Michelle Chen
Mistaken identity
The death of Officer Omar Edwards strikes a weary nerve in New York City—one that grows more raw with each racially loaded police shooting.
In 1940, a strikingly similar story made the headlines: a black officer, John A. Holt, 31, in plain clothes, was pursuing a burglary suspect in his Harlem neighborhood (not too far from the scene of the Edwards shooting). During the chase, two white officers approached and ordered Holt to drop his weapon, then shot him as he turned. The next day, the New York Times declared: “Negro, Off Duty and Chasing a Burglar, Felled By Shots of Men from Radio Car.”
According to the news report, after questioning witnesses, including the shooters, investigators “said they had found evidence of negligence,” and the death was written off as “an unfortunate situation” in which the officers who killed Holt had “used their best judgment in the performance of their duties.”
The “best judgment” rationale has worn thin over the years, as the credo of “protect and serve” has been hollowed by a continual hail of police bullets.
The Times archives turns up other instances of "friendly fire" in the 1990s involving officers of color, such as the shooting of plainclothes transit cop Derwin Pannell. Race was often a muted subtext in the official narrative.
To the communities freighted with heavy police surveillance every day, the issue of racial bias—whether exercised on impulse or embedded in the structure of law enforcement—eclipses all the legal rationalizations.
Despite efforts by the New York City Police Department to improve its public image and promote “diversity” and “sensitivity,” tensions between police and communities of color continue to thicken, especially when official probes and court trials fail to shatter the Blue Wall.
Daily News columnist Errol Louis said that while the facts surrounding Edwards' death are still emerging, the stage had long been set for the lethal clash.
One news headline described Edwards as "mistaken for a thug"—a reminder of the slurs cops throw around on the job and off. People get classified as thugs, perps, skells, punks and worse.
An onslaught of gangsta rap and other cultural garbage bolsters the bias. We pay a heavy price by letting racist imagery, words and accusations slosh around society unchecked and unchallenged.
In the tense, split-second needed to separate a cop from a crook on a dark street, those myths may have cost a good man his life.
Yet the implication that a cop's life is intrinsically worth more than that of the “crook” he was mistaken for, demands scrutiny. In a climate charged with racial animosity, where some lives are valued more than others, the potential for an explosive encounter lurks on every sidewalk. The tragedy of Omar Edwards points to the more insidious tragedy surrounding the neighborhood he left behind—where anyone and everyone seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Image: Patrick Andrade / Newsday
Posted at 9:26 PM, Jun 01, 2009 in Police | Permalink | View Comments
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NATIONAL BLACK POLICE ASSOCIATION STATEMENT
PRESS RELEASE
SHOOTING DEATH OF OFFICER OMAR EDWARDS
MAY 29, 2009
The shooting death of NYC Officer Omar Edwards may be only hours old; however, the known facts thus far combined with the police experience possessed by members of the National Black Police Association (NBPA) reveal that the shooter, Officer Andrew Dutton, was reckless and shot without identifying himself as a policeman and worse, failing to give Officer Edwards a chance to drop his weapon. As has been the case in all shootings of black officers by white officers ---by example the shooting of Officer Ridley in Westchester and the shooting of Officer Young in Providence, the shooting officers recklessly mistake black officers to be criminals and then commence fire without warning. This shoot first and ask questions later behavior clashes with the caution and protocol that we as police officers are supposed to undertake when confronting individuals with guns. Furthermore, consider that coroner’s report shows that Edwards was shot in the back. Consider that Dutton’s weapon is limited to a three round burst. Six to seven rounds were fired. This means that Dutton pulled the trigger at least twice. By the end of the first burst—Dutton had to know he was aiming at a man’s back and wrongfully firing his weapon. Two other officers were with Dutton, yet Dutton was the only shooter. Lastly, after Dutton shot Edwards----Edwards was handcuffed and lay dying in his blood. The officers rendered no assistance to their dying black comrade. It was not until the paramedics arrived that Edwards was tended to. Without significant efforts by the New York City Police Department to cause officers to be more open minded, there will be many more black officers killed by fellow officers. Writer & Member: Christopher Cooper: 312 371 6752 (E-mail: cooperlaw3234@gmail.com); Executive Director: Ronald Hampton, 202 744 2897 (NBPANATOFC@worldnet.att.net) National Chairperson: John Hayes
National Black Police Association
30 Kennedy Street-NW, Suite 101
Washington, DC 20011
(202) 986-2070 (202) 986-0410 FAX
mail to: nbpanatofc@worldnet.att.net
Posted by: National Black Police Association | June 2, 2009 6:04 PM