Police Brutality Against Minorities

This made American’s cringe in disgust that this act was had occurred in their own country. The four officers that partook in the beating were all acquitted of the crime. Many believed that the officers were plain guilty of the crime they were being acquitted of. This is what sparked the LA riots, soon the city was up in flames. Despite them being acquitted of the crime individuals that partook in the riots believed they had to take justice into their own hands and wrongfully started looting, destroying, and hurting anything in their path. In a sense, they were getting back at the “man”. While this occurred over 25 years ago one would believe that cases of police brutality would be a product of the past and not continue to this day, but unfortunately …show more content…
For example, they might be in an area where minorities are the group that is mostly affected by the poverty in the area, which may cause them to partake in criminal activity. Many minorities that live in a poverty stricken environment can’t break the cycle for themselves and continue to live in it. If something like education is out of the question for minorities in a poverty stricken community, they might partake in illegal activities. For example, they may partake in stealing, gang activity, or selling drugs. These activities are not only dangerous to the individual but also the ones in the community in which these activities are …show more content…
One could easily assume that police brutality only affects minorities. This isn’t the case, though, every race is affected by this issue, some more than the other. On the evening of July 16, 2015 19-year-old Caucasian Zachary Hammond arranged to meet with an individual who wanted to purchase a bag of marijuana from Mr. Hammond. Hammond pulled into a parking lot with a young woman to meet the buyer, neither was unaware that the “buyer” was actually an undercover police officer (Wing). Moments after the confrontation Hammond was dead. According to Seneca Police Chief John Covington, “Hammond drove the car at the officer, who, fearing for his life, fired twice into the vehicle, shooting a fatal round into Hammond’s upper torso” (Wing). If these statement was completely true this case wouldn’t be considered police brutality. Police officers need the right to act to protect themselves because every time they report for work they are risking their lives to keep their communities safe. However, Eric Bland stated that the officer that shot Hammond shot him twice in the back, the autopsy confirms Bland’s statement (Wing). The officer that took Hammond’s life was Mark Tiller. This created many questions to what actually happened that evening. Was Hammond shot point blank in the back by the officer Tiller? Was the Tiller’s life truly in danger and the bullets