The death of Michael Brown, a black teenager, in August 2014 turned attention to police officers around America and their choice of actions. Since this case, 251 publicized cases of black suspects being killed by police have been reported, and police brutality is now one of the most scrutinized American occurrences today. The argument created by racial profiling has been on-going and most evident since Brown’s shooting.
New American media trends show a high amount of American citizens waiting for an excuse as to why any case of police brutality is justified. Most case claims of police brutality that have been publicized often say a suspect came at them, tried to grab their gun or ran away. One of these examples was in the Michael Brown case, where Darren Wilson claimed Brown punched him several times and tried to grab his gun. Brown was shot to death by Wilson, who was not indicted under the claim that he was acting in self-defense.
Another trend is using supposed pre-existing medical conditions to justify the brutality committed against victims, such as Eric Garner or the most recent, Freddie Gray. Both men died while in police custody, Garner of an illegal chokehold and Gray from a severed spine that did not receive immediate medical attention.
After Freddie Gray’s death in Baltimore April 19, protests ensued throughout the city. The largest – and perhaps scariest part of Gray’s death – was how he was arrested by police, handcuffed and put into their van conscious, but came out comatose with his spine severed and a swelled brain, ultimately resulting in his death. Online forums and articles were quick to come up with claims that his spine was injured due to a pre-existing condition from a car accident just a week before his arrest. Anonymous online sources claimed a lawsuit filed connected to Gray’s name was because of the supposed car accident, which is not backed up by any actual evidence. An attorney that is currently representing the Gray family has confirmed that the case is actually concerning lead paint, something completely unrelated to a severed spine. But, despite these fervent claims made by the media to discredit the Grays’ family case, the six cops involved with Gray have been charged with manslaughter, homicide and misconduct.
“The manner of death deemed a homicide by the Maryland State Medical Examiner is believed to be the result of a fatal injury that occurred while Mr. Gray was unrestrained by a seatbelt in the custody of the Baltimore Police Department wagon,” said Marilyn Mosby, Baltimore State’s Attorney, who announced the charges of the officers May 1.
However, the fates of these cops are not always the same for those who commit similar crimes. Examples of these are of Darren Wilson and Daniel Pantaleo, both cops that killed their suspects and were not charged. Their victims, Mike Brown and Eric Garner, were both unarmed. Brown was killed by Wilson with several gunshot wounds, protests and riots erupting in Ferguson where the shooting took place. Garner was a victim of Pantaleo, who put Garner in an illegal chokehold, which became the cause of his death.
While Eric Garner’s death happened a month before Mike Brown’s, the publicity surrounding his case was not extensive, despite his death being caught on video by a bystander. The video included Garner being caught in a chokehold by one of the cops arresting him, a move prohibited by the New York Police Department (NYPD). The reasoning behind Garner being pursued was the claim that he was suspected to be selling “loosies”, or single cigarettes from packs without tax stamps. Despite video evidence of Garner’s death, Daniel Pantaleo was not indicted.
“The grand jury kept interviewing witnesses but you didn’t need witnesses,” Esaw Garner, Eric Garner’s widow, told the New York Daily News, speaking about the video. “You can be a witness for yourself…”
After his arrest, Garner and the officers waited for an ambulance to arrive, and upon arrival, EMTs did not perform CPR on Garner because they believed he was still breathing. Similar to the reception of Freddie Gray’s incident, media was quick to dig up Garner’s medical history, claiming his asthma could have been the cause of his death – not Pantaleo. This is despite medical examiners proclaiming Garner’s death was caused by “compression of neck (chokehold), compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police.” These examiners ruled Garner’s death as homicide, but on December 3, six months later, a grand jury made the decision to not indict Pantaleo. Since then, rallies against police brutality have been held for Eric Garner, and the Justice Department announced an independent federal investigation.
While Wilson and Pantaleo were cases of a perhaps failing Justice System, there is still vague hope. The protesters in Ferguson, who were claiming racial bias in their police department, have been listened to by the Justice Department. After extensive investigation, the Justice Department vindicated their claims of this bias and police abuse in March, followed by the Ferguson police chief resigning. Marilyn Mosby responded to the Baltimore protests with the announcement of the charges regarding the six police responsible for Freddie Gray’s death, and the police force did not respond to the protests in the same violent fashion as those in Ferguson.
While racial profiling connected to police brutality is often heavily ignored, these small instances can make a wider impact. The act of racial profiling in America’s police force is finally being viewed less as a supposed claim for attention and more as an actual issue within this country. Perhaps the erupting protests are a start of a new age, for an increasingly growing problem.
