Memphis Community Unleash Their Rage After Local Man Shot “16-20” Times by Cops

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrnsODkNjs4

The shooting death of a 20-year-old black man by federal law enforcement agents in Memphis last week sparked a riot that left more than 20 police officers injured and many more Americans confused as to why a community would become so enraged over a man wanted on felony charges.

After all, Brandon Webber was wanted for allegedly shooting a man in Mississippi five times before stealing his car. He was said to have been driving that car when U.S. Marshals tried to serve the warrant

multiple felony warrants for aggravated assault and armed robbery

“aggravated assault, armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.” District Attorney John Champion said the warrants were related to crimes committed earlier this month in Mississippi, according to CNN.

What these Americans may not have realized is that these uprisings in black communities across the country are a reaction to years of abuse and shootings at the hands of police. It’s never just about that one suspect; it’s about the daily oppression.

Besides, as a Memphis mayoral candidate and current council member pointed out, it has become painfully obvious that police in this country treat white felons much better than they do black felons.

One only has to look at the case of Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old white man who murdered nine black members of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in a racial rampage in 2015, wrote Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer in a CNN opinion column.

Less than a day after the racist massacre, Roof, who was armed, was arrested without getting beaten or shot. Local officers then removed Roof’s handcuffs and bought him Burger King because his satiety was clearly of high concern at the moment.

As Sawyer notes in her column:

If we lived in an America where all people were treated with care until their day in court, maybe Roof’s arrest experience would not have been so jarring, especially to so many in black communities, who were still reeling from the emotional trauma of Roof’s actions. The entire situation left the perception among many in black communities, myself included, that some people are treated very differently than others in their interactions with police.

In the Memphis case, Brandon Webber was sought for multiple felony warrants for “aggravated assault, armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.” District Attorney John Champion said the warrants were related to crimes committed earlier this month in Mississippi, according to CNN.

Federal marshals were trying to serve Webber with the warrants when he allegedly stepped into his car and rammed the officers’ cars. According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations, Webber “then exited the vehicle with a weapon.”

The federal officers shot at Webber, killing him, “in response to a threat posed by the subject,” the US Marshals Service told CNN. Because federal agents are not required to wear body cameras, there is no footage to dispute or confirm their recount of the incident.

What is known is that Webber was shot between 16-20 times

as tweeted by Tami Sawyer, Shelby County Commissioner – the county Webber was killed in. In a piece she wrote for CNN, Sawyer thinks back to the Charleston, South Carolina church shooting that happened in 2015.

Although Sawyer admits that not enough information is known to directly compare Roof’s situation with Webber’s, she says, “the perception, that race is a determining factor in how things proceed when people are confronted by police, is undeniable to me and to many others.”

She adds that the outcome of the chaotic police-community standoff stemmed from the protest of Webber’s death “must be understood as a symptom of continued racial inequity in the justice system.”

“Until we have a fair and balanced criminal justice system, communities such as Frayser will continue to fill the street in pain and horror when one of their own ends up dead instead of getting their right to a day in court.”

Webber’s case was not the first fatal police shooting of a black man to cause an uproar in a community and, likely, will not be the last.

Michael Brown, unarmed, was fatally shot “more than just a couple” times by Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson in 2014. An altercation that left Brown’s body lying dead in the street for hours lit a fire of rage in the predominantly black city. Stores were broken into and burned. Cars were vandalized. Tear gas was deployed into the crowd by officers. Reinforcement was called. A U.S. Department of Justice investigation found racial bias within the Ferguson police and court system. Wilson was not prosecuted.

Stephon Clark, unarmed, was fatally shot 20 times by Sacramento police officers in 2018. He was in his grandmother’s backyard. Officers Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet were dispatched to investigate a possible vandalism in a neighborhood and 10 minutes later, Clark was dead. The officers claimed Clark was armed, but unless cell phones are now considered dangerous, no weapon was found. Protestors took over Sacramento City Hall. Some even crashed one of the officer’s wedding hours before he was supposed to say, “I do.”

“We’re not violent, we’re not gonna give to them what they brought to our community, we’re not gonna hurt anyone, but we are gonna make them uncomfortable, and they should — because someone is dead,” Sacramento Black Lives Matter founder Tanya Faison told CBS.

Neither officer was charged with a crime.

Eric Garner shouted the words that would ring in ears everywhere long after his death: “I can’t breathe.” Garner died because New York police officer Daniel Pantaleo placed him in a chokehold and disregarded his plea for air. He sold untaxed cigarettes and had been arrested multiple times in the past. That was why police attempted to apprehend Garner and until that humid day in July, 2015, Garner had a relatively safe relationship with local police. Staten Island grand jury decided not to indict Pantaleo. A “royal shutdown” ensued. Protesters greeted Prince William and Duchess Kate with a massive demonstration that morphed into a die-in outside the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn.

Freddie Gray suffered and died from a spinal cord injury comparable to diving into water too shallow, according to medical experts, while under the watch of Baltimore, Maryland police. Gray was charged with illegal possession of a switchblade and dragged into the back of a police van. He was not fastened with a seatbelt, but instead, his hands and feet were shackled. Gray died one week later. All six officers involved in his death faced no repercussions. Cars were set ablaze, stores were broken into and more than a dozen officers were injured as a result of his death.

History shows communities, whether connected by region or race, stand their ground when one of their own has been hurt. Peaceful protests have the potential to escalate into violent riots that hurt people physically hoping to heal emotionally.

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, however, protests remained calm as family and friends took in the death of Terence Crutcher by the hands of former officer Betty Shelby. In an interview with CBS, Executive Director of the Perception Institute Alexis McGill Johnson attributed the civil atmosphere to the swift, transparent correspondence the city and police department had with community members..

On her way to respond to a call, Shelby found a car in the middle of two lanes. Without activating her dash cam, Shelby left her car to investigate. An affidavit filed by the chief investigator for the Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office reported Shelby found Crutcher as she was circling the car. Records stated Crutcher would not answer Shelby’s questions and kept putting his hands in his pocket. Video footage shows Crutcher backing toward the car with his hands raised. Shelby said Crutcher was reaching inside the car window and shot him out of fear he would pull out a weapon. Some dispute that claim, saying that scenario is impossible because the car window was not down.

No matter what transpired between Shelby and Crutcher that fatal Friday and despite Shelby not facing federal civil rights charges, Tulsa did what other cities experiencing similar police-community strife seem to fail at – they communicated. Open and transparent dialogue is what alleviates fear.

Fear is a natural reaction when a person can imagine themselves being the next victim in an avoidable killing. However, officers should not have the luxury of shooting first, then assessing a situation later out of fear when suspects are not posing a threat and not carrying a weapon.

The burden of repairing broken relationships and diminishing distrust within a community is on local government leaders. Johnson believes this can happen when “police are willing to submit to being governed and not being protected by the ‘blue wall of silence.’”

Memphis Police Department from the Brandon Webber case mentioned earlier tweeted out the department has gone to Level 3, meaning every officer will work in pairs and without off-days and there will be more police presence in the city, adding the hashtags #supportmpd and #bestinblue.

The hashtags could be seen as divisive considering the competing history #bluelivesmatter and #blacklivesmatter have. The #Blacklivesmatter movement started after George Zimmerman was not prosecuted for killing 17-year-old, black, Trayvon Martin. #Bluelivesmatter originated in response to #blacklivesmatter after two New York City cops were killed in a homicide.

Several questions remain to be answered including how many gunshots is enough to disarm a suspect? And are local leaders serious about repairing damaged relationships with their minority members?

At this point, racial inequality is hard to dispute when incidents continuously arise of white and non-white people being treated differently by authorities. The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution grants the right to due process or fair and equal treatment in judicial procedure. TBI is still investigating the fatal altercation between Webber and US Marshals, so whether he was treated with fairness and equality, according to them, is still unknown.

***

As reported by CNN, Brandon Webber, 20,

For those living outside the black community in Memphis

Shelby County Commissioner – the county Webber was killed in. In a piece she wrote for CNN, Sawyer thinks back to the Charleston, South Carolina church shooting that happened in 2015.

What is known is that Webber was shot between 16-20 times as tweeted by

*****

Many in Memphis, Tennessee woke up Wednesday morning expecting a regular day, yet many slept that night confused and distraught as people tried to wrap their heads around the third officer-involved shooting in its county this year. U.S. Marshals shot and killed a black man that sparked a protest and left over 30 Memphis officers injured.

As reported by CNN, Brandon Webber, 20, was sought after for multiple felony warrants for “aggravated assault, armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.” District Attorney John Champion said the warrants were related to crimes committed earlier this month in Mississippi.

*****

Many in Memphis, Tennessee woke up Wednesday morning expecting a regular day, yet many slept that night confused and distraught as people tried to wrap their heads around the third officer-involved shooting in its county this year. U.S. Marshals shot and killed a black man that sparked a protest and left over 30 Memphis officers injured.

As reported by CNN, Brandon Webber, 20, was sought after for multiple felony warrants for “aggravated assault, armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.” District Attorney John Champion said the warrants were related to crimes committed earlier this month in Mississippi.

Marshals were trying to serve Webber with his warrants when he allegedly got into his car and rammed the officers’ cars. According to Tennessee Bureau of Investigations, Webber “then exited the vehicle with a weapon.” The federal officers shot at Webber, killing him, “in response to a threat posed by the subject,” the US Marshals Service told CNN. Because federal agents are not required to wear body cameras, there is no footage to dispute or confirm their recount of the incident.

What is known is that Webber was shot between 16-20 times as tweeted by Tami Sawyer, Shelby County Commissioner – the county Webber was killed in. In a piece she wrote for CNN, Sawyer thinks back to the Charleston, South Carolina church shooting that happened in 2015.

A white Dylann Roof, 21, murdered nine black members of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in a racial rampage. Less than a day after the racist massacre, Roof, who was armed, was arrested. However, local officers freed Roof of his cuffs and bought him Burger King because his satiety was clearly of high concern at the moment.

Although Sawyer admits that not enough information is known to directly compare Roof’s situation with Webber’s, she says, “the perception, that race is a determining factor in how things proceed when people are confronted by police, is undeniable to me and to many others.”

She adds that the outcome of the chaotic police-community standoff stemmed from the protest of Webber’s death “must be understood as a symptom of continued racial inequity in the justice system.”

“Until we have a fair and balanced criminal justice system, communities such as Frayser will continue to fill the street in pain and horror when one of their own ends up dead instead of getting their right to a day in court.”

Webber’s case was not the first fatal police shooting of a black man to cause an uproar in a community and, likely, will not be the last.

Michael Brown, unarmed, was fatally shot “more than just a couple” times by Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson in 2014. An altercation that left Brown’s body lying dead in the street for hours lit a fire of rage in the predominantly black city. Stores were broken into and burned. Cars were vandalized. Tear gas was deployed into the crowd by officers. Reinforcement was called. A U.S. Department of Justice investigation found racial bias within the Ferguson police and court system. Wilson was not prosecuted.

Stephon Clark, unarmed, was fatally shot 20 times by Sacramento police officers in 2018. He was in his grandmother’s backyard. Officers Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet were dispatched to investigate a possible vandalism in a neighborhood and 10 minutes later, Clark was dead. The officers claimed Clark was armed, but unless cell phones are now considered dangerous, no weapon was found. Protestors took over Sacramento City Hall. Some even crashed one of the officer’s wedding hours before he was supposed to say, “I do.”

“We’re not violent, we’re not gonna give to them what they brought to our community, we’re not gonna hurt anyone, but we are gonna make them uncomfortable, and they should — because someone is dead,” Sacramento Black Lives Matter founder Tanya Faison told CBS.

Neither officer was charged with a crime.

Eric Garner shouted the words that would ring in ears everywhere long after his death: “I can’t breathe.” Garner died because New York police officer Daniel Pantaleo placed him in a chokehold and disregarded his plea for air. He sold untaxed cigarettes and had been arrested multiple times in the past. That was why police attempted to apprehend Garner and until that humid day in July, 2015, Garner had a relatively safe relationship with local police. Staten Island grand jury decided not to indict Pantaleo. A “royal shutdown” ensued. Protesters greeted Prince William and Duchess Kate with a massive demonstration that morphed into a die-in outside the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn.

Freddie Gray suffered and died from a spinal cord injury comparable to diving into water too shallow, according to medical experts, while under the watch of Baltimore, Maryland police. Gray was charged with illegal possession of a switchblade and dragged into the back of a police van. He was not fastened with a seatbelt, but instead, his hands and feet were shackled. Gray died one week later. All six officers involved in his death faced no repercussions. Cars were set ablaze, stores were broken into and more than a dozen officers were injured as a result of his death.

History shows communities, whether connected by region or race, stand their ground when one of their own has been hurt. Peaceful protests have the potential to escalate into violent riots that hurt people physically hoping to heal emotionally.

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, however, protests remained calm as family and friends took in the death of Terence Crutcher by the hands of former officer Betty Shelby. In an interview with CBS, Executive Director of the Perception Institute Alexis McGill Johnson attributed the civil atmosphere to the swift, transparent correspondence the city and police department had with community members..

On her way to respond to a call, Shelby found a car in the middle of two lanes. Without activating her dash cam, Shelby left her car to investigate. An affidavit filed by the chief investigator for the Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office reported Shelby found Crutcher as she was circling the car. Records stated Crutcher would not answer Shelby’s questions and kept putting his hands in his pocket. Video footage shows Crutcher backing toward the car with his hands raised. Shelby said Crutcher was reaching inside the car window and shot him out of fear he would pull out a weapon. Some dispute that claim, saying that scenario is impossible because the car window was not down.

No matter what transpired between Shelby and Crutcher that fatal Friday and despite Shelby not facing federal civil rights charges, Tulsa did what other cities experiencing similar police-community strife seem to fail at – they communicated. Open and transparent dialogue is what alleviates fear.

Fear is a natural reaction when a person can imagine themselves being the next victim in an avoidable killing. However, officers should not have the luxury of shooting first, then assessing a situation later out of fear when suspects are not posing a threat and not carrying a weapon.

The burden of repairing broken relationships and diminishing distrust within a community is on local government leaders. Johnson believes this can happen when “police are willing to submit to being governed and not being protected by the ‘blue wall of silence.’”

Memphis Police Department from the Brandon Webber case mentioned earlier tweeted out the department has gone to Level 3, meaning every officer will work in pairs and without off-days and there will be more police presence in the city, adding the hashtags #supportmpd and #bestinblue.

The hashtags could be seen as divisive considering the competing history #bluelivesmatter and #blacklivesmatter have. The #Blacklivesmatter movement started after George Zimmerman was not prosecuted for killing 17-year-old, black, Trayvon Martin. #Bluelivesmatter originated in response to #blacklivesmatter after two New York City cops were killed in a homicide.

Several questions remain to be answered including how many gunshots is enough to disarm a suspect? And are local leaders serious about repairing damaged relationships with their minority members?

At this point, racial inequality is hard to dispute when incidents continuously arise of white and non-white people being treated differently by authorities. The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution grants the right to due process or fair and equal treatment in judicial procedure. TBI is still investigating the fatal altercation between Webber and US Marshals, so whether he was treated with fairness and equality, according to them, is still unknown.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrnsODkNjs4

The shooting death of a 20-year-old black man by federal law enforcement agents in Memphis last week sparked a riot that left more than 20 police officers injured and many more Americans confused as to why a community would become so enraged over a man wanted on felony charges.

After all, Brandon Webber was wanted for allegedly shooting a man in Mississippi five times before stealing his car. He was said to have been driving that car when U.S. Marshals tried to serve the warrant

multiple felony warrants for aggravated assault and armed robbery

“aggravated assault, armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.” District Attorney John Champion said the warrants were related to crimes committed earlier this month in Mississippi, according to CNN.

What these Americans may not have realized is that these uprisings in black communities across the country are a reaction to years of abuse and shootings at the hands of police. It’s never just about that one suspect; it’s about the daily oppression.

Besides, as a Memphis mayoral candidate and current council member pointed out, it has become painfully obvious that police in this country treat white felons much better than they do black felons.

One only has to look at the case of Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old white man who murdered nine black members of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in a racial rampage in 2015, wrote Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer in a CNN opinion column.

Less than a day after the racist massacre, Roof, who was armed, was arrested without getting beaten or shot. Local officers then removed Roof’s handcuffs and bought him Burger King because his satiety was clearly of high concern at the moment.

As Sawyer notes in her column:

If we lived in an America where all people were treated with care until their day in court, maybe Roof’s arrest experience would not have been so jarring, especially to so many in black communities, who were still reeling from the emotional trauma of Roof’s actions. The entire situation left the perception among many in black communities, myself included, that some people are treated very differently than others in their interactions with police.

In the Memphis case, Brandon Webber was sought for multiple felony warrants for “aggravated assault, armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.” District Attorney John Champion said the warrants were related to crimes committed earlier this month in Mississippi, according to CNN.

Federal marshals were trying to serve Webber with the warrants when he allegedly stepped into his car and rammed the officers’ cars. According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations, Webber “then exited the vehicle with a weapon.”

The federal officers shot at Webber, killing him, “in response to a threat posed by the subject,” the US Marshals Service told CNN. Because federal agents are not required to wear body cameras, there is no footage to dispute or confirm their recount of the incident.

What is known is that Webber was shot between 16-20 times

as tweeted by Tami Sawyer, Shelby County Commissioner – the county Webber was killed in. In a piece she wrote for CNN, Sawyer thinks back to the Charleston, South Carolina church shooting that happened in 2015.

Although Sawyer admits that not enough information is known to directly compare Roof’s situation with Webber’s, she says, “the perception, that race is a determining factor in how things proceed when people are confronted by police, is undeniable to me and to many others.”

She adds that the outcome of the chaotic police-community standoff stemmed from the protest of Webber’s death “must be understood as a symptom of continued racial inequity in the justice system.”

“Until we have a fair and balanced criminal justice system, communities such as Frayser will continue to fill the street in pain and horror when one of their own ends up dead instead of getting their right to a day in court.”

Webber’s case was not the first fatal police shooting of a black man to cause an uproar in a community and, likely, will not be the last.

Michael Brown, unarmed, was fatally shot “more than just a couple” times by Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson in 2014. An altercation that left Brown’s body lying dead in the street for hours lit a fire of rage in the predominantly black city. Stores were broken into and burned. Cars were vandalized. Tear gas was deployed into the crowd by officers. Reinforcement was called. A U.S. Department of Justice investigation found racial bias within the Ferguson police and court system. Wilson was not prosecuted.

Stephon Clark, unarmed, was fatally shot 20 times by Sacramento police officers in 2018. He was in his grandmother’s backyard. Officers Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet were dispatched to investigate a possible vandalism in a neighborhood and 10 minutes later, Clark was dead. The officers claimed Clark was armed, but unless cell phones are now considered dangerous, no weapon was found. Protestors took over Sacramento City Hall. Some even crashed one of the officer’s wedding hours before he was supposed to say, “I do.”

“We’re not violent, we’re not gonna give to them what they brought to our community, we’re not gonna hurt anyone, but we are gonna make them uncomfortable, and they should — because someone is dead,” Sacramento Black Lives Matter founder Tanya Faison told CBS.

Neither officer was charged with a crime.

Eric Garner shouted the words that would ring in ears everywhere long after his death: “I can’t breathe.” Garner died because New York police officer Daniel Pantaleo placed him in a chokehold and disregarded his plea for air. He sold untaxed cigarettes and had been arrested multiple times in the past. That was why police attempted to apprehend Garner and until that humid day in July, 2015, Garner had a relatively safe relationship with local police. Staten Island grand jury decided not to indict Pantaleo. A “royal shutdown” ensued. Protesters greeted Prince William and Duchess Kate with a massive demonstration that morphed into a die-in outside the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn.

Freddie Gray suffered and died from a spinal cord injury comparable to diving into water too shallow, according to medical experts, while under the watch of Baltimore, Maryland police. Gray was charged with illegal possession of a switchblade and dragged into the back of a police van. He was not fastened with a seatbelt, but instead, his hands and feet were shackled. Gray died one week later. All six officers involved in his death faced no repercussions. Cars were set ablaze, stores were broken into and more than a dozen officers were injured as a result of his death.

History shows communities, whether connected by region or race, stand their ground when one of their own has been hurt. Peaceful protests have the potential to escalate into violent riots that hurt people physically hoping to heal emotionally.

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, however, protests remained calm as family and friends took in the death of Terence Crutcher by the hands of former officer Betty Shelby. In an interview with CBS, Executive Director of the Perception Institute Alexis McGill Johnson attributed the civil atmosphere to the swift, transparent correspondence the city and police department had with community members..

On her way to respond to a call, Shelby found a car in the middle of two lanes. Without activating her dash cam, Shelby left her car to investigate. An affidavit filed by the chief investigator for the Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office reported Shelby found Crutcher as she was circling the car. Records stated Crutcher would not answer Shelby’s questions and kept putting his hands in his pocket. Video footage shows Crutcher backing toward the car with his hands raised. Shelby said Crutcher was reaching inside the car window and shot him out of fear he would pull out a weapon. Some dispute that claim, saying that scenario is impossible because the car window was not down.

No matter what transpired between Shelby and Crutcher that fatal Friday and despite Shelby not facing federal civil rights charges, Tulsa did what other cities experiencing similar police-community strife seem to fail at – they communicated. Open and transparent dialogue is what alleviates fear.

Fear is a natural reaction when a person can imagine themselves being the next victim in an avoidable killing. However, officers should not have the luxury of shooting first, then assessing a situation later out of fear when suspects are not posing a threat and not carrying a weapon.

The burden of repairing broken relationships and diminishing distrust within a community is on local government leaders. Johnson believes this can happen when “police are willing to submit to being governed and not being protected by the ‘blue wall of silence.’”

Memphis Police Department from the Brandon Webber case mentioned earlier tweeted out the department has gone to Level 3, meaning every officer will work in pairs and without off-days and there will be more police presence in the city, adding the hashtags #supportmpd and #bestinblue.

The hashtags could be seen as divisive considering the competing history #bluelivesmatter and #blacklivesmatter have. The #Blacklivesmatter movement started after George Zimmerman was not prosecuted for killing 17-year-old, black, Trayvon Martin. #Bluelivesmatter originated in response to #blacklivesmatter after two New York City cops were killed in a homicide.

Several questions remain to be answered including how many gunshots is enough to disarm a suspect? And are local leaders serious about repairing damaged relationships with their minority members?

At this point, racial inequality is hard to dispute when incidents continuously arise of white and non-white people being treated differently by authorities. The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution grants the right to due process or fair and equal treatment in judicial procedure. TBI is still investigating the fatal altercation between Webber and US Marshals, so whether he was treated with fairness and equality, according to them, is still unknown.

***

As reported by CNN, Brandon Webber, 20,

For those living outside the black community in Memphis

Shelby County Commissioner – the county Webber was killed in. In a piece she wrote for CNN, Sawyer thinks back to the Charleston, South Carolina church shooting that happened in 2015.

What is known is that Webber was shot between 16-20 times as tweeted by

*****

Many in Memphis, Tennessee woke up Wednesday morning expecting a regular day, yet many slept that night confused and distraught as people tried to wrap their heads around the third officer-involved shooting in its county this year. U.S. Marshals shot and killed a black man that sparked a protest and left over 30 Memphis officers injured.

As reported by CNN, Brandon Webber, 20, was sought after for multiple felony warrants for “aggravated assault, armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.” District Attorney John Champion said the warrants were related to crimes committed earlier this month in Mississippi.

*****

Many in Memphis, Tennessee woke up Wednesday morning expecting a regular day, yet many slept that night confused and distraught as people tried to wrap their heads around the third officer-involved shooting in its county this year. U.S. Marshals shot and killed a black man that sparked a protest and left over 30 Memphis officers injured.

As reported by CNN, Brandon Webber, 20, was sought after for multiple felony warrants for “aggravated assault, armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.” District Attorney John Champion said the warrants were related to crimes committed earlier this month in Mississippi.

Marshals were trying to serve Webber with his warrants when he allegedly got into his car and rammed the officers’ cars. According to Tennessee Bureau of Investigations, Webber “then exited the vehicle with a weapon.” The federal officers shot at Webber, killing him, “in response to a threat posed by the subject,” the US Marshals Service told CNN. Because federal agents are not required to wear body cameras, there is no footage to dispute or confirm their recount of the incident.

What is known is that Webber was shot between 16-20 times as tweeted by Tami Sawyer, Shelby County Commissioner – the county Webber was killed in. In a piece she wrote for CNN, Sawyer thinks back to the Charleston, South Carolina church shooting that happened in 2015.

A white Dylann Roof, 21, murdered nine black members of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in a racial rampage. Less than a day after the racist massacre, Roof, who was armed, was arrested. However, local officers freed Roof of his cuffs and bought him Burger King because his satiety was clearly of high concern at the moment.

Although Sawyer admits that not enough information is known to directly compare Roof’s situation with Webber’s, she says, “the perception, that race is a determining factor in how things proceed when people are confronted by police, is undeniable to me and to many others.”

She adds that the outcome of the chaotic police-community standoff stemmed from the protest of Webber’s death “must be understood as a symptom of continued racial inequity in the justice system.”

“Until we have a fair and balanced criminal justice system, communities such as Frayser will continue to fill the street in pain and horror when one of their own ends up dead instead of getting their right to a day in court.”

Webber’s case was not the first fatal police shooting of a black man to cause an uproar in a community and, likely, will not be the last.

Michael Brown, unarmed, was fatally shot “more than just a couple” times by Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson in 2014. An altercation that left Brown’s body lying dead in the street for hours lit a fire of rage in the predominantly black city. Stores were broken into and burned. Cars were vandalized. Tear gas was deployed into the crowd by officers. Reinforcement was called. A U.S. Department of Justice investigation found racial bias within the Ferguson police and court system. Wilson was not prosecuted.

Stephon Clark, unarmed, was fatally shot 20 times by Sacramento police officers in 2018. He was in his grandmother’s backyard. Officers Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet were dispatched to investigate a possible vandalism in a neighborhood and 10 minutes later, Clark was dead. The officers claimed Clark was armed, but unless cell phones are now considered dangerous, no weapon was found. Protestors took over Sacramento City Hall. Some even crashed one of the officer’s wedding hours before he was supposed to say, “I do.”

“We’re not violent, we’re not gonna give to them what they brought to our community, we’re not gonna hurt anyone, but we are gonna make them uncomfortable, and they should — because someone is dead,” Sacramento Black Lives Matter founder Tanya Faison told CBS.

Neither officer was charged with a crime.

Eric Garner shouted the words that would ring in ears everywhere long after his death: “I can’t breathe.” Garner died because New York police officer Daniel Pantaleo placed him in a chokehold and disregarded his plea for air. He sold untaxed cigarettes and had been arrested multiple times in the past. That was why police attempted to apprehend Garner and until that humid day in July, 2015, Garner had a relatively safe relationship with local police. Staten Island grand jury decided not to indict Pantaleo. A “royal shutdown” ensued. Protesters greeted Prince William and Duchess Kate with a massive demonstration that morphed into a die-in outside the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn.

Freddie Gray suffered and died from a spinal cord injury comparable to diving into water too shallow, according to medical experts, while under the watch of Baltimore, Maryland police. Gray was charged with illegal possession of a switchblade and dragged into the back of a police van. He was not fastened with a seatbelt, but instead, his hands and feet were shackled. Gray died one week later. All six officers involved in his death faced no repercussions. Cars were set ablaze, stores were broken into and more than a dozen officers were injured as a result of his death.

History shows communities, whether connected by region or race, stand their ground when one of their own has been hurt. Peaceful protests have the potential to escalate into violent riots that hurt people physically hoping to heal emotionally.

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, however, protests remained calm as family and friends took in the death of Terence Crutcher by the hands of former officer Betty Shelby. In an interview with CBS, Executive Director of the Perception Institute Alexis McGill Johnson attributed the civil atmosphere to the swift, transparent correspondence the city and police department had with community members..

On her way to respond to a call, Shelby found a car in the middle of two lanes. Without activating her dash cam, Shelby left her car to investigate. An affidavit filed by the chief investigator for the Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office reported Shelby found Crutcher as she was circling the car. Records stated Crutcher would not answer Shelby’s questions and kept putting his hands in his pocket. Video footage shows Crutcher backing toward the car with his hands raised. Shelby said Crutcher was reaching inside the car window and shot him out of fear he would pull out a weapon. Some dispute that claim, saying that scenario is impossible because the car window was not down.

No matter what transpired between Shelby and Crutcher that fatal Friday and despite Shelby not facing federal civil rights charges, Tulsa did what other cities experiencing similar police-community strife seem to fail at – they communicated. Open and transparent dialogue is what alleviates fear.

Fear is a natural reaction when a person can imagine themselves being the next victim in an avoidable killing. However, officers should not have the luxury of shooting first, then assessing a situation later out of fear when suspects are not posing a threat and not carrying a weapon.

The burden of repairing broken relationships and diminishing distrust within a community is on local government leaders. Johnson believes this can happen when “police are willing to submit to being governed and not being protected by the ‘blue wall of silence.’”

Memphis Police Department from the Brandon Webber case mentioned earlier tweeted out the department has gone to Level 3, meaning every officer will work in pairs and without off-days and there will be more police presence in the city, adding the hashtags #supportmpd and #bestinblue.

The hashtags could be seen as divisive considering the competing history #bluelivesmatter and #blacklivesmatter have. The #Blacklivesmatter movement started after George Zimmerman was not prosecuted for killing 17-year-old, black, Trayvon Martin. #Bluelivesmatter originated in response to #blacklivesmatter after two New York City cops were killed in a homicide.

Several questions remain to be answered including how many gunshots is enough to disarm a suspect? And are local leaders serious about repairing damaged relationships with their minority members?

At this point, racial inequality is hard to dispute when incidents continuously arise of white and non-white people being treated differently by authorities. The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution grants the right to due process or fair and equal treatment in judicial procedure. TBI is still investigating the fatal altercation between Webber and US Marshals, so whether he was treated with fairness and equality, according to them, is still unknown.

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For almost 15 years, PINAC News has remained active despite continuous efforts by the government and Big Tech to shut us down by either arresting us for lawful activity or by restricting access to our readers under the pretense that we write about “social issues.”

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Our plan is to build a national database of bad cops obtained from public records maintained by local prosecutors. The goal is to teach our readers how to obtain these lists to ensure we cover every city, county and state in the country.

After all, the government has made it clear it will not police the police so the role falls upon us.

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