Officer David CrawfordFor the third time in less than one month our city has endured the loss of yet another police officer. Another man hunt. Tempers flaring in the community.
Racial tension in this city didn't need any more stressors.
Two of my clients had loved ones stopped at gunpoint buy 5-6 officers, frisked and questioned the morning after the shooting. Both boys were badly shaken according to my clients. One boy has cerebral palsy and told his mom he was afraid to reach in to his pocket for his identification when he was stopped on his way to the catch the bus for work. There were five rifles pointing at him and five white officers.
"Mama, I thought they would shoot me if I put my hand in my pocket." he recounted later. My client and her husband, a local minister, begged their son to let them drive him to the bus stop but being "very independent" he refused. Why was he stopped? He fit the description of the shooter. He was young and he was black.
According to his mama who was still teary and frightened, however, he didn't fit the description at all. "Couldn't they see he had cerebral palsy? Couldn't they see he couldn't walk right?"
Fortunately, for every innocent young black male and every innocent police officer still out there the shooter was found. A 16 year old 10th grade high school student who bought the gun for $140.00 on the street. As officer Crawford approached him with his notebook while investigating a nuisance call, the teen simply shot him in the abdomen 4 times. The officer never had a chance. He leaves behind a wife, a daughter named Amanda and a 25 year law enforcement career.
The Genius who lives in a condo less then 5 blocks from the crime scene watched the aftermath from her bedroom window snapping photos of central command which was staged just off her living room balcony.
Racial tension in this city didn't need any more stressors.
Two of my clients had loved ones stopped at gunpoint buy 5-6 officers, frisked and questioned the morning after the shooting. Both boys were badly shaken according to my clients. One boy has cerebral palsy and told his mom he was afraid to reach in to his pocket for his identification when he was stopped on his way to the catch the bus for work. There were five rifles pointing at him and five white officers.
"Mama, I thought they would shoot me if I put my hand in my pocket." he recounted later. My client and her husband, a local minister, begged their son to let them drive him to the bus stop but being "very independent" he refused. Why was he stopped? He fit the description of the shooter. He was young and he was black.
According to his mama who was still teary and frightened, however, he didn't fit the description at all. "Couldn't they see he had cerebral palsy? Couldn't they see he couldn't walk right?"
Fortunately, for every innocent young black male and every innocent police officer still out there the shooter was found. A 16 year old 10th grade high school student who bought the gun for $140.00 on the street. As officer Crawford approached him with his notebook while investigating a nuisance call, the teen simply shot him in the abdomen 4 times. The officer never had a chance. He leaves behind a wife, a daughter named Amanda and a 25 year law enforcement career.
The Genius who lives in a condo less then 5 blocks from the crime scene watched the aftermath from her bedroom window snapping photos of central command which was staged just off her living room balcony.
I am concerned about the upcoming summer. Tempers have a tendency to flare during those hot months.
And our community is already irritable enough.
Keep us in your prayers. All of us.
2 comments:
This is just awful.
I'm sorry to hear this. I lived in Miami during riots and remember how scary it was--for everyone, regardless of race.
Hope there is peacemaking in your community and somehow good comes from this.
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