Posted: February 14th, 2023

Police officer shooting an unarmed person

The United States of America is a hotbed of police brutality. Since independence and the liberation of slaves, police brutality towards black people has been rampant. Every year, the U.S. police are involved in multiple shooter bias cases, most of which go unsolved. White police officers have made shooter bias a norm, but it should not be the case as it infringes human rights.
On March 18, 2018, there was an incident of two police officers shooting an unarmed black man in Sacramento County, California. Stephon Clark, a 23-year-old black American man, was shot multiple times in the backyard of his grandmother’s house. This incident widened the existing divide between the black community and police in Sacramento County. Stephon Clark had become yet another victim of shooting bias despite him being unarmed and not aggressive.
On the fateful day, two police officers, Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet, responded to a 9-1-1 call in the Meadowview area, Sacramento. The caller stated that an unidentified individual had been breaking car windows. After intensive investigations by the officers on the ground and a sheriff’s helicopter, a suspect was identified matching Stephon’s appearance and clothing that day. The officers were able to track him, and he was found hiding at his grandmother’s house.
Stephon, realizing that he had been found, ran to the backyard where he was shot while trying to escape arrest as he was serving probation at the time. The police officers assumed that he had a gun and shot him 20 times, evident in the police video cameras. However, upon handcuffing him, they realized he was only carrying his mobile phone. This highlights the officers’ bias that prompted their excessive use of force. The officers preferred to execute him on the spot rather than confirm their suspicions first because they feared for their safety.
lnvestigations were carried out later to determine the exact cause of death.
Stephon’s family funded an independent autopsy report that stated he was shot eight times, mostly in the back.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Stephon_Clark 30%
Stephon’s family funded an independent autopsy report that stated he was shot eight times, mostly in the back. However, the Sacramento County autopsy report declared this to be erroneous as it discovered Stephon was shot seven times in different parts of the body (Moffitt). Despite the disagreeing reports, both reports indicated that Stephon died as a result of being shot multiple times.
Amid public outrage, especially from the black lives matter movement, the two officers linked to the shooting were given paid administrative leave for investigations to be carried out. The California Attorney General at the time conducted an extensive and comprehensive investigation (Becerra). Upon consideration of all relevant evidence and information available, the conclusion was the officers wouldn’t be subjected to criminal charges.
Given the available evidence, the Attorney General made the right decision. Despite the shooting being the result of racial bias highly witnessed in Sacramento, the suspect in question did not respond well to police calls of him to surrender and was a repeat offender. The report based its conclusion on objective findings rather than being swayed by subjective issues being raised by the public.
ln the event of charging the officers, sustaining a court case would have been hard due to various gaps. First off, instead of raising his hands and submitting to arrest, Stephon first tried to escape, after which he pointed an unidentified object towards the police. Stephon had expressed a desire to commit suicide, and the defense may use to their advantage in regards to him deliberately forcing the police officers to shoot him.

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