I’m going to try to avoid editorializing as much as possible, but, can you guess why this is a big story?
(WRAL) A Raleigh police officer killed a drug suspect fleeing arrest Monday afternoon, Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown said.
An officer, whose name hasn’t been released, was chasing a man on foot who was wanted on a felony drug charge and ended up shooting him, Deck-Brown said. The shooting occurred shortly after noon near the intersection of Bragg and East streets.
A gun was found “in close proximity to” the dead man, the chief said.
Police haven’t released the name of the shooting victim, but Rolanda Byrd told WRAL News that it was her 24-year-old son, Akiel Denkins, who had an outstanding warrant.
That’s right, he was Black, the officer was white. Denkins had a long, long rap sheet, including illegally carrying a concealed firearm. There’s a peaceful vigil for this paragon of virtue (which in no means he should have been shot unless he pointed a gun at the officer), which includes
https://twitter.com/diasporadical_z/status/704459488980561922
Pleasant. And everyone is saying what a great guy this father of 2 was
Too bad the community didn't care about #AkielDenkins when he was selling crack to kids. https://t.co/q5ZiIRVRfV
— Bob Owens (@bob_owens) March 1, 2016
https://twitter.com/HEPennypacker84/status/704468920921681920
Regardless, as I’ve been saying in comments at articles, everyone needs to take a deep breath and wait for the results of the investigation. Neither the Raleigh PD, the State PD, internal investigations, nor the SBI are going to discuss anything till they have the facts. Unfortunately, that leaves lots of time for people and the media to create their own narrative, which often ends up being at odds with the facts, but, by that time, the Narrative has been established, such as “hands up don’t shoot”. If the cop did wrong, he should be charged and tried. One thing you can surely guarantee, Raleigh will be national news for a few days, and we’ll probably have the same race inciters here by tomorrow.
Or shot 7 times if he resists in any way.
Teach those people who are doing the investigation, might they be considered partial to a police viewpoint ?
So, who would you suggest investigate, John?
These felons are, to use the euphemism, “known by the police.” Sometimes that influences the officers’ judgement as to what they are seeing. The malefactor “had a long, long rap sheet, including illegally carrying a concealed firearm,” and that means that the officer probably knew that this hoodlum carried firearms illegally.
An obvious question, one that’ll probably never be answered: if this criminal had “a long, long rap sheet,” why wasn’t he in prison? If he had been given the maximum sentences his previous crimes warranted, and not treated leniently, wouldn’t he have been in prison?
Here’s another crime story with a racial angle:
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/four-white-men-ordered-to-pay-dollar840000-for-jim-crow-style-killing-of-mississippi-black-man/ar-BBqbVJ4?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=U348DHP
These upstanding citizens escaped with their lives and only got 7-50 years for their crime sprees.
It wasn’t clear from the story how many convictions resulted from Mr. Denkins’ many arrests.
Being picked up for drug possession is pretty common in Black neighborhoods. And certainly you’re not against American citizens arming themselves.
In any event, is the punishment for running from the police, or having an outstanding warrant, or holding drugs usually “execution” by gunshot in your neighborhood?
Jeffrey defends the scumbags:
If he had been carrying illegally before, and he had a criminal record, then he had lost his Second Amendment rights, as is allowed under the Fourteenth Amendment.
In my neighborhood, people aren’t that stupid. Oh, I’m sure that there are drugs around, but if you run from the police, you are just plain stupid.
Having seen what drugs do, having seen the children who are victimized by having drug users as parents, I’d say that yes, execution by gunshot would be the appropriate punishment.
Just to be clear, with a history of being a criminal and a warrant out for his arrest, the police had every right to stop him. This was a legal Terry stop.
If Denkins pulled a weapon or had it in his hands while running away, the shooting is probably going to be justified as it falls into the “public safety” exemption of firing at someone or the exemption of a cop fearing for his safety.
The investigation should be allowed to play out but some won’t allow it. We saw that in the Michael Brown case. Once the investigation was completed, the evidence and the eyewitnesses exonerated the officer.
If the cop shot him illegally, he should be arrested and tried.
gp,
Thanks.
dana,
The 14th Amendment allows the government to revoke 2nd Amendment rights? Can you cite the exact language?