Antwon Rose II
On Tuesday, a black unarmed young man was shot in the back while he ran from police. He was the passenger in a car that had been pulled over because it matched the description of a car that shot at someone earlier. As police talked to the driver, Antwon got out and ran. The officer who pursued him fired two shots, one that went through his back, hitting a major artery and killing him. The driver of the car was later released. Guns were found in the vehicle but police can’t say at this time that they are the guns used in the previous ‘shots fired’ call. But what they do know is that Antwon Rose II didn’t have a gun. And that he was running away from the police. And that at the moment he was shot dead in the street, they didn’t know if he had committed an actual crime.
I read these stories often. I’ve gotten into arguments on Facebook about these situations and read the comments that have began to repeat themselves. He shouldn’t have run. He should’ve obeyed the officer. He should have been respectful. What if he had committed the act of shooting the gun, which to my knowledge didn’t kill anyone. What if, what if, what if. I’ll admit, I don’t have all of the answers. Personally, I don’t think I would run if pulled over by the police but I can’t say that for sure. But of all the arguments people make to justify this the one think that doesn’t quite sit well with me is that maybe the officer feared for his life. And the blind obedience many call for from those in authority.
In the state of Texas, you can justifiably kill someone on your property if you feel that you are in immediate danger. If at any point that person turns to flee, and you say, shoot them in the back, as they are running away, the case may turn out quite differently.
Now, before all of my staunch ‘Back the Blue’ at all cost folks start going in, this isn’t about not supporting the police. I’m just truly confused at how someone, who has taken a job that requires they carry a gun, is threatened by someone running away. Especially when there were at least two other officers with guns there. What exactly was there to be afraid of? See here’s my problem – how long will it take for us, as US citizens, to stop giving a pass to police who kill an unarmed person because they feared for their lives? They don’t kill armed individuals who have actually killed multiple people. Those people get handcuffed and put in the back of squad cars, not hearses.
A friend once shared with me that a former student of hers had to write lines but refused. Upon speaking to the child’s mother, it was determined that the mother had raised the child not be blindly obedient to authority because that was in effect, how so many people died at the hand of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. I have to wonder what the blind obedience that so many have to power structures these days is going to lead to.
Until next time…