Atatiana Jefferson with nephew, Zion
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Former Fort Worth officer: "I'm afraid when I get stopped" ... Thanx to CBS This Morning
This posting will serve as Part 34 of the "Police Brutality" series of this journal/ blog. A short opening video above, from former Fort Worth police officer, Larhonda Young, to hear her out, on how a former, or even active police officer may feel in public, over police officers that are too quick to shoot. Today you have an increased fear, a real fear too, of why some working class and low income people are reluctant to call police for help, especially in a community with a majority of folks of colour, and feeling they are prone to being gunned down in their own home. This is another unjustified killing of a citizen, a model citizen, at that, by local law enforcement here in the Dallas- Fort Worth area, this time on the Fort Worth side of town. Basically, Atatiana was gunned down and murdered, while playing video games in her home, with her 8 year old newphew, by a Fort Worth police officer, Aaron Dean. As former Dallas Police officer, Amber Guyger, was being sent to prison, for the murder of Botham Jean in "his own" apartment ... officer Dean, across town, is killing another model type citizen in Fort Worth, in her home. The amount of unjustified killing of citizens, and use of excessive force in this country by police, is too large for me to even be able to follow, I have a very small fraction recorded in this journal, I would have to devote this whole journal/ blog to these 7 dayz a week, to keep up with most of them. Some news links below, and a video below that to hear out Atatiana's family and attorney. It's still early in the investigative stage of this, so if anything new of interest comes up, I may add some links. Below at the bottom, I'll add some thoughts of my own.
***** CNN | NICOLE CHAVEZ: The Fort Worth officer who shot Atatiana Jefferson wasn't actually asked to do a wellness check ... (newsread/ video)
***** WFAA8 DALLAS: Tarrant County DA to ask grand jury for murder indictment against Aaron Dean in Atatiana Jefferson's death ... (newsread/ video)
Family of Atatiana Jefferson Demands Justice for Fatal Shooting by Fort Worth Cop ... Thanx to Bloomberg TicToc
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***** PD/ RCJ: "POLICE BRUTALITY" ... PART'S 33 THRU 1
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Thomas Hudson Pickering/ Ranch Chimp
First up, the neighbour, James Smith, who made the call to police to do a wellness check on his neighbour feels awful, but he's been getting much support in the community. I understand how devastated he feels, thinking that if he wouldn't have called the police, Atatiana would still be alive. But this is the fault of the officer, so I hope that Smith can get past this, he said it's even difficult for him to sleep, because he feels somewhat responsible for her death. I don't know the procedure for dispatching officers to a location of a call in Fort Worth ... I would definitely want to fire this dispatcher, if she is the one who sent these units, no excuses, I would fire her, or demotion at minimal. Smith called police, and not emergency 911, just the general non- emergency number. Smith answered all questions properly, even indentifying the vehicles of the residents of the home that were there, just that doors were all open. The front and side interior doors were open, but the glass storm doors were closed, it's a majority black community, I myself know the area, it's not a dangerous high crime area, I been in some really tough areas, so I would know. Somehow, the call was dispatched as an "open structure/ open door" call, this is why I would fire the dispatcher. From what I gathered, 2 units were dispatched to the call, first was an officer Carol Darch, she arrived at 2:28am, and Aaron Dean, he arrived at 2:29am. The procedures the officers took were as if it was a break- in/ burglary in progress call, for some reason ... but still not proper. I mean, they could see the occupants vehicles there, who Smith identified as the vehicles of the people that lived there, lights were on ... at least you would think to check the front door, knock, ring bell, identify themselves as officers, question, etc ... none of this went down. It's the home of Atatiana's mom, she was hospitalized, her daughter Atatiana was staying there, to help her mom out, and was playing video games with her 8 year old nephew, Zion.
Speaking of the kid, Zion, and his account to police about his aunt, Atatiana, grabbing her gun from her purse, movements/ positioning, etc ... this has not been questioned yet in any of the media, why? No, I do not trust, the kid's account of what went down, based on trust and faith only, under these circumstances ... I want to know who all questioned the kid? (according to report, only forensic interviewer), the type of questions and wording?, and I would like to see a video/ audio of the questioning, if I were an attorney representing the victim, there shouldn't be any problem in forking that over, victim's attorney/ crew has a legal right. And don't even tell me some shit, like questioning being based solely on their crew at the scene at 3am, on an 8 year old kid, that had no counsel by his side, and been up playing video games probably for hours, then having to absorb a murder, or some other jerry- rigged, kangaroo type nonsense. It's alwayz importante to get witness accounts as early as possible, for memory reasons of the witness, yes. But I also know how their questioning can be coercive, these are experienced police/ investigators, that know how to coerce even grown adults with decent education, especially when a fellow officer is taking a fall, and an 8 year old kid, under these circumstances, is too easy to mix them up on what they witness ... so I need more than your word. You cannot have an unbiased thorough investigation, without outsider investigation in a case like this. I also feel that we need legislation as far as these tape releases of audio and video, that are edited, in almost every case. Understand, as is, this kid is the key witness in this case, besides officers account at the scene, or if we can get any neighbours, such as Smith, to have imput. Atatiana, by Texas law, has the right to have a gun in her residence, and secondly, she could have a gun on the street for that matter, because she has a concealed carry permit. Her actions, were justified, hearing noises outside her residence at this hour, in protection of herself and the child ... she would have also been justified if she had shot the officer ... there was no bloody evidence for her to know, that it was police creeping around outside.
The surprising thing to hit me, was how quick Officer Dean resigned in this case, and his immediate refusal to not cooperate with his own department and/ or questioning, but, that's his right and choice, it's just somewhat odd. With public outcry and first evidence, interim Police Cheif Kraus, already was going to fire Officer Dean, and had reason to, for a variety of department policy violations, such as de- escalation, unprofessional conduct, use of force, and more. Perhaps, Dean just knew he was going down, and acted quickly to not cooperate, whether it was his decision or his defense ... because CLEAT (Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas) immediately went to his defense, and will be handling his defense in this case. Dean made his $200K bond quick, and despite him being an officer, I see him personally as a flight risk, that's just me, based on his first actions. Dean only been on the department for a year and a half, he was also one of the oldest to graduate from the academy, I haven't seen anything yet on his background, being that he's 35 yrs old, and what he's been doing before he got on the force. Dean is also a member of a more elite tactical SRT (Special Response Team) unit (Guyger in the last posting, was also with a special tactical unit). SRT, is basically a scaled down version of SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics), being on the force for such a short time, I have to wonder, why he was assigned to or requested a unit like SRT?, just found it odd ... and a Hell of a choice of officer to send to a wellness call after 2am, eh? A buddy of mine, Tyrone, worx commercial/ retail security in what's considered as a high crime area of the Pleasant Grove sector of southeast Dallas, but he has often told me, that a problem he sees on the streets in the Grove, is cops being hired who just came out of combat in some place like Iraq or Afghanistan, being they still have that "war zone" in them, and some seem unstable. This is not being anti- veteran, it should be looked at, though ... example, look at the Jordan Edwards killing in neighbouring Balch Springs by Officer Roy Oliver.
We will have to also wait and see how a Tarrant County grand jury will assess this as far as the indictment. As for myself, and the DA, I would expect nothing less than a murder indictment, not something like some degree of manslaughter or less ... Dean intended on killing Atatiana, and it's murder. Even though this is being compared in media to the Amber Guyger killing of Botham Jean case ... I myself don't see these cases as alike. I'm just gonna take a wild guess here ... that Dean will use the fear card as defense, claim that he seen gun, etc ... say that he thought it was a robbery/ burglary suspect. Even though some say that his flashlight reflection on window would have obscured his vision accuracy, no doubt though, considering all and the environment, he had the advantage. I'd be curious to see, how his defense will explain him not identifying himself, or Officer Darch. Or Dean to explain why he did not yell "gun", if he seen one, which is standard procedure required before shooting, to alert partner/ officers, that there is a weapon. I'm sure Darch not only has several violations in this also, but being key in this case, she will have to testify on the stand ... I wonder if Dean will testify in his own defense?, if he's anything like his reaction to the interdepartmental questioning and cooperation, he may choose not to take the stand ... taking the stand for Guyger, actually helped reduce her sentence. It's a natural understanding that a cop can be in fear of his/ her life ... on an urban street, or even in a rural setting, cops get shot and killed too. But this is why they have and practice a system of scenarios and protocol ... that training is for a reason ... there are alot of bad boyz and girlz out there. But this fear of life thing has gotten ridiculous in many cases ... example, look at this case in South Carolina, where Officer Michael Slager killed Walter Scott, a simple fleeing traffic violation suspect, Slager was also in fear of his life, of an unarmed traffic violator, shooting him in the back multiple times while running away, that was 30ft or more from the officer, not even facing the officer or towards the officer, and the officer tampering with evidence and scene ... what kind of fear is that? ... it's a bullshit fear fallacy. Again, change in legislation, is a major key in changing some of these policies too.
Word Out ....
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***** RANCH CHIMP JOURNAL "WELCOME" POST
***** RCJ MUSIC/ ART'S HONOUR ROLL SOCIETY (my hand- selected music/ arts picks)
***** "THE RESISTANCE | PERILS OF THE POWER POSSE" ... ( a 2 part futuristic Ranch Chimp Journal dream to dream on )
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