Nationwide — With the increasing number of Black people being shot and killed by white police officers, the issues surrounding the way police officers use force and treat also African-Americans continue. To add more insult to the injury, white police officers get away with it most of the time. There have been times when they were actually charged, but then later got acquitted. However, there are at least 10 times when the officer was convicted:
#2 – In East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Officer Michael Rosfeld was charged for the death of 17-year-old Black teen Antwon Rose Jr. Rosfeld shot the teen after he fled from a traffic stop. The pretrial hearing for the case is scheduled for September 11.
#3 – A North Miami police officer, Jonathan Aledda, was charged with four felonies and misdemeanors including attempted manslaughter after the death of unarmed behavioral therapist Charles Kinsey. Aledda shot Kinsey while he was trying to protect his severely autistic patient who was holding a silver toy gun, whom a bystander thought was a gun.
#4 – A judge sentenced former Chicago police officer Marco Proano to five years in federal prison for using excessive force and shooting at a stolen car packed with teenagers in 2013. He fired 16 shots to the car and injured 2 Black teenagers. He was considered the first police officer in Chicago to be sentenced to federal prison for an on-duty shooting.
#5 – In another incident in Chicago, Jason Van Dyke was charged with six counts of first-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery for the death of 17-year-old Black teen Laquan McDonald in 2014. McDonald was allegedly walking with a folding knife in his hand and did not obey police commands to drop it when Van Dyke shot him 16 times. A dashcam video showed McDonald was already walking away when Van Dyke fired the shots.
#6 – Former officer Michael Slager was charged for the murder of 50-year-old Walter Scott, whom he shot following a daytime traffic stop in North Charleston, South Carolina for a non-functioning brake light. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison and the City of North Charleston agreed to pay $6.5 million to Scott’s family.
#7 – Dominique Haeggan-Brown, a former Milwaukee police officer who fatally shot a 23-year old Black man, Sylville Smith, during an August 2016 foot chase, was charged with first-degree reckless homicide. Haeggan-Brown, who is also Black, faced 60 years in prison but was found not guilty for the crime. He was fired and is still facing charges, however, for an unrelated sexual assault case.
#8 – Former officer Jeronimo Yanez, a Latino, was charged with second-degree manslaughter after firing several shots to 32-year-old Philando Castile, whom he pulled over while driving in Falcon Heights, Minnesota for a broken taillight. He said he feared for his life because he apparently saw Castile reaching for his gun, in which he had a permit for. He was acquitted of all charges and even received $48,500 as part of a voluntary buyout.
#9 – After killing Samuel DuBose for driving without a front license plate during a July 2015 traffic stop, former officer Raymond Tensing of the University of Cincinnati was charged with murder. He went through trial twice but the jury was hung both times and the charges were later on dismissed. He even received $350,000 from UC when he agreed to resign.
#10 – Officer Betty Shelby of Tulsa Police Department in Oklahoma was charged with manslaughter after shooting 40-year old unarmed Black man, Terence Crutcher. However, in the 2017 trial, the jury acquitted Shelby of all charges. She is now a deputy with the nearby Roger County Sheriff’s Department and is even certified to teach other cops a course on how to deal with the aftermath of police shootings.
