…..police shot and killed Kajieme Powell, a 25 year-old African American man on Tuesday.
Police were called by a convenience store owner who suspected Powell had stolne drinks and donuts from his shop, according to a recording of the 911 call, while a woman called 911 to report Powell was acting erratically and had a knife in his pocket.
Two officers in a police SUV responded to the calls, the cell phone video shows. When the officers got out of their vehicle, Powell walked in their direction, yelling and telling them to shoot him already.
St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said Tuesday that both of the officers opened fire on Powell when he came within a three or four feet of them holding a knife “in an overhand grip.”
But the newly released cell phone footage undermines the statement, showing Powell approaching the cops, but not coming as close as was reported, with his hands at his side. The officers began shooting within 15 seconds of their arrival, hitting Powell with a barrage of bullets.
Here’s the cell phone video of the incident, but be warned it contains graphic content.
**WARNING** The video contains graphic content!
Two things struck me about the video, the first being the fact that at least two shots were fired by the officers after Kajieme Powell had already fallen to the ground. I also couldn’t help but notice that both officers immediately drew their firearms instead of attempting to subdue Powell with a non-lethal option such as a Taser, which would likely have subdued Powell short of ending his life. Obviously I don’t know if the officers in question were equipped with Tasers, but if they were it certainly seems that one officer attempting to incapacitate Kajieme Powell with a Taser while the other had his firearm trained on Powell would have been a smarter option.
Had I known you were writing this post I might not have written mine, but in this case doubling up seems like a good idea.
Great minds think alike.
And like you said, this is an issue that can’t get enough attention, so two posts isn’t nearly enough.
Zach, thanks.
I had heard about the video, hadn’t watched it until you posted it.
Thought you nailed it. No doubt Powell needed to be taken off the streets. No doubt he was a threat to himself and others. I saw no sign he was ever a threat to those officers, although I understand he met the legal definition in Missouri. What they did was not “policing,” it was slaughter.
Thanks for the post guys.
I think the Ferguson and St. Louis situations are microcosms of our whole society in the U.S. Not good.
Some people do not respect laws or police. Regardless of one innocence, involvement or knowledge of any potential criminal activity, when a police officer confronts any individual the default condition is to submit. Especially if one is innocent or has no idea what the problem is. Might take a few minutes or more, but the outcome will be better. On the other hand if someone is combative, all bets are off and the Police act according with safety on their side primarily and secondary to all others.
Police seem to have low tolerance and are quick with weapons. Ferguson, St. Louis, Madison and a lot more I’m sure we do not hear about.
What to do? Probably many things, but, first the most basic that is in our control. If/When a police officer says, “ hey excuse me, or freeze, etc.”, immediately stop what you are doing, make eye contact and verbal contact with the officer in an open an nonthreatening manner. If this is not done, what is the point to having Police? They are essentially powerless and targets themselves.
Your statement is perfectly understandable from someone who has enjoyed white privilege, has not been the perpetual subject of stop and frisk, or deemed guilty of the crime of walking or driving while being black or latino or whatever non-caucasian racial profile you might wish to substitute. On top of that the white male, supposition of infallible paternalistic authority is pretty blatantly apparent in that statement. Puts that kind of talk as a big part of the problem of needlessly murdered minorities and not a part of the solution.
What a nutter response.
Hey, NQ, for the most part, I have no major disagreement with you.
But if I was raised in another culture of color, it does not make me paternalistic, condescending, nor the bad guy. As both of color, different in skin tone, grow in age, life experiences and the inevitable melding, we have an obligation to learn as well as to respect our differences of color, culture, and ethnicity. We are all different in some respects!
I grew up and was schooled at that time long ago on the all white, south side of Milwaukee. I was a minority student of French extraction, although white, living in a world of largely Polish and German cultures and language. There were no blacks, negroes, African-Americans, but only “darkies,” to use my parent’s terms, who never ventured south, nor we north, of the “valley” for the most part in my first eighteen years. I had no experiences of “color” in my formative years. I doubt many here have had that experience. It may be a good or bad thing.
But I was eventually “integrated” enlisting in our Armed Forces during the Korean War. Attending a training school, I was assigned to share a room with Jim, a black man, for three months. He was from upstate New York, had a year of junior college while I had none. He was organized, I was not, but we had no major differences. We did look at each other as “different” with no moral or social implications. Jim, as was normal without regard to color called attention to his “bigness” while I replied a .22 can do as much damage as a .45 caliber. We both laughed at our differences; size, color, whatever.
Traveling together to our first assignment in Florida, we had a sad awakening to our benign roommate status. In a train layover/change in a major southern city, we were confronted by a gang who challenged our attempt to enter a segregated theater together(“niggers” seated in the balcony, whites downstairs). Incidentally we were both wearing the uniform of our country. We outraced our challengers back to the safety of the train depot with its “white only” bublers and toilet facilities.
But that was not the only racist or discriminatory event of my USAF integration. Jim, although his military schooling was equal to mine and had a year of college beyond my schooling was assigned to “squadron” level while while I was assigned to the higher “group” assignment.
Since then, I have became more “paternalistic” toward recognizing my brothers and sisters in need or hurting, whether of color, gender,age, or whatever. It is not a vic, but a virtue
I had not riled a response of late and thought I must be slipping. 😉
Yes Duane, I do agree there is more than a single type of fatherly concern, didn’t see the type you mention in eye-guy’s statement though, and I didn’t rule out your caring and genuine love aspect as a possibility in my comment. I had a black room-mate for four years but didn’t understand racism any better until about 20 yrs after that, so not impressed with the buddy story though admittedly, someone else’s miles may vary from mine.
I do intentionally throw that kind of comment out to indirectly ask people to re-examine their views though. Father rarely knows best other than in speaking for himself.