched as police questioned Hunt, but just as she turned away, gunfire erupted.
“When I looked up, I saw the young man turning away from the police, and I saw what I thought were two 2×4’s in his hands, one in each hand,” Hansen said. “Then, I saw police officer running after him, and they could have both had guns, but I saw one for sure with his gun extended.”
No one else has yet claimed they saw what happened when police caught up to Darrien in front to the Panda Express. His mother believes he was attempting to try and get a job there, hoping that they would be impressed by his Katana.
Yet again it seems that when these confrontations happen, we need to have the facts recorded, because time and time again, police in different states, different counties so often seem completely incapable of honestly and unbiasedly investigating their own behavior.
Vyan
9:46 AM PT: It's entirely speculative at this point, since only Darrien knows what his intentions were but I think LeFeminista has a point in the comments that Darrien might have attempted to show the police that the blade was blunt, unsheathing it. That would explain the "two 2x4's in his hands" that Jocelyn saw, one was the blade, the other it's scabbard.
Once the blade was out [even though it was blunt], the guns came out - so Darrien ran. Things ended badly.
Be that as it may, why exactly did anyone feel it was necessary to call 9-1-1 in the first place? Utah is an Open Carry state, you can walk down the street with a semi-automatic machine gun and no one will bother you. All Police can do is ask for your ID to verify your age, But not a blunt Katana in a sheath, no sir.