Throughout history there has been many problems involving racial profiling and police misconduct. Very rarely do police get the proper punishment for their wrong doings. One of the most recent cases was the Oscar Grant case. Oscar Grant was 22 years old when he was killed because of police misconduct. He was killed on New Year’s Day 2009 by Ex-BART cop Johannes Mehserle. This misconduct made the people of Oakland extremely angry because they lost one of their own. After the shooting many people around Oakland started protesting. This lasted for months on end because people were very angry. Bystanders videotaped the incident. This has been one of the most racially polarizing cases in California (Ravindhran). On New Year’s Day 2009, the police were called because a fight broke out on a train in Oakland, California. Oscar Grant and some of his friends were pulled off the train by former cop Johannes Mehserle. Grant struggled some with the officers while being arrested, but then he was restrained. Oscar Grant was lying on the platform when Johannes Mehserle shot him around 2 am. Granted had both hands behind his back and he was also unarmed when he was shot (Bulwa). The shooting made national headlines because bystanders videotaped it. These videos went viral and they made their way to the news (Cater). Johannes Mehserle was arrested on January 13th for the murder of Oscar Grant. Mehserle was granted bail; it was set at three million dollars (Bulwa). He testified that he thought that Oscar Grant had a weapon and was going to stock him with his stun gun but by accident he pulled out his gun. The prosecutors were trying to get him convicted of second-degree murder, by saying Mehserle was angry with Grant for resting the arres... ... middle of paper ... ...hy he shot Grant. Both of these factors played a huge role to charge Mehserle with murder (Bulwa). The judged decide because there was no evidence to prove that Mehserle intended to shoot grant, he dismissed the gun enhancement. Which could have added an additional 10 years to his sentence (Anthony). The decision not to enforce the gun enhancement act stunned Oscar Grant supporters. Hundreds of people rallied in honor of Grant outside Oakland City Hall. In fear of a riot starting banks, businesses, and city hall boarded up windows and doors. UC Oakland evacuated buildings and the courts closed early (Richardson). It was in till night fell upon the city of Oakland, when the protests against the sentence turn violent. There were reports from the Oakland PD that a car hit an officer, another officers gun holster was taken from him, and many windows were broken.
John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo are two murderers that are known as the Beltway Sniper. Muhammad and Malvo killings are known to be random, which categorizes their killings as a killing spree. During the duration of their killing spree, they caused major panic throughout the United States. This notorious shootings that terrorized the United States took place in 2002. The shootings ended up taking the lives of 10 individuals and injuring 3 others (Blades, 2005, para.1). The shooting at the time it took place is considered unique because their weapon of choice to carry out their plan was a sniper rifle. What is unique about this case is that investigators and criminal theorist
During the years 1992 and 2000, a series of developments and events occurred that changed the way America functions. Of these events, two stuck out in the minds of many people as the national news coverage was hard to ignore. These two events that occurred resulted in many changes, Rodney King and the Los Angeles riots of 1992 and the disputed election of 2000. It proves that one person can be the reason behind an event that will cause local and national governments and officials to stop and think of the consequences, both negative and positive. The Los Angeles riots kicked off on the twenty-ninth day of April 1992 following the acquitting of four officers who had beaten and injured a motorist in the previous year.
charge when Major Booth was killed by a sharpshooter as he was making rounds and
Rodney King thought that the misconduct of the police would pass by as many other misconduct reports that had not been successful due to the lack of evidence. However, Rodney King case was different. A bystander had film part of the brutal beating that Mr. King had received by four officers of the LAPD. A few months later Mr. King filed a lawsuit against the four officers clamming that the officers had use excessive force and had assaulted him with deadly weapons. On the other hand, the four officers alleged that Mr. King had resisted to the arrest, and had attempted to rush over one of the officers. The following three months of trial a sensation of racial tension could be behold by the African American population and the mostly White Police Department. On the final day of the trial, the Jury which was composed of no African American members decided to acquit the four officers of all charges (CNN, 2012). The African American population of Los Angeles did not liked the decision the jury had given and exploded in outrage. Rioters started to destroy the city and attack individuals who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. According to CNN (2012) the three day riots caused more than fifty
This incident would have produced nothing more than another report for resisting arrest had a bystander, George Holliday, not videotaped the altercation. Holliday then released the footage to the media. LAPD Officers Lawrence Powell, Stacey Koon, Timothy Wind and Theodore Brisino were indicted and charged with assaulting King. Superior Court Judge Stanley Weisberg ordered a change of venue to suburban Simi Valley, which is a predominantly white suburb of Los Angeles. All officers were subsequently acquitted by a jury comprised of 10 whites, one Hispanic and one Asian, and the African American community responded in a manner far worse than the Watts Riots of 1965. ?While the King beating was tragic, it was just the trigger that released the rage of a community in economic strife and a police department in serious dec...
The article, Racial Conflict, written by Peter Katel in January 8, 2016, is about racism in the United State and to discuss if U.S. policies are discriminatory. Propelled largely by videos of violent police confrontations with African- Americans, protesters have taken to the streets in Chicago, New York and other cities demanding changes in police tactics. These brutal policing tactics had lead persons to say that U.S. policies are discriminatory. For example, Chicago police officer shot 17-year-old Laquan Mc Donald 16 times in the street. Official kept the video away from the public until a reporter forced its release through freedom of information request. Keeping the video under wrap prove that Mc Donald was killed innocently which also
It was a glorious April 4th evening as Martin Luther King and hundreds of followers were gathering for a civil rights march. Many cheered on as the civil rights leader graciously out step on the second floor balcony of the Motel Lorraine. Roaring cheers rose from the crowd rose up as Martin Luther King stand there waving his arm with his heart warming smile waiting for the uprising taper off so he can continue with his speech. When suddenly a piercing blast broke the noise and the crowd’s cheerful spirit died. A cold chill went through all who were present fore in the back of their minds there was no doubt that their King had just been shot.
Police brutality has become one of the hot topics within the media within the past few years. It’s always been around but its being discussed and speculated now more than ever, because of technology like cell phones, people are able to record what is happening, which furthers the attention of the police’s over excessive force within their communities. Still even with cellphone footage of cops killing these innocent people, they get acquitted and get put on leave from their job with pay until all of it blows over and they begin working again. Some cops believe that because they’re hiding behind a badge, they get a pass at murdering people and call it self-defense and refuse to take responsibility for their actions, which is a technique of neutralization. Minorities, especially African-Americans suffer many injustices from law enforcement especially in terms of being killed, brutalized, and longer jail sentences
Police shootings occur all over the world but are a huge problem within the United States. We continue to hear more and more about them. These shootings are making headlines. Front page news it seems almost weekly. All the shootings go one of two ways.
The officers were acquitted of use of excessive force and abuse. This started riots in Los Angeles that rocked our country. This was the beginning of a stigma and stereotype that would be placed on all police officers. The stigma was that Rodney King was brutally beaten because he was black. The media portrayal of incidences across the nation since 1991 only heightened the stereotype. There was a very similar incident in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 with the shooting of Michael Brown by a white officer. The coverage for Ferguson lasted for weeks and put the police in a very negative light. The Portland Press Herald states that “many police think they’re being stereotyped as racist and brutal” (Wise). There also seems to be a stereotype within a stereotype. Besides the stereotype of police officers profiling young black men, is the stereotype that all young black men are thugs, especially if they’re in neighborhoods known for gang and drug activity. “Our country 's history, culture and social divide feed a subconscious attachment to stereotypes, even in the minds of people with no measurable racial bias.”
On the night of August 9th, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri, Officer Darren Wilson shot and killed an unarmed, 18 year old, Michael Brown. Officer Wilson was tried for the murder of Michael Brown by the state of Missouri’s Grand Jury and was found not guilty. Officer Wilson was not wearing a body camera. The town of Ferguson was outraged as violent riots and protests broke out because of the ruling (Buchanan). Mentioned in Larry Buchanan’s New York Times article titled “What Happened in Ferguson?” Many citizens of Ferguson and others who heard about the story across the United States argue that Officer Wilson used excessive force in the altercation and should be guilty of murder; however, the court and jury members believed differently.
Police brutality, for quite some time now that is all that’s been heard of all over the news. People seem to think that it’s a real threat to society and that they shouldn’t trust the cops. This is usually a bigger topic for minorities such as blacks, Asians, and Hispanics, who seem to think that cops have it out for them. Cops simply do their job and sometimes that includes using force. An example of this would be in the case of Tamir rice. Tamir had what appeared to be a real gun, the orange indicator that indicated it was a toy gun had been removed and from a distance It was easily confused as a real gun. Cops used force considered by many to be too extreme, when in reality cops just assumed the boy was reaching for his gun. No cop wants
officers were acquitted by a jury in a verdict that shocked much of the country. The
January 1st, 2009, Oscar Grant was Killed by a white police officer. The police officer, Johannes Mehserle, was not found for murder but for involuntary manslaughter. The shooting that day was filmed by a bystander on his phone. When Mehserle shot Grant, he thought he was reaching for his gun but he was wrong (Macaskill, Ewen). Grant was unarmed and most people of Oakland were so angry when the jury announced they weren't charging Mehserle for murder that "rioters trashed parts of Oakland, California... In protest against the verdict in a controversial court case in which a white police man shot dead an unarmed African American" (Macaskill, Ewen). Up to 1,000 protesters took the streets and wore masks of Oscar Grants face. Rioters attacked journalists and many shops boarded up their windows in fear of being attacked. (Macaskill, Ewen).
Police officers have been in the public eye these past couple years due to their use of deadly force. However, the public is not seeing police officers point of view of the situation and believe this is all due to racial issues. Just recently in the city of Chicago three police officers responded to a car cash where a man was under the influence of drugs and being very violent toward these officers. The three officers were beaten by this man even though they had all rights to use lethal force toward this gentlemen they didn't due to the issue that they didn't want to put the department in that situation. According to ABC eyewitness news Supt. Johnson said this is what one of the female officers had said "She thought she was going to die.