After years in law enforcement, cops become immune to most things. Still, I always knew that one day there would be something I encountered that would shake me—some case, some murder, some thing that would burrow into my psyche and stay with me for the rest of my life. That event would be my personal reckoning.
It came on a hot summer evening in 2006, not long before I moved to Newark. Four friends—Terrance Aeriel, 18; Natasha Aeriel, his 19-year-old sister; Dashon Harvey, 20; and Iofemi Hightower, 20—had gathered on Saturday, August 5, in the playground of Mount Vernon High School, located in a middle-class Newark suburb. At around 11:30 p.m., a group of men approached them as they played music. And then the horror began. Natasha Aeriel was shot first, collapsing from a bullet to the face near a set of bleachers. The other three were then marched behind a low wall for what would be the last seconds of lives that had hardly begun. They were forced to kneel and then shot one by one, execution-style. Natasha survived.
The incident made national news. The suspects were ultimately caught. I was in charge of the ATF’s Denver Division when it happened. The news hit me harder than some, because the murders struck close to home. Three of the victims were students at Delaware State University, my alma mater, and the other one had applied to go there. Three of them were in the university’s marching band, the DSU Approaching Storm, the same school band that played during halftime at my football games while the other players and I were in the locker room preparing for the second half. One of them guided prospective students around Delaware State as an ambassador for the university. They were good kids; kids with hope and purpose. It was so senseless. A gang initiation.
Shortly after I arrived in my new post in New Jersey, I was conducting a special briefing for some of my supervisors just a year after the murders. As part of the briefing, we were shown the crime scene photos. Their dead faces peered back at me from the photographs flashed across the screen, and my heart broke.
Those black lives mattered, too. They mattered to me and their families and their friends and the teachers and advisers at their schools and their next-door neighbors. I couldn’t get those faces out of my head. They haunted me. In response, I set up the Horace Foundation Endowment for Criminal Justice Studies at Delaware State University, which gives scholarships to students from northern New Jersey to study criminal justice. I’m not rich, so people sometimes ask me why I started a scholarship fund. In response, I quote a song by one of my favorite artists:
Nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something.
Nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something.
Nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something.
Everybody can do something.
Everybody can do something.
Everybody can do something.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to all the wonderful people at Hachette Book Group. Tremendous thanks to Krishan Trotman and Mauro DiPreta. To my friend and colleague Ron Harris, you now know me better than most. You were amazing to work with. I learned so much from you and thank you for accompanying me on our journey.
To Carol Mann and Malaika Adero: You believed and we achieved.
To Louise Ballard and Lorita Holley, thank you for sharing your husbands with the world.
To James Golden, Dr. Robi Ludwig, Joey Jackson, Andre Anderson, Pastor Victor Medina, Coach Joe Purzycki, Pastor Frank Burton, Linda Spaight, Dr. Towanna Freeman, Dalton Price, Elliott Weinstein, Myron Cox, Harry Cooke, Keith Glover, Jerome Hatfield, Nathaniel Jones, Victor Williams, Florence Chung and Shannon Wilkinson, Dr. Joseph Devine, Greg McCurdy, Grayling Williams, Al Berrios, Larry Washington, Drew and Kate Lewis, Ron Rivera, Dana Nichols, James Hairston, Tracy Harris, Gerard Wilcher, Kent and Songa Montford, Robert Botelho, Brian Glynn, Joe Bryant, Delaware State University, Gerard Harris, Elena Gonzalez, Kendra Tyson, Tonya Cauley-Scott, Willi and Karla Ellison, John and Lisa Ross, the Reverend Jesse Chester and the Reverend Eddie Lake, Karen Dorough, Kelvin Crenshaw, Michael Horace, Larry Ford, Jeffrey Fulton, Justin Benaugh, Ohaji Abdallah, Kenneth Spann, Debra Bressaw and Jamsheed Arjomand, Delano Reid, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Rich and Sandra Richard, Mike and Clara Colbert, Larry Ford, Tommie Bosley, Gary Lewis, Jeanne Fox-Alston, the Chicago Skaters, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Constance Hester, Richard Rose, Dr. Adrienne Bradford, LaTeisha Larkins, Andrew Grubin, Tricia Bayley, Delford Jimmerson, St. Sabina Catholic Church, Dr. Rock, Emmitt Jordan, Andrew Cutraro, Geraldine Harris, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, Scott Tennyson, Melvin Graham, David Sherman, Clark Atlanta University, Police Executive Research Forum, Joel and Tina Willis, David Carson, Robert Cohen, Noel Greenwood, Charles Adams, James Willis, James Harris, Phillip Dixon, Lorenzo Boyd, Jake Oliver, Howard University, John Batiste, Tom Masters, Arch City Defenders, Steven Woods, Dan Satterberg, Joanne Suder, John Crawford Jr., Maxine Birdsong, Kirk Montague, Larry Washington, Rebecca Gorely, Michael Wright, Tony Rice, Luke Rommel, Van Brooks, Reverend Sammy Vaughan, Marcellus Edwards, Terry Langen, Tim Borchers Esq., Debbie Bullock, Charles Humphrey, Carolyn Williams, Jeffrey Fulton, Charles and Carol Reed, Robert Moskaitis, Joyce Breassure, Tonya Cauley-Scott, Paul Schmick, Cecilia Molinari, Sheryl Axelrod, Brian Mallory, Pamela Liflander, and the scores of people who were gracious enough to share their time and their stories.
To my family, Dawn, Courtney, and Matthew, you are the wind beneath my wings. To Mom Elaine, thank you for your love and support. Dad, rest in peace. I hope I’ve made you proud. And to Will and Maureen, I am eternally grateful for your support.
SOURCES
Aside from my many years of training in law enforcement and numerous interviews with other law enforcement officials, the research for this book encompassed an in-depth look at health care, psychology, sociology, and history in the United States. My coauthor and I spoke with heads of departments of housing as well as sociologists and social scientists.
More specifically, we found resources for Baltimore, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C. at the United States Department of Health and Human Services. We pored through mounds of information regarding police training and use-of-force policies.
We also examined the history of use of force, including the Supreme Court cases that redefined law enforcement’s use of lethal procedures. Publications by the Police Executive Research Forum were invaluable, as was the published work of President Obama’s task force report on 21st-century policing.
We read through tons of public records to dig up information about ticketing patterns in Ferguson and the nation’s opioid crisis. We culled health department reports and cause-of-death documents to understand the correlations between health care and crime.
Finally, reportage by journalists at the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times Magazine, the Washington Post, and The Guardian provided a road map that pointed us in the right direction. The list of sources below is by no means exhaustive, but it is an example of the work that was an integral part of writing The Black and the Blue.
American Civil Liberties Union. “A Living Death; Life without Parole for Nonviolent Offenses.” (November 2013), https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/111813-lwop-complete-report .pdf.
“Baltimore: A City Defined by Falling Bodies.” Waikato Times (Hamilton, New Zealand), May 17, 2017.
Baltimore City Health Department. “Baltimore Life Expectancy, 2013.”
Baltimore City Health Department. “Baltimore Life Expectancy, 2016.” https://health.baltimorecity.gov/news/news-coverage/2017-07-07 -20-year-gap-life-expectancy-between-richer-poorer-areas -baltimore-cbs.
“Black Cop Says He Was Ordered to Look at Klan Web Sites.” Washington Examiner (March 25, 2008), http://www.washingtonexaminer .com/black-cop-says-he-was-ordered-to-look-at-klan-web-sites/article/58827.
“The Blue Ribbon Panel on Transparency, Accountability, and Fairness in Law Enforcement.” City of San Francisco (July 2016), http://sfdistrictattorney.org/sites/
default/files/Document/BRP_report .pdf.
Bosman, Julie. “Journalist Who Told Laquan McDonald’s Story Faces Fight Over Sources.” New York Times (November 26, 2017), https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/26/us/chicago-police-shooting -journalist-laquan-mcdonald.html.
Bosman, Julie, and Mitch Smith. “As Chicago Murder Rate Spikes, Many Fear Violence Has Become Normalized.” New York Times (December 28, 2016), https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/28/us/chicago-murder-rate-gun-deaths.html.
Bragg, Rick. “New Orleans Is Hopeful about Police Overhaul.” New York Times (January 29, 1995), http://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/29/us/new-orleans-is-hopeful-about-police-overhaul.html.
Broadwater, Luke, and Kevin Rector. “Pugh Seeks Audit of Baltimore Police Overtime after Seven Officers Indicted.” Baltimore Sun (March 3, 2017), http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/ politics/bs-md-ci-police-ot-20170303-story.html.
Capatosto, Kelly. “Two Lenses, One Goal: Understanding the Psychological and Structural Barriers People of Color Face in the Criminal Justice System.” Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity (November 2016), http://kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/my-product/two-lenses-one-goal/.
Center for Policing Equity. “The Science of Justice: Race, Arrests and Police Use of Force.” (July 2016), http://policingequity.org/research/1687-2/.
Crepeau, Megan. “Prosecutor in Alleged Cover-Up of Laquan McDonald Shooting Moves for New Judge.” Chicago Tribune (July 13, 2017), http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-laquan -mcdonald-cops-judge-met-20170713-story.html.
Daly, Michael. “Inside Rahm Emanuel’s Vote to Silence Laquan McDonald’s Family.” Daily Beast (December 2, 2015), https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-rahm-emanuels-vote-to-silence-laquan-mcdonalds-family.
Davey, Monica. “Officers’ Statements Differ from Video in Death of Laquan McDonald.” New York Times (December 5, 2015), https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/06/us/officers-statements-differ-from -video-in-death-of-laquan-mcdonald.html.
Davey, Monica, and Mitch Smith. “Anger Over Killing by Police Halts Shopping in Chicago.” New York Times (November 27, 2015), https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/28/us/laquan-mcdonald-jamar -clark-protests.html.
. “Chicago Protests Mostly Peaceful after Video of Police Shooting Is Released.” New York Times (November 24, 2015), https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/25/us/chicago-officer -charged-in-death-of-black-teenager-official-says.html.
deCourcy Hinds, Michael. “Frank Rizzo of Philadelphia Dies at 70.” New York Times (July 17, 1991), http://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/17/obituaries/frank-rizzo-of-philadelphia-dies-at-70.html.
“Disproportionate Minority Contact in the Juvenile Justice System.” The Sentencing Project (May 2014), http://www.sentencingproject .org/publications/disproportionate-minority-contact-in-the-juvenile -justice-system/.
Final Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing (May 2015), https://ric-zai-inc.com/Publications/cops-p311-pub.pdf.
Fortin, Jacey, and Jonah Engel Bromwich. “Cleveland Officer Who Killed Tamir Rice Is Fired for Lying on Application.” New York Times (May 31, 2017), https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/30/us/cleveland-police -tamir-rice.html?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=6331443FF7624A19A5740B33B6052B25&gwt=pay.
Gainsborough, Jenni, and Marc Mauer. “Diminishing Returns: Crime and Incarceration in the 1990s.” The Sentencing Project (September 2000), https://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/sp/DimRet.pdf.
Guarino, Mark. “Chicago Killing Costs Prosecutor Job.” Washington Post (March 16, 2016), https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2 -39414280.html.
. “Why a Dash-Cam Video of a Police Shooting Might Not Be a Smoking Gun.” Washington Post (December 28, 2015), https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/why-a-dash-cam-video-of -a-police-shooting-might-not-be-a-smoking-gun/2015/ 12/28/9e0f8cda-ad7e-11e5-9ab0-884d1cc4b33e_story.html?utm _term=.efab2cc1131a.
Gutowski, Christy. “Laquan McDonald’s Mother Opposes Release of Son’s Juvenile Records.” Chicago Tribune (July 28, 2016), http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/laquanmcdonald/ct-laquan -mcdonald-juvenile-court-fight-met-0729-20160728-story.html.
Gutowski, Christy, and Jeremy Gorner. “The Complicated, Short Life of Laquan McDonald.” Chicago Tribune (December 11, 2015), http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-laquan -mcdonald-trouble-met-20151211-story.html.
Harvey, Thomas, John McAnnar, Michael-John Voss, Megan Conn, Sean Janda, and Sophia Keskey. “ArchCity Defenders: Municipal Courts White Paper.” (November 2014), http://www.archcitydefenders.org/ wp-content/uploads/2014/11/ArchCity-Defenders-Municipal -Courts-Whitepaper.pdf.
Husain, Nausheen. “Laquan McDonald Timeline: The Shooting, the Video and the Fallout.” Chicago Tribune (October 20, 2017), http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/laquanmcdonald/ct-graphics -laquan-mcdonald-officers-fired-timeline-htmlstory.html.
“Jury Awards Nearly $600K to Man Shot 11 Times by Police.” The Daily Record (Maryland) (March 16, 2015).
“Justice Department Cites Cleveland Police for Excessive Use of Force.” The Christian Science Monitor (December 14, 2014).
Knickerbocker, Brad. “Justice Department Cites Cleveland Police for Excessive Use of Force.” Christian Science Monitor (December 4, 2014), https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2014/1204/Justice -Department-cites-Cleveland-police-for-excessive-use-of-force.
Kohler, Jeremy, Jennifer S. Mann, and Stephen Deer. “Municipal Courts Are Well-Oiled Money Machine.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch (March 15, 2015), http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and -courts/municipal-courts-are-well-oiled-money-machine/ article_2f45bafb-6e0d-5e9e-8fe1-0ab9a794fcdc.html.
Krogstad, Jens Manuel. “Latino Confidence in Local Police Lower Than Among Whites.” Pew Research Center (August 28, 2014), http://www .pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/08/28/latino-confidence-in-local -police-lower-than-among-whites/.
Laughland, Oliver. “Tamir Rice’s Mother Calls for Apology from ‘Disrespectful’ Cleveland Police.” The Guardian (March 3, 2015), https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/03/tamir-rice-mother -cleveland-apology.
Laughland, Oliver, Jon Swaine, and Daniel McGraw. “Cleveland Officer Who Fatally Shot Tamir Rice Will Not Face Criminal Charges.” The Guardian (December 28, 2015), https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/28/tamir-rice-shooting-no-charges-cleveland -officer-timothy-loehmann.
Levin, Sam. “Tamir Rice: Cleveland Says Family Owes $500 for EMS after Fatal Police Shooting.” The Guardian (February 10, 2016), https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/10/tamir-rice-shooting -cleveland-police-emergency-medical-expenses?CMP=Share _AndroidApp_Gmail.
“The Lingering Damage of Ferguson’s Racism.” Editorial, New York Times (September 18, 2017), https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/19/opinion/editorials/ferguson-racism-fred-watson.html.
Mann, Jennifer S., Jeremy Kohler, and Stephen Deere. “A Web of Lawyers Play Different Roles in Different Courts.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch (March 29, 2015), http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/a-web-of-lawyers-play-different-roles-in-different -courts/article_b61728d1-09b0-567f-9ff4-919cf4e34649.html.
Marcus, Frances Frank. “Overhaul Is Planned for New Orleans Police.” New York Times (January 16, 1995), http://www.nytimes.com/1995/ 01/16/us/overhaul-is-planned-for-new-orleans-police.html.
“New Curfew in Baltimore; Parents of Violators Face Tougher Penalties.” Washington Post (July 28, 1994).
Oppel, Richard A., Jr. “Officer Who Killed Boy Had a Negative Firearms Review.” New York Times (December 3, 2014), https://www.nytimes .com/2014/12/04/us/ohio-officer-who-killed-boy-had-a-negative -firearms-review.html?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=8689CEBB7F117E6D833B9DA789961BA2&gwt=pay&assetType=nyt_now.
. “Police Gave Boy No Aid After Shooting in Cleveland.” New York Times (January 8, 2015), https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/09/us/police-in-cleveland-boys-fatal-shooting-did-not-give-medical-aid .html?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=35723BBE36407A44A10A9BA24889CAA9&gwt=pay.
Police Executive Research Forum. “Advice from Police Chiefs and Community Lead
ers on Building Trust: ‘Ask for Help, Work Together, and Show Respect.’” (March 2016), http://www.policeforum.org/assets/policecommunitytrust.pdf.
. “Defining Moments for Chiefs.” (February 2015), http://www .policeforum.org/assets/definingmoments.pdf.
. “Guiding Principles on Use of Force.” (March 2016), http://www.policeforum.org/assets/30%20guiding%20principles.pdf.
. “Integrating Communications, Assessment and Tactics: Training Guide for Defusing Critical Incidents.” (October 2016), http://www.policeforum.org/assets/icattrainingguide.pdf.
. “Re-engineering Training on Police Use of Force.” (August 2015), http://www.policeforum.org/assets/reengineeringtraining1.pdf.
“Probate Court OKs Settlement Amounts for Tamir Rice Family; 12-Year-Old’s Mother to Get Largest Share of $3.69M Portion.” Dayton Daily News (December 3, 2016).
Rector, Kevin. “Convictions Put Under Review.” Baltimore Sun (March 24, 2017), http://digitaledition.baltimoresun.com/tribune/article_pop over.aspx?guid=fada9107-8d8e-4e52-938a-328555ef709c.
Rosenwald, Michael S., and Michael A. Fletcher. “Why Couldn’t $130 Million Transform One of Baltimore’s Poorest Places?” Washington Post (May 2, 2015), https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/why -couldnt-130-million-transform-one-of-baltimores-poorest -places/2015/05/02/0467ab06-f034-11e4-a55f-38924fca94f9_story .html?utm_term=.0e0212e1f139.
Stern, Laurence. “Rizzo’s ‘Reform.’” Washington Post (October 30, 1978), https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/10/30/rizzos-reform/1e39bbe1-225d-40a8-ae87-1dc02edfd357/?utm _term=.a00eafb55740.
The Black and the Blue Page 25