"The two officers who fatally shot an unarmed African American college student in Pasadena last weekend are veteran members of the force with no previous record of shooting anyone, authorities said.
Pasadena Police Chief Phillip Sanchez confirmed that Officers Jeffrey Newlen and Mathew Griffin shot Kendrec McDade, 19, on a dark, narrow street last weekend. Sanchez said the only notable incident in their records was Griffin's shooting of a Rottweiler in 2007.
The incident, involving two white officers, has sparked tensions in a community with a long history of divisive relations between the Police Department and African American community.
McDade, 19, was fatally shot shortly after 11 p.m. on March 24 by two officers after they said they saw his hand near his waistband. The officers shot him because they mistakenly believed he had a gun after a theft victim called 911 and lied to dispatchers.
The caller, Oscar Carrillo, told police he had been robbed of his backpack and laptop by two armed men. Police arrested him on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter Wednesday, saying that he deliberately misled authorities in a lie that contributed to the fatal shooting.
Sanchez released the names in a statement under mounting pressure Friday as he prepared for a public forum Saturday at a northwest Pasadena church to try to calm concerns.
Newlen joined the department in 2007 and Griffin joined in 2006.
Their names and backgrounds were made public after The Times and Pasadena Star-News identified them based on police records.
Carree Harper, an attorney for the McDade family, has questioned the police account of the events." [More here]
Noooo! You mean the police could have misrepresented the facts surrounding what happened?
We probably won't be hearing the name of Kendric McDade like we have been hearing the name of Trayvon Martin for the next few weeks, because the police chief in Pasadena, California, unlike the clowns who run the Sanford, Florida police department, have been more proactive and forthright with how they are handling this case. Sadly, though, another young life is lost. And the perils of being a young black male in our country continues to play itself out for us all to see. If some Charles Bronson wannabe neighborhood watch captain doesn't get you; some over zealous color aroused police officer will. (Hell even white women are getting into the act. h/t Nancy Lockhart.) And, to make matters worse, other young black males who don't value your life (or their own) will also take you out.
Anyway, it's not only young black males who are getting slaughtered here in A-merry-ca; old ones are catching bullets as well. Let's not forget about the case of
Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr., the White Plains, New York man who lost his life because he was the wrong color, at the wrong place, and at the wrong time.
"On November 19, 2011, my father, 68-year-old Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., was shot and killed in his home in White Plains, New York.
My father was a 20-year veteran of the Westchester County Department of Corrections and proudly served the United States of America as a Marine. He stood about 5 feet, 9 inches tall, and he suffered from a heart condition.
The events that led to his killing began around 5 a.m., when his medical alert device was accidentally set off, sending a call to the City of White Plains Department of Public Safety. Everything that happened after that was recorded by an audio device installed in my father's home as part of his medical alert system.
When the police arrived at my father's home, he and the staff for his medical alert service told them that there was no medical emergency and asked them to leave. And yet they insisted that my father let them into his home, banging loudly on my father's door for over an hour. On the recording, the police can be heard calling my father a "nigger."
Ultimately they broke through his apartment door and first shot him with a Taser. He was wearing nothing but boxer shorts when the police began their assault against him. Shortly after that, he was shot with two 40-caliber rounds and killed.
My family is asking the Westchester County District Attorney to bring a criminal indictment, and we call on the United States Department of Justice or the New York State Attorney General to prosecute this as a hate crime."
Yes Mr. Holder, you might have to get involved with this one as well.
If you don't, bloggers like me will be here everyday reminding you about this case until you do.
*Go here to sign the petition to make sure that this man's family gets justice.
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