On October 12th of this year, an African American woman by the name of Atatiana Koquice Jefferson was fatally shot by a white police officer in her Fort Worth, Texas home. The people of Fort Worth are outraged because sadly, an incident like this isn’t uncommon. In Fort Worth alone, there have been 9 police officer involved shootings this year.
Atatiana’s nephew was in the room at the time of this incident. He told forensic officers that Atatiana and him were up playing video games together at around 2:30am. Atatiana had heard a noise outside, which was the officer who was entering their home through their backyard rather than first knocking and entering through the front door. According to the officer, his reason for shooting Atatiana was that he “perceived a threat” and that ‘threat’ was Tatiana's handgun. When she had heard the noise, she grabbed her handgun and approached the back window, where she was then fatally shot. However, Atatiana had every right to grab her handgun because it was licensed and the officer entered the premises without first identifying himself as a police officer or presenting a warrant.
Aaron Dean, the officer who killed Atatiana, has a very questionable background. He has misdemeanor assault charge, which involved him flirting with a fellow University of Texas college student who he made uncomfortable by “stroking her breast”, he then asked the student to not report on it because he was, at the time, in a very conservative church and feared backlash. This incident occurred about a decade prior to him being hired for the Fort Worth Police Department. During his FWPD interview, he was asked if he would be able to kill someone and Aaron said he would have “no problem”. Aaron had also resigned hours before the FWPD was planning on firing him. The FWPD has apologized for the death of Atatiana and has arrested Aaron.
The family of Atatiana hired Lee Merritt as their attorney, he has commented that the Jefferson family wants an independent investigation done to avoid fondling of evidence and a cover up. Meritt stated that, “The city of Fort Worth is unique in allowing its own department to investigate its own officers.”
The death of Atatiana is another example of racism in our justice system and more specifically, an example of racial profiling, as well as a much needed revision on police practices and training. Similar to other cases we’ve reviewed in class, such as the death of Jordan Davis, this was an issue of race. Would Atatiana been alive today if it wasn’t for the color of her skin? It’s sad to see another innocent life lost to those who are supposed to protect us.
This is an interesting case because of Atatiana's gun. It is possible that he really did see her as a threat because of the gun but ultimately, he should not have entered the house the way that he did, and his other behavior including the assault of a student and his unusual insensitivity to killing people.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the officer had reasonable cause to feel threatened upon seeing the handgun, but should not have entered Atatiana's home through her backyard. By entering the home through Atatiana's backyard unannounced, the police made Atatiana feel threatened and prompted her to arm herself. Atatiana's death can be compared to Micheal Brown's death. Both Atatiana and Micheal were killed by police officers on the basis of a perceived threat. Implicit bias towards African American people contributed to the officers' perceived threats. For Micheal Brown, authorities even tried to play on society's implicit bias in order to sway public opinion: claiming that Micheal Brown had robbed a store the day he was shot. This is just one example of how authorities try to cover up the wrongdoings of members of the legal system. The Jefferson family's request for an independent investigation will be vital in creating justice for Atatiana and will aid in preventing another corrupt investigation and subsequent cover up.
DeleteThe fact that there is another example of police brutality shows that America hasn't changed at all and there is a clear view that it won't stop. I agree with you that this is another example of racism in America and it doesn't help that the officer had a bad background too and also when asked if he would kill anyone he said "No problem," which I think is very sketchy of him to say.
ReplyDeleteWhile I do not think that the officer was justified in shooting Atatiana, her death is likely as much as result of police brutality as well as profiling. Officers receive several times more hours devoted to training on guns rather than de-escalation tactics. Rather than being upfront and asking the inhabitants if there was anything wrong, he tried to enter without their knowledge. This seems like very questionable behavior and suggests that he was more of a threat to Atatiana than she was to him. If he had asked her to put the gun down or taken a moment to explain the situation, she would have likely put the gun down and there would have been no death. However, the officer seems to have the mindset of "shoot first, ask questions later" from his blunt response about killing others. This aligns with the focus on violence in police training. Police departments should not enable this behavior as it justifies the murder of innocent people based on racial profiling.
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