Just two months after the brutal murder of Mike Brown, the St. Louis police have struck again. This time police killed 18-year-old Vonderrit Deondre Myers Jr. Although the police are trying hard to label the cops actions as justifiable, many people disagree. The mainstream media similarly reports that the killing of Myers is unlike that with Brown—again although many people disagree.
Many corporate media sources have taken a case-closed attitude. Regarding the commonalities in the killings of Myers and Brown, CNN staff wrote: “The similarities are slim. Yes, the teen was black. And the officer was white. Yes, the officer fired several times. But the commonalities end there. In this case, the 18-year-old was armed, and he fired on the officer first.” CNN is taking police statements as facts and ignoring many people in the community who claim Myers had no weapon.
In fact, both the mother and cousin of Myers have stated that Myers was unarmed. Syreeta Myers, the victim’s mother, corroborated statements from several other people that at the time of the shooting he was holding a sandwich not a gun. The mother said: “Police lie. They lied about Michael Brown too.” The owner of Regal Foods in St. Louis has come forward to say that indeed Myers had bought a sandwich in his store only 10 minutes before the shooting.
Cops give questionable statements
Many questions remain to be answered surrounding the shooting.
Why did the cop go after Myers in the first place? Regardless of the facts of the shooting, it seems clear that the cop profiled Myers. There was no call implicating Myers nor was Myers committing any crime. Nor have any reports said that Myers was acting suspiciously. It wasn’t until the cop did a U-turn and approached the group with Myers that the youth ran away. At a press conference outside of the police station, state senator Jamilah Nasheed joined many in the community and said, “This here was racial profiling turned deadly.” Myers would still be alive today if the white cop had not racially profiled him.
Why didn’t the cop use non-deadly force? This question is also being raised. As with many cases of police brutality, we see that the police are quick to resort to deadly force. In fact, some community members, including the victim’s family, have stated that Myers was first tasered. The police do not mention this in their statements. If he was tasered first, then we are left to wonder why this was not enough force and why the police are not discussing this reported aspect of the case.
Why did the cop shoot so many times (17 shots, in fact)? This number is more than twice what Mike Brown was shot. It seems that the cop was determined to kill Myers. It is also possible that the cops are trying to send a message to the people that they are not to be opposed.
Whole system is under question
In addition to an understandable skepticism toward the police, many people are questioning the whole system of policing. For example, it seems very strange that the cop was actually off duty when he killed Myers. Yet the cop is now on a paid administrative leave from the police force. The cop was actually on patrol for a private security company when he chased and killed Myers, yet he was wearing a police uniform. In fact, under Missouri law police are allowed to work for private security companies but use their police-issued uniform and gun.
The whole system of law enforcement is under question. With the mounting cases of police brutality, people are beginning to identify the issue as systemic. We see that cops are acting in a very predictable pattern: Cops beat or murder, the department calls the killing justifiable but promises an investigation, the DA declines to pursue a criminal trial of the cop despite huge pressure from the community, and so on. We should point out that this is the same system that has resisted indicting the murderer of Mike Brown despite overwhelming evidence.
It is no wonder then why people were skeptical and unimpressed when Police Chief Sam Dotson announced the launch of an internal criminal investigation. An internal investigation is biased for the police. An internal investigation only means that the police will investigate the police. But how can we trust the police to conduct a fair investigation when they have proved time and time again to be corrupt, trigger-happy racists? The only way to eventually stop this war against youth of color is to completely change the system altogether. This is the conclusion that people are increasingly coming to and organizing to undertake.
The people are understandably angry. They will no longer sit by as cops take away our loved ones. The incident comes only days before a national mobilization against police brutality descended upon Ferguson, Mo. These protests not only demanded justice for Mike Brown but justice for Vonderrit Deondre Myers Jr., and for a complete change in the system.
