NATASHA LENNARD
Police fire flashbang grenades at James Boyd
as he cooperates (Credit: ProgressNow)
A video showing Albuquerque
cops assaulting, shooting and killing a mentally ill homeless man who was
illegally camping has sparked outrage and calls for greater oversight of the
consistently brutal police department.
ProgressNow, a New Mexico-based
progressive advocacy group, noted that while “Albuquerque’s new police chief,
Gordon Eden, announced Friday that he had determined officers who shot and
killed a homeless camper on city property on March 16 were justified in their
actions … a video from the scene released by the department on the same day
shows officers negotiating a peaceful surrender with the subject, then
attacking him with a flashbang grenade as he walks towards them on their
command.”
When 38-year-old James Boyd
then retreated from the bombardment, he was shot with live rounds and later
died.
The Albuquerque Police
Department has been under federal review by the U.S. Department of Justice
since 2012 when the agency’s record of shooting 25 suspect – 17 fatal –
garnered national attention. The department has added 11 more shootings to that
list since the end of 2012. Albuquerque officers have shot more persons than
the NYPD, a department serving a city 16-times larger, since 2010.