Now here's a little about the incident last night. The police were dispatched for a domestic violence case at the Clean Scene Laundry (5800 block of Bancroft) and when they responded, the suspect (37 year old Derek Jones) ran from the scene. There were shots fired at the scene and Jones was shot then pronounced dead a block away on the 5800 block of Trask.
The police officers are placed on PAID administrative leave. The Alameda County District Attorney Office is going to investigate the incident. No further details have been released until after the conference that took place.
{These facts were found using the ABC news site and SFGate}
Now, although I understand this was a domestic violence call and the police went to the scene with this knowledge, I don't understand why especially after the very recent Oscar Grant ~vs~ Johannes Mehserle situation that the OPD would automatically fire leathal weapons. Since the tasers are obviously being used by law enforcement why wouldn't the first shot be the actual taser? It seems that the law enforcement aren't satisfied with the rate at which Black people are killing themselves, they feel the need to try and help the situation along because imprisonment has failed them.
I see way too many incidents where peoples lives are being taken and there is no real repercussion for it in the Bay Area, specifically Oakland. Now, I'm not attacking every single police officer on the force, I am saying that there still may be some similar to the Oakland Riders in 2004.
The similarities in the circumstances surrounding Oscar Grant make last nights shooting even more offensive. There is now a message to the community that the police department is targeting Black men and that they better be careful because death is the likely outcome. Both victims were unarmed, but In Grants case he was also subdued. With the Grant case, the use of the taser (in my opinion) was excessive force because he was already face down on the ground and handcuffed. Those of you who have follwed my other blogs know this. In the recent Jones case, he was found to be unarmed and being that the police were knowledgeable of the situation, should have resorted to deadly fire only after the taser had been used. So now we have 2 more Black men added to the list of those murdered by the police for unjust reasons.
I'm very curious to see the outcome of this situation and will be uploading a video blog in response to the decisions that will be made. I wonder if the officers in this situation will be treated a leniently as Mehserle has been. While thinking this, I also cannot help but wonder if the races were reversed would the outcomes been different.
