Another police shooting brings some questions, and an alleged suicide brings even more.

Another day brings news of another questionable use of lethal force on a civilian by someone in law enforcement.

This time the shooting took place in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the home of the University of Michigan and all those college educated types. 

I think it's time that police departments consider changing some of their protocols when responding to domestic violence or  certain types of 911 calls. The woman in this case was mentally ill, and from all indication she was carrying a knife when she was shot and killed by the officer. Still, it doesn't necessarily mean that she should have lost her life.

"Police on Tuesday released the name of the 40-year-old woman shot and killed by an Ann Arbor police officer Sunday night.

Aura Rosser was fatally shot after police say she confronted officers with a knife inside a home in the 2000 block of Winewood of Ann Arbor, according to officials.

Rosser, of Ann Arbor, was shot once, according to Michigan State Police First Lt. Sean Furlong. Rosser's boyfriend, 54-year-old Victor Stephens, initially told The Ann Arbor News she was shot twice, once in the head and once in the chest.
 
Furlong wouldn't release where on her body Rosser was shot because the case is still under investigation. An autopsy was being performed Tuesday morning and any information about the official cause of death and details about the injuries likely wouldn't be released until it was complete.
Investigators wrapped up processing the scene Monday and were continuing to conduct interviews Tuesday, Furlong said. A toxicology report will also be conducted on Rosser to see if she was intoxicated at the time. The investigation could take weeks." {Source}

Did "color arousal" play a role in this poor woman's death? Maybe. But this case, unlike the one involving Eric Garner and Michael Brown, is not as clear cut.

The death of Victor White III is a little more "clear cut" as far as I am concerned, because the way the police describes it defies logic.

"At 11:22pm on March 2^nd, 2014 a deputy from the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a fight at a convenience store. Minutes later, Victor White III and his acquaintance Isaiah Lewis (who were not involved in the fight, but were present at the store when it happened) were stopped a few blocks away by Corp. Justin Ortis.

According to an Iberia Sheriff’s Office service report obtained by NBC News, White consented to a pat-down during which Ortis “located suspected marijuana in [White’s] front pants pocket”. After back up arrived, an additional search was conducted on White resulting in the discovery of a small amount of cocaine. Lewis was let go, while White was placed in the back of a cruiser with his hands cuffed behind his back, and transported to the Iberia Country Sheriff’s Office. That was the last time anyone other than law enforcement saw White alive.

The night White was arrested, his father Reverend Victor White II called the Sheriff’s Office looking for his son. He was told that his son had never been arrested and was not in their custody. It wasn’t until a friend told him about a press release the Louisiana State Police posted on their Facebook page that Rev. White found out what happened to his son:

 TROOP I NEWS RELEASE  

March 3, 2014   

State Police Investigate In-Custody Death of Iberia Parish Man
Iberia Parish- Early this morning, Louisiana State Police Detectives began investigating the death of 22 year old Victor White III of New Iberia after he was found deceased of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Troopers began the investigation at the request of Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal.

The initial investigation indicates that last night at about 11:22 p.m., deputies with the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office were responding to the report of a fight in the 300 block of Lewis Street. Upon responding to the area, deputies located White and discovered he was in possession of illegal narcotics. White was taken into custody, handcuffed behind his back, and transported to the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office for processing. Once at the Sheriff’s Office, White became uncooperative and refused to exit the deputy’s patrol vehicle. As the deputy requested assistance from other deputies, White produced a handgun and fired one round striking himself in the back. White was transported to a local hospital by ambulance where he was pronounced dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Detectives are continuing to investigate the circumstances of the case.

The family hired Carol Powell-Lexing and Benjamin Crump and sought to get more information from the Sheriff’s Office and the Louisiana State Troopers, but little was revealed until the coroner’s report was released on August 25^th, 2014. The report revealed that White’s fatal gunshot wound actually entered the right side of his chest and exited under his left armpit (unusual since White was a left handed). Abrasions and gunshot residue were found on White’s body, but the report did not indicate whether his hands were tested for the substance. Despite these inconsistencies, Iberia Parish coroner Dr. Carl M. Ditch neglected to change the ruling on Victor’s death from a suicide to a homicide." {Source}

I blogged about this tragedy back in March ,when I first learned about it, and nothing I have learned about the case since has caused me to change my opinion about how this all went down: Something is fishy in Iberia Parish.

*Victor White III pic from the Grio. 

 

Even Klansmen have their angels.

Talk about a moral dilemma. Do you save a man's life, who, if the script was flipped, would not do the same for you? Or, do you let an angry mob give him the beating that he so clearly deserves?

That's the situation Keshia Thomas was faced with back in 1996 when the klan decided to march among a group of protesters in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

"When people are in a crowd they are more likely to do things they would never do as an individual. Someone had to step out of the pack and say, 'This isn't right....' “

To get an idea what Ms. Thomas had to go through, just look at the pictures in this post.

No doubt this was a profile in courage, and this young lady deserves a special shout out for letting her humanity shine through. Honestly, I can't say that I would have done the same thing.

"She put herself at physical risk to protect someone who, in my opinion, would not have done the same for her," he said. "Who does that in this world?"

Thomas, who had previously experienced violence, says that the man did not deserve to be attacked.

“Nobody deserves to be hurt, especially not for an idea."

She has never met the man she protected again, but months later a young man approached her in coffee shop and thanked her. When she asked what he was thanking her for, his reply was simple.

“That was my dad.” [Source]

At least the man's son had the decency to thank Ms. Thomas for literally saving his father's life. I wonder what happened to the father. He must have lost all of his white supremacist cred when he put himself in a situation which caused a black woman to have to save his life.

How do you explain that to the boyz back under the hood?

"I saw that n****r woman pulling you away from the crowd. What the hell happened to you?"

*Awkward*

If the klansman is dead, hopefully he made peace with his maker before he checked out. If he is still alive, he needs to realize that it's not too late.

*Pictures from the New York Daily News.