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| The convenience store where Alton Sterling died |
The family of a black Louisiana man has settled a police-shooting lawsuit against Baton Rouge for $4.5 million. The settlement in the death of Alton Sterling comes about two weeks after news broke about the death of another black man, Ronald Greene, at the hands of the Louisiana State Police, in a case where evidence apparently was covered up for roughly two years. Video suggests Greene was beaten, choked, and tortured at the end of a high-speed chase over an alleged traffic violation. News of the two cases, coming so close together -- in the same locale -- indicates America's policing problem is as intractable as ever, especially in regards to victims of color.
Alton Sterling was fatally shot while he was selling CDs outside a convenience store in 2016. From a report at NBC News:
The family of a Black man who was fatally shot by police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, announced Friday it has settled a lawsuit against the city for $4.5 million.
Alton Sterling was 37 when he was fatally shot by an officer in 2016. His family filed the suit the next year.
Lawyers for Sterling's relatives said that the settlement would benefit his five children and involve "significant policy changes" for Baton Rouge officers.
"Our hope is that these policy changes, which focus on de-escalation, providing verbal warnings prior to using deadly force and will create a better future going forward for Baton Rouge residents," the lawyers said in a statement.Sharon Weston Broome, the mayor-president of the city, echoed those remarks, saying in a statement, "As a community, we must work together to implement changes in policy and in our community to ensure that no other families in Baton Rouge will endure this loss, trauma, or heartbreak."
The Baton Rouge Union of Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday evening.
Officer Blane Salamoni was fired and Officer Howie Lake II was suspended in the death.
How could a seemingly innocent incident end in a death? NBC News reports:
Early on July 5, 2016, someone called 911 and reported that a man in a red shirt outside a convenience store had a gun and was acting in a threatening manner, authorities said. Sterling, wearing red, was selling CDs.
Surveillance footage shows Sterling pushing back against the two officers when they appear and attempt to pin him against a car. Lake attempts to shock Sterling with a Taser gun to no avail, and Salamoni then tackles Sterling to the ground.
Salamoni can be heard on the body cam audio yelling profanities at Sterling and then threatening to shoot him in the head.
Sterling appears slightly confused and says, "What I did, sir?"
The shooting occurs shortly thereafter.
Video provides some clues about the cops' mindset on the matter:
After Sterling is apparently dead, Salamoni can be heard panting, and his hands are seen holding his handgun. He begins going through Sterling's pockets and calls him a "stupid motherf-----" twice.
The U.S. Justice Department and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry declined to pursue charges against the two officers.
Authorities later said Sterling had a pistol in his right pocket and unspecified drugs in his system.
The Washington Post has additional details:
Sterling, 37, was shot and killed in July 2016 outside a convenience store where he was selling CDs. Two officers responded to a call about a man threatening someone with a gun and, according to video from the scene, immediately shouted profanities at Sterling while threatening to open fire on him. Although Sterling did have a gun — a loaded .38-caliber handgun found in his right pocket — it was unclear whether he was reaching for it when officers tackled and shot him. (See video at the end of this post.)
Neither of the officers were criminally charged. Blane Salamoni, the officer who fired the shots, was fired from the department in 2018 but, after appealing the decision, was allowed to resign retroactively without compensation or back pay. The other officer, Howie Lake II, was suspended for three days after police officials said he violated the department’s “command of temper” policy.
Sterling’s death was one of several high-profile incidents of police violence that set off a wave of racial justice protests during the summer of 2016 and prompted widespread cries for greater accountability from law enforcement. Hundreds of people were arrested during demonstrations in Baton Rouge. A mural of Sterling was painted at the Triple S Food Mart where he was killed.
In the wake of the fatal shooting, city officials rewrote the police department’s use-of-force guidelines to encourage officers to de-escalate situations when possible and give warnings before using deadly force. The updated guidelines also banned chokeholds and firing into vehicles unless there is an imminent threat.
When will these kinds of events cease? Are we helpless to do anything about them?
ReplyDeletePowerful questions. We have massive problems with policing and guns, and we seem incapable of doing anything about either. I don't have the answers, but our current policing system is clearly broken. And the news is filled with stories of mass shootings.
ReplyDeleteIt should be noted that the settlement came almost five years after Sterling was killed.
ReplyDeleteFrom watching the video, it appears the cops arrived and went straight for Sterling, without talking to a witness. Shouldn't they get a witness statement first, to make sure they have the right guy and get details about how he is allegedly violating the law? At the beginning of the video, I see no sign that Sterling has a gun or was threatening anybody. But a cop immediately pokes a finger in his chest, and then Sterling has a pistol pointed at his head. Not much de-escalation going on.
ReplyDeleteAny sign of a resolution in your own fight for justice ?
ReplyDeleteFrom CNN: Baton Rouge police chief apologizes for hiring the officer who killed Alton Sterling
ReplyDeleteBaton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul apologized on behalf of the department for hiring the officer who killed Alton Sterling, the 37-year-old black man whose July 2016 death spurred protests as part of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“We are sorry Baton Rouge. I want to apologize to the family of Alton Sterling and also to his kids,” Chief Paul said, according to CNN affiliate WAFB.
“We’re sorry because he should have never been hired. And while we obviously cannot change the past, it is clear that we must change the future, and I sincerely apologize for the actions of the past and the role that our profession has played in building barriers in communities of color in Baton Rouge,” said Paul, who joined the department in January 2018.
In March 2018, state officials decided not to file criminal charges against the two officers involved in Sterling’s fatal shooting, saying their actions were justified. But days later, police fired Officer Blane Salamoni for violating use of force policies when he shot Sterling.
Leo Hamilton, an attorney for the Baton Rouge Police Department, said Thursday that Salamoni had a history of misbehavior prior to Sterling’s shooting.
“What became apparent from all the evidence presented to the chief was that Mr. Salamoni had a propensity for acting outside of the standards established by the BRPD for command of temper and use of force,” he said.
More on the cop's troubled past, per CNN:
ReplyDeleteHamilton said Salamoni regularly shouted profanities and abused individuals with unnecessary uses of force, as he did in the Sterling incident. Salamoni’s ill temperament caused “blow ups” with other officers, including one with a ranking officer, Hamilton said. Another officer told their superior that if something weren’t done about Salamoni, he could kill somebody, according to Hamilton.
Hamilton also said that Salamoni had previously been arrested for his involvement in a physical altercation or domestic abuse incident prior to joining the police, which would have kept him from being accepted to the force.
Salamoni’s attorney, John McLindon, said he was very disappointed in the chief’s “inflammatory” remarks.
“The chief did not help out the city very much with his comments. It was irresponsible of him to apologize,” he said.
He said that Salamoni was going to win the appeal but that he just wanted to move on. McLindon also said Salamoni has the option to be a police officer elsewhere if he wants.
“If he ever wanted to get back
From Baton Rouge Advocate and AP:
ReplyDeleteAttorneys for the family of a black man shot and killed by a former police officer in Louisiana have obtained a 2014 complaint accusing the officer of obstructing medical help for a dying victim of a shooting.
News outlets report attorneys for relatives of Alton Sterling unveiled the complaint Monday. Former officer Blane Salamoni fatally shot Sterling outside a Baton Rouge convenience store in 2016.
In 2014, an Emergency Management Services employee stated Salamoni told first responders the patient was already dead. The complaint says the patient was observed breathing. Paramedics rendered aid until the patient died.
Last week , Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul apologized to Sterling’s family and said Salamoni shouldn’t have been hired. The department announced a settlement reversing Salamoni’s firing, allowing him to resign instead.
Steve:
ReplyDeleteLooking for an attorney. That's a slow process. It shouldn't be, but it is.
From watching the video, I counted six or seven shots in the Sterling shooting. That sounds a lot like an execution to me. And convenience stores tend to be high-traffic locations. It's a miracle someone else wasn't hurt or killed.
ReplyDelete