"I Can't Breath!!! are the final words that Eric Garner shouted while the police him him in a vicious chokehold. This chokehold is what lead him to his death which hit the media. The video of this incident was video recorded by a bystander and went viral on all social media platforms. People from everywhere in the world was able to hear Eric Garner's last words. People marched the streets in their hometowns even some traveling other places to Join Black Lives Matter movement marches. They are filled with anger wanting nothing but justice to be served for the many of lives taken by police office who are not going to jail.
What is Police Brutality?
Police Brutality is the use of excessive and unnecessary force that a police officer using when interacting with a civilian, resulting in a violation the civilian civil rights. Sometimes it may seem that police brutality only consists of physical interactions but that's not true. Examples of police brutality that are not physical in nature include false arrests. verbal abuse, and racial profiling.
Police Brutality Statistics
With the help of social media police brutality have been coming to the light. This has led to new study of police brutality statistics, which have become more accurate and unfortunately, more disturbing. What follows are some of the police brutality statistics that have been reported in the recent years:
A study showed that 550 officers lost their jobs or licenses because of sexual assault, from 2009-2014. This included rape, sexual touching, and pat-downs that were excessive so as to be “groping.”
In May of 2015, The Washington Post reported that there were 385 fatal police shootings in the United States. This was estimated to be about two officer-involved shootings each day. This number was twice the rate that had been recorded by the government over the course of the past decade.
That same report found that blacks are killed three times more often than are whites and other minorities, and a quarter of those who were killed were identified as being mentally ill by their family members or by police. However, fewer black people die from police shootings than do whites and Hispanics.
In 98% percent of officer-related shootings, the officer(s) involved were not charged with a crime.
While civilians are indicted in 90% of cases involving murder, only 1% of police officers are indicted for the same charge, when the death was caused by their on-duty actions.
Time for a Change
Overall the media has been a major factor in informing the public on cases of police brutality. New networks such as ABC, CNN, etc. and social networks such as Twitter, Facebook etc. has allowed people to see the wrong doings of "the law" . These networks has also helped to bring people to the streets to march for justice. The videos recording and images that surface over the web is proof that it is time for a change in our world. No, police brutality is not new to us but it is a battle that we have been fighting for way to long with nothing being done. Officer should have the same punishments that civilian s get when they commit these heinous crimes. The system has been extremely hard of African Americans, rejecting and discriminating them because of the color of their skin. It is important that in today's time we continue to fight to be heard and for justice to be served by the system that is suppose to help all people.
Picture Caption: People marching in a protest for the fight against police brutality, held in Maverick County.
Comments