Simply Stunning

26-YO Botham Jean, shot & killed by Dallas PD
officer Amber Guyger in his own apartment 

As is my habit when writing about the unjustified use of force against American citizens by some members of law enforcement, let me once again preface this by repeating that the vast majority of police officers in this country, some of whom I know personally, are dedicated to the idea of "protect and serve" and conduct themselves as professionals.

But after the senseless death of 26-year-old Botham Jean in Dallas, something has got to be done about those cops who do not.

While the Dallas Police Department is still being tight-lipped about the specific circumstances, the facts surrounding the fatal shooting of an upstanding man who comes from a distinguished family on the island of St. Lucia are truly disturbing.

Jean, a church-going, full-time employee of the London-based multinational accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, was inside his own apartment on the fourth floor of the South Side Flats apartment complex when Dallas PD officer Amber Guyger entered his apartment, saw Jean and fired her handgun at him.

Guyger, who lives in the same building and was in uniform and just getting off duty when the incident occurred last Thursday night, allegedly claimed she mistakenly thought that Jean's apartment was her's.

How she confused someone else's apartment with her own when she doesn't even live on the same floor has left a lot of people scratching their heads - how Guyger gained access to Jean's apartment in the first place remains a mystery.

As the Dallas Morning News reported, DPD officials were remaining tight-lipped about Guyger's actions leading up the shooting - and they've turned the investigation over to the Texas Rangers.

Dallas PD officer Amber Guyger 

Recent media headlines have been filled with the high-profile killings of innocent, unarmed American citizens by police in some truly murky circumstances.

In July of 2017, a 40-year-old Australian woman named Justine Damond called 911 to report a possible assault in an alley behind the home she was staying in - upon arriving at the scene Minneapolis PD officer Mohammed Noor shot and killed HER.

Minnesota was the same state where widely respected elementary school cafeteria supervisor Philando Castile was pulled over for a broken tail light in Falcon Heights, MN on July 6, 2016.

After St. Anthony PD officer Jeronimo Yanez ordered Castile to take out his ID, Yanez pulled out his pistol and fired seven shots into the car at point blank range with Castile's girlfriend in the passenger seat and her young daughter in the back seat.

By the way Yanez fired those shots 74 SECONDS after pulling Castile over for the busted tail light, despite the fact that Castile was heard being polite and courteous to Yanez on an audio recording of the incident.

These kinds of excessive use-of-force cases by some cops aren't limited to fatal shootings either.

Back on August 6th, off-duty Cincinnati PD officer Kevin Brown fired his taser at 11-year-old Donesha Gowdy who refused to stop after he caught her shoplifting food from a Kroger grocery store after her friends dared her to do it.

If she did shoplift, by all means hold her accountable and face the appropriate disciplinary actions - but firing a taser into her back and jolting her with electricity?

The video of him verbally admonishing the little girl after the incident, including blaming her actions for the dearth of grocery stores in some primarily- African-American communities - drew sharp criticism from members of the Cincinnati City Council.

87-year-old Martha Al-Bishara with her great-
granddaughter Martha Douhne in Georgia

Officer Brown might want to spend some time reading about redlining by American banks and how they've historically worked with real estate companies and local politicians to intentionally isolate some communities both geographically and economically in order to manipulate the price of housing. 

Or maybe it's easier to just blame an 11-year-old girl, I don't know.

Oh and speaking of the questionable use of a taser by police officers...

Chatsworth, Georgia Police Chief Josh Etheridge is still trying to defend his department after he and two other officers responded to a call of 87-year-old Martha Al-Bishara wandering around on an uncut section of field next to a Boys and Girls Club across the street from her home with a knife back on August 10th.

As the New York Times reported, Al-Bishara was simply using the knife to cut dandelion leaves to toss with garlic and lemon for a salad traditional to her native Syria.

She's been in the U.S. for decades but speaks no english, so when Chief Etheridge and two other Chatsworth officers showed up, she couldn't understand their commands to drop the knife according to her great-granddaughter Martha Douhne.

So one of the three officers fired a taser at the 87-year-old woman. Really.

"An 87-year-old woman with a knife still has the ability to hurt an officer." Etheridge insisted.

Again, I'm not a police officer and I certainly wouldn't want any of the police officers I know to get hurt trying to arrest a suspect.

But as Martha Al-Bishara's great-nephew told reporters, "If three police officers couldn't handle an 87-year-old woman, you might want to reconsider hanging up your badge." 

Whether it's a Dallas police officer coming home, walking into an apartment that's not even her's and fatally shooting the innocent man who lives there, an off-duty Cincinnati officer firing a taser at an 11-year-old girl for shoplifting, or a Georgia cop firing a taser at an 87-year-old woman who was using a knife to cut dandelion leaves for a salad - the decision to use force in these cases seems rushed, and not well thought out.

And the lack of common sense displayed is simply stunning.