Yvette Smith and Charleena Lyles both called the police to their homes. Yvette needed help with resolving a domestic dispute between two other people. Charleena was reporting a burglary. Both were killed by the public servants who were paid by their tax dollars to protect them.
Melissa Ventura was shot by police responding to a domestic disturbance call.
Jeanetta Riley's husband and Mikel McIntyre's mother summoned the police to help their loved ones during a mental health crisis. They did not receive the kind of help that they sought but lost their loved ones instead.
Jeanetta Riley was threatening suicide. So was Kayden Clarke, who was killed when police responded to a suicide call. Before grandmother Karen Day-Jackson died, she was allegedly telling police to shoot her. After her death, her husband hopes to educate others about the impact that mental health issues have on the larger community.
"Suicide by cop" was also speculated in the baffling case of 14 year old Jason Pero.
Woodcarver John T. Williams was deaf in one ear. When the woodcarver didn't respond to an officer's commands to drop his pocketknife within 4 seconds, he was shot.
Brian Claunch was a double amputee in a wheelchair. He was killed with one shot when he refused to drop the ballpoint pen that he was holding. At the time of his death, he was living in a group home for the mentally ill.
Like Claunch, Tommy Le was holding a pen when he was shot. Tommy Le was shot three times, twice in the back.
Laquan McDonald was shot 16 times, 9 times in the back. Laquan was shot when he was walking away. Mikel was shot when he was running away. Nicolas Chavez was shot while on his knees.
This list is not intended to either victim-blame those who died or to demonize the police officers involved. The circumstances of each case are unique. The reader can make up their own mind as to whether individual deaths were justified.
That said, these 13 names belong to grandkids, grandmas and parents of minor children. These folks are cisgender people and transgender people. These folks include Asian, Black, Latino, Native and Euro American people. These are our relatives and our community members.
Regardless of whether we believe that there is malice on the part of individual public servants, "following procedure" doesn't seem to be working out for the safety of community members in too many situations. As a Texas Observer article regarding the acquittal in the Brian Claunch case asked, "... if [the killing of a double amputee with only one arm to propel his wheelchair] isn’t considered an unjustified use of lethal force by HPD officers, what is?"
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