Excessive Use of Force

by Loretta P. Prater

  Attorney General Janet Reno addressed the problem of police brutality, especially against men of color. She gave a speech at the National Press Club Luncheon on Thursday, April 15, 1999, in which she stated:

  The issue is national in scope and reaches people all across the country. For too many people, especially in minority communities, the trust that is so essential to effective policing does not exist, because residents believe that police have used excessive force, law enforcement is too aggressive, and that law enforcement is biased, disrespectful, and unfair.58

  In my opinion, reports from research, documented personal accounts from victims, televised accounts, eyewitness video recordings, and viral web postings confirm that police brutality is a reality. There are also enough reports of deaths of unarmed citizens while in police custody to indicate that accusations of police brutality are true. Police officers may never admit to any wrongdoing, but that doesn’t mean that the accusations are false. Many families are left with their loved one’s body to bury and a grave to visit, which serves as more tangible evidence of this injustice. Those unarmed citizens were among the living, immediately prior to the physical encounter with police officers.

  In the informational brochure The Body Count: Let None Live in Fear, members of the Concerned Citizens for Justice (CCJ), a social advocacy organization in Chattanooga, used the brochure as the mechanism to report the results of their extensive research. The group’s findings reported deaths occurring after an interaction with law enforcement officers in Chattanooga and the surrounding area, beginning in 1981. These deaths were of both black and white citizens. The list was updated in 2004 to include Leslie’s death as number 48. Since then, there have been other deaths added to The Body Count. According to CCJ members, compiling information for The Body Count was an attempt to record the number of people who have been killed by members of the Chattanooga–Hamilton County Police Departments over a number of years. The listing for Leslie is as follows:

  48. Leslie Vaughn Prater, 37, Black. Killed January 2, 2004. Residents called police after noticing Mr. Prater naked in an alley near Central Avenue. When police arrived, they were unsure of Mr. Prater’s physical or mental condition, but could clearly ascertain that he was unarmed. Police immediately took actions resulting in Mr. Prater’s dying from positional asphyxiation, in combination with a severe beating by 4 police officers. Mr. Prater’s body sustained injuries including 21 rib fractures, a broken arm, a dislocated shoulder, blunt trauma to the scrotum, and a large number of abrasions and bruises.

  Even before 1981, there were incidences of alleged police misconduct in Chattanooga. The book Both Sides of the Fence unveiled corruption in the Chattanooga Police Department in the 1940s through the 1980s.59 It was revealed that there were police officers as active members of the Ku Klux Klan. That was interesting, but not surprising. On October 11, 2004, while remodeling a popular downtown building in Chattanooga, a brick wall mural was discovered. The four paintings, which had been covered with Sheetrock, showed a hooded Klan member astride a horse. It is believed that Klan meetings, including attendance by prominent Chattanooga families, were held in that building.60

  Both Sides of the Fence was written in 2006 by Bob Martin, a retired officer from the Chattanooga Police Department. The book documented his actual experiences and observations of corrupt activities. He admits to being a part of the corruption as a “bad cop” at one point. He reported that he later became a Christian and converted to being a “good cop”—hence the book’s title. During the time span discussed in his book, Chattanooga is described as a town protected by a corrupt and self-serving local government; the powerful and privileged had their hands on all of the strings; and there was innocence accused and guilt unpunished.61

  When I think of innocence accused in Chattanooga, my mind immediately recalls the historical account of Ed Johnson, a black man lynched in 1906. Johnson was falsely accused and convicted of raping a white woman. He was held in jail, where his safety was not protected and a lynch mob was allowed to “break in” and take him to the Walnut Street Bridge for the hanging. I have marched across that bridge to protest Leslie’s death. On the top of Johnson’s tombstone are his final words: “God Bless You All. I am A Innocent Man.” At the bottom is written “Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.”62 Almost one hundred years later, on February, 26, 2000, Mr. Johnson was cleared of the rape conviction. The request to clear his name was brought forward by a local black minister and former county commissioner, the Rev. Paul McDaniel.63 You may be thinking, “How is the Johnson lynching connected to police brutality?” I mention the case of Ed Johnson because I believe that the lives of black men don’t matter to some people, the past is being repeated, but disguised by some police officers as dutifully serving and protecting. We need to know our past so as not to repeat the horrors of the past. In so many ways, it feels like our past is catching up with us.64

  Because of the numerous deaths of African American males while in police custody, it appears that police departments are ideal places of employment for persons who endorse ideas held by Klan members. Ideally, one could abuse and kill black people and get paid for it. One wouldn’t need to hide behind a sheet and hood but merely put on a police uniform and badge. Based on the experience of many families, we have the answer to the question posed by the ABC television series How to Get Away with Murder. One answer may be to first join a police department.

  I stress again that the majority of police officers are hardworking, fair-minded, conscientious individuals. Research reports that 50–70 percent of the brutality complaints are lodged against only 5–15 percent of police officers.65 One police officer volunteered to tell me, however, that when he was employed in a police department in Illinois, he observed that at least 25 percent was a more accurate percentage of abusers. He resigned because he was uncomfortable in that environment. It’s understandable why some people experience fear when alone and approached by an officer. There is no way of initially knowing if this officer is among the 5–15 percent or the 85–95 percent.

  Most African Americans are law-abiding citizens and may never have been in a confrontation with police officers. Yet, from persons with whom I have spoken and from my own personal experience, some African Americans believe their skin color attracts unwarranted attention from law enforcement or security officers. I recall a round-trip airline experience while traveling with a white colleague from Illinois to New York soon after the 9/11 tragedy. On that particular trip, at every checkpoint, I was always pulled aside for an additional security check from a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) staff member. My friend asked, “Why do they keep stopping you?” I replied, “I guess it is because I have the face of a criminal.” So, African Americans are potential suspects merely because of their skin color. This could explain author Marvin Free’s theory of why there will likely be numerous interactions between African Americans and the criminal justice system.66 Feelings of anxiety when African Americans are stopped by police officers, especially if alone, are understandable, regardless of the racial profile of the officer. In fact, black people may be at an additional disadvantage if stopped by a black officer when a white officer is present. According to research, there is a tendency for the black officer to be more aggressive with a black suspect when on duty with a white partner. The black officer may want to avoid the appearance of showing favoritism, which results in the black citizen being treated worse than if he had first been approached by a white officer.67 In our case of Leslie’s death, the original report was that three white officers were involved. Oddly, a few days later, a black officer’s name was added. Also, there was a black police chief in charge when Leslie was killed. Based on his behavior and decisions, there may as well have been a white Klansman in charge.

  I can’t speak for all African Americans, but I do believe that many law-abiding African Americans, when stopped by the police, don’t initially assume that the officer is stopping
them to assist them or to secure their safety, even when that may be the case. When a black male is approached by a police officer, his blood pressure automatically begins to rise, because he doesn’t know if he is being approached by a “good cop” or a “bad cop,” to put it simply. He is more likely to expect the enforcement approach, which is different from the serve-and-protect approach, used in predominately white neighborhoods.68 Most white citizens may be accustomed to the serve-and-protect scenario, while black citizens may be more accustomed to the enforcement approach, which is often accompanied with hostile, disrespectful language.

  The racial integration of neighborhoods can have a negative impact on men of color residing in those communities. Actually, population demographics are changing the face of suburban neighborhoods. There are several factors contributing to this shifting paradigm, including the slow white population growth, new minority populations, and increased residential freedom for a new generation of blacks with economic stability. According to the 2010 census, half of metropolitan blacks became suburban residents, creating “black flight.” A growing number of these communities are achieving the “melting pot,” with 35 percent minority representation.69 I feel that this information is significant. I wonder how many police academies are informing future officers of these social dynamics. This information is important because persons of color are stopped in these neighborhoods while traveling to and from their homes, or while merely visiting friends and relatives. Police officers are asking, “Why are you in this community?” Officers may immediately assume that minorities in “white neighborhoods” are there for criminal activity, without any reason for such a conclusion except that the individual is a black male. Consider the case of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin. He was merely walking with a beverage and snack in his hand, but because of his race he was profiled and killed.70

  This racial profiling of innocent black men also happens to African American celebrities and upper-middle-class citizens. T. J. Holmes, a television journalist, was followed closely by a police cruiser and stopped as he was approximately a mile from his home in Atlanta. The officer told him that he was stopped because he wanted to know if he had automobile insurance. Mr. Holmes was also asked to show the officer a bill of sale for the car he was driving.71 Dr. Henry Louis Gates, a prominent scholar of African American history and Harvard professor, was arrested on the porch of his Cambridge, Massachusetts, home. A person had called the police after seeing two black men on the porch trying to enter the home. It seems it never occurred to the caller, or the police sergeant, that this black man could actually be the homeowner.72 Dr. Gates’s example is one that Georgetown University Professor Michael Eric Dyson refers to as “housing while black.”73 The attempt to address the Gates matter resulted in a meeting infamously referred to as the “Beer Summit.” President Obama hosted the meeting at the White House that included Dr. Gates, Sergeant Crowley, and Vice President Biden, with beer serving as the mediator.74

  Some people are programmed to quickly associate brown skin with criminal activity and act accordingly. On February 6, 2015, the police in Madison, Alabama, received a call from a woman stating that a skinny black guy, whom she had not seen before, was walking in her neighborhood. According to the Huntsville Times, the woman stated that the man looked suspicious and was peering into garages. When police arrived and approached the man, he did not follow their orders and repeated “no English.” The outcome of the confrontation was that unarmed Sureshbhal Patel was brutalized. He was non-English-speaking and unable to decipher the officer’s directions. He received severe neck injuries as he was forced to the ground. He is partially paralyzed and may never walk again. The fifty-seven-year-old Mr. Patel, from India, had only been in the United States for a few days to visit his son, who is a homeowner in that neighborhood. It appears that there was nothing suspicious about Mr. Patel, other than that he was strolling in the neighborhood clothed in brown skin. The police officer was arrested and a lawsuit is pending.75

  The concept of “to serve and protect” may not apply to African American men, even when they are harming no one and are only in need of help themselves. Consider the tragic case of unarmed, twenty-four-year-old Jonathan Ferrell. He was seeking assistance after he was involved in an automobile accident, which occurred after dark on September 14, 2013. He managed to walk from the accident scene to a house and knocked on the door to seek help. The home was located in Northeast Mecklenburg near Charlotte, North Carolina. The resident called the police, as she was alarmed by a black man knocking at her door and thought he was trying to break into her house. When the police arrived, Mr. Ferrell probably was happy to see them and thought they were there to serve and protect him. Unfortunately, Officer Randall Kerrick did not give Mr. Ferrell a chance to explain his circumstances. As he ran toward the police for help, Officer Kerrick fired twelve times at Ferrell. Ten of those bullets hit Mr. Ferrell and killed him. Jonathan’s mother, Georgia Ferrell, clearly expressed my feelings in these matters and those of other mothers. She said, “You took a piece of my heart that I can never get back.”76 Similar to Leslie’s situation, Jonathan Ferrell’s cry for help was met with death. This tragedy added to the mounting incidents of a white police officer killing an unarmed young black man. Unarmed Ferrell was running toward the police and was shot to death. Unarmed Walter Scott was running from a police officer but was still shot to death.77 Unarmed twenty-three-year-old Sean Bell was shot and killed by police officers on his wedding day in Queens, New York.78 For young black males, it seems to be a miracle to survive an encounter with aggressive police officers, especially if those officers are poorly trained and/or have a negative attitude toward black males.

  Racial profiling can be a precursor leading to the wrongful death of unarmed citizens. One might ask, “So what usually happens to the police in these situations?” What I have discovered is that when police are accused of these murders, there is often little or no accountability. They are innocent until proven innocent. An excellent example is the fatal shooting of unarmed eighteen-year-old Michael Brown by Officer Darren Wilson on August 9, 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri. Although there were eyewitnesses to the shooting of Mr. Brown, who some witnesses said held his hands up in surrender, Wilson killed him anyway. There was no disputing the fact that Michael Brown was unarmed. Officer Wilson was never arrested, but he was put on an extended paid leave, which I still identify as an extended vacation. Wilson was cleared of any civil rights violations but eventually resigned from the police department in November 2014.79 The Ferguson situation is talked about worldwide and appears to be a lightning rod for the beginning of what may be the next significant civil rights movement. Many are questioning, “What is the incentive for abusive officers to stop this behavior?” There is no one conclusive response. Possibly the lack of indictments and imprisonment of these officers in most of these cases is one reason the practice of using excessive force is growing instead of decreasing.80

  In addition to accountability, resulting in loss of freedom, another possible incentive for police to avoid the use of excessive force is the loss of income. If more of these cases ended in officers losing their jobs, there would be less aggressive behavior used against residents. Also, if the guilty officers were responsible for paying their own attorneys, court fees, and lawsuit judgments against them, they might think twice before shooting unarmed citizens and using other forms of unnecessary force to end a person’s life. Who are the fiscal losers? All of us, as taxpayers, are the fiscal losers. According to Nick Wing of the Huffington Post, we pay a shocking amount in lawsuit judgments for police misconduct. Here are merely a few examples from his investigative report. Chicago spent $521 million from 2004 to 2014; New York City spent $348 million from 2006 to 2011; Los Angeles spent $101 million from 2002 to 2011; and Oakland, California, spent $74 million from 1990 to 2014.81 That money could have been applied toward addressing quality-of-life issues, such as enhancements in education, health, economic development, and
affordable housing.

  We often hear the sentiment expressed that no one is above the law. Often, police officers are provided a status that is above the law, especially in matters involving assaults and the deaths of citizens. The role of an officer is a powerful one, which can easily be abused. For the percentage of officers who are dishonest, there seems to be little limits to their abuse. They have the power to manipulate the reports, including the creation of false reports in which there was actually no crime. They can easily lie, and their accounts of the incidents are more likely to be upheld by the justice system than the words of lay citizens. They can plant drugs and weapons on people and in their vehicles to increase the likelihood of felony convictions. Police officers have a lot of autonomy and discretion in how they choose to apply the law. For example, there are a number of alternatives an officer has when engaging in traffic law enforcement. The officer can take an offender into custody by making an arrest, issue a traffic citation, issue a written warning, issue a verbal warning, or take no action.82 Also, an officer can choose to kill an unarmed person during a routine traffic stop.

  I support the sentiment expressed by the 1968 Kerner Commission that police misconduct, whether described as brutality, harassment, verbal abuse, or discourtesy, cannot be tolerated, even if it is infrequent.83 From the 2009 and 2010 annual and quarterly statistics in Cato Institute’s work titled National Police Misconduct Reporting Project, it was reported that more police misconduct was for excessive force than any other category, representing 25 percent. From those cases, 58 percent involved fist strikes, throws, choke holds, baton strikes, and other physical attacks; 145 involved firearms; and 10 percent involved Tasers. When there were deaths involved, 70 percent involved firearms.84