Help
build a definitive guide to every unreleased video of police brutality
By Shaun
KingFollow
Across
the country, videos of extreme police
brutality and murder exist, but are being concealed by police departments,
prosecutors, and even media organizations. For nearly nine months, a deeply
disturbing video of the Salt Lake City, Utah, police killing of Dillon Taylor
existed, but was concealed not only by police and the district attorney, but
even by the Salt Lake City Tribune.
In
the video, we learned that Taylor, unarmed and committing no crime, posed no
real threat to the officer and was listening to music on his headphones. We
also witnessed the gruesome aftermath of what it truly looks like when someone
is shot at point blank range by the police and then summarily treated like a
criminal. It's one of the worst things you'll ever see in your life and should
inform how you feel about the true impact of police brutality.
Ultimately,
it's my strong belief that every video of police brutality and murder should be
released immediately—not after prosecutors decide not to do anything, not after
all charges are dropped, but as soon as it is humanly possible to load them to
YouTube. The videos are public property, paid for by tax dollars, and inform
the public far better than fictional press releases ever will.
Sadly,
the Taylor video was not the only video being concealed by police and
prosecutors. Below we will include a list of every police violence video that
we know exists that people in power refuse to release.
In
the comments section, please add more links and details and we will update this
post to include them.
Natasha McKenna was killed by police in
Fairfax County, Virginia, on February 3. The police have confirmed that a video
exists but refuse to release it.
Matthew
Ajibade was killed by law enforcement on January 1 in Savannah, Georgia. The
police have confirmed a video exists but refuse to release it.
Laquan
McDonald was shot 16 times and killed by Chicago police on October 20, 2014.
His family received $5 million in a settlement, but officials refuse to release
the video of his killing. It has since been reported that police deleted 100
minutes of video from a nearby Burger King.
Ernest
Satterwhite was shot and killed by police in South Carolina, but police refuse
to release the dashcam footage.
Jonathan
Ferrell was shot and killed by a police officer in Charlotte, North Carolina,
but police refuse to release the video.
Kashad
Ashford was killed by New Jersey police, but they refuse to release the video.
Lawrence
Graham III was shot—apprently three times in the back—and killed by police in
Fayetteville, North Carolina, but police refuse to release the video.
Ricardo
Diaz Zeferino was completely unarmed when police in Gardena, California, shot
and killed him, but they refuse to release the video. His family was given a
$4.5 million wrongful death settlement.
Brandon
Tate Brown was shot and killed by police in Philadelphia in December 2014, but
officials refuse to release several videos of the shooting.
If
you know of any additional cases in which police refuse to release videos,
please post them in the comments section below or email them to
shaun@dailykos.com and we will add them to the list.
ORIGINALLY
POSTED TO SHAUNKING ON THU JUN 04, 2015 AT 08:47 AM PDT.
ALSO
REPUBLISHED BY BARRIERS AND BRIDGES, POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY GROUP, AND DAILY
KOS.
No comments:
Post a Comment