A Call For Justice For All

Recently, 21 year old returning Iraq war veteran Senior Airman Elio Carrion was shot three times by a police officer at the conclusion of a high speed chase in San Bernardino, California. Carrion was not the driver of the car. He was just a passenger who was also a Security officer in Iraq with the training that position requires. After Carrion and the car driver, a friend of his, were apprehended, an independent passer-by videotaped the ensuing scene beginning with Carrion, unarmed, lying prone on the ground. The video shows a police officer pointing a gun at Carrion to keep him at bay, and we hear the audio of the tape in which Carrion is saying "I'm on your side". We also clearly hear the police officer directing Carrion three times to "get up, get up, get up." Next, we see Carrion begin to get up, and we then see the police officer begin firing three shots at Carrion. Carrion was shot three times, but not fatally.

This description fits events that happen all too often throughout America in too many urban areas of the country. And usually, the local community rises in protest of the police action, and charges of racism, police abuse, and calls for state and federal investigations to consider criminal charges and civil rights violations are asserted with outrage throughout the community. I have always been supportive of those efforts to find out exactly what happen and to attempt to make sure that those few police officers who lose control or bring bias to their job are not allowed to get away with these horrific actions. But in this case, there is just one small detail that somehow has transformed the normal response to these cases into a sea change difference in the reaction of the community. You see, in this case, the Iraq war veteran, Elio Carrion, is Latino, and the police officer who shot him, Officer Ivory J. Webb, is Black.

The Carrion family is outraged that Officer Webb himself has not been arrested and criminally prosecuted for his actions. As for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's department, they have accorded Webb the same prerogatives that are always accorded police officers in these situations - and that's the first problem I have with this event. I never agree with any of these prerogatives. Officer Webb has been placed on paid administrative leave, and he was given the standard 48 to sometimes 72 hours to relax, collect himself, and get his story together for his written report. And when there is a video tape involved, the Department spokesmen and top officers immediately hold press conferences to assert that the officer was acting fully within Department guidelines, was responding to an immediate threat, and then warn that what we see on the tape doesn't show the entire picture and cannot be relied on to portray the actual events. BULL! I have always believed that police officers involved in shootings should either not have the luxury of paid leave, or, the paid leave status should be capped at 30 days pending the initial findings of a preliminary review. Secondly, and this is the area where I have always been the most outraged - I do not believe that officers should get two to three days to get their story together- and this is particularly relevant when, as often is the case, several officers are involved. In normal criminal cases, even in car accidents, all parties and the authorities want the statements and facts recounted as quickly as possible, not as delayed as possible. Why? Because memory recall is best relied upon the closer it is to the actual event . Unless it is an opportunity for several participants to get together and coordinate their stories.

And finally, stop kidding us about what's on the video tape. It is what it is.

And beatings when a suspect is subdued and under control, or shooting multiple bullets when the suspect is unarmed, or the audio tape clearly revealing an order to "get up, get up, get up", while you later say the words were actually "shut up, shut up, shut up" - all of these approaches and responses insult all of us and reveal a "wall of obstruction" that we cannot tolerate. But there's more. In this case, the African-American community, and particularly its leadership in the Los Angeles area, has not expressed public outrage and condemnation of the police officer involved even though the circumstances are exactly those that in other situations have motivated the community to march, protest, and issue demands for Department firings and federal Justice Department intervention. We cannot have a double standard in an area so vital to bridging the racial divide in this country.

I have always maintained that its not just racism that causes these events. Its improper training. These officers have their adrenaline rise from high speed chases etc, and they lose control. And that means they are not psychologically suited to be on the force. Period. And if the adrenaline rise takes place with a Black officer, then he or she is subject to the same sanctions and monitoring as everyone else because, in the final analysis, someone is laying on the ground shot who probably shouldn't be. But if the African-American community wants these actions to stop, the community must insist on no exceptions or exemptions from the outrage expressed when these events do occur - regardless of the color of skin involved. Bullets know no skin color distinctions. And to stop these events, we must not know any color distinctions either.

Let me be clear. I am not interested in getting conservative support for my position here, since conservatives tend to always support police shootings no matter what the circumstances, and I reject that. On the other hand, it has been pointed out that the officer involved in this incident is well connected in the community as his father was the former Police Chief of Compton, California. Frankly, I wouldn't care if his father was a friend of Frank Sinatra. If his son's shooting of Mr. Carrion was not justified, then his son must face the consequences. There must be one approach to this issue, and only one. In order to stop unjustified police shootings of Black citizens, we must stop any unjustified police shootings of ALL citizens!