Two days ago, I blogged about the horrific and tragic case of Jose Guerena, who was shot by police 70 times in his own home. They suspected him, quite incorrectly, of being a drug dealer. Today, there was another bizarre story about someone being killed by a cop. A 15 year old boy.
He didn't kill anybody
Now, this case is a bit different. Although we must use words like alleged, it does sound as though the dead individual, Tatioun Williams, was less than an upstanding citizen. Chicago police had stopped him and a friend, 16 year old Brandon Ross, as suspects in a mugging just a couple of blocks away, in which a man had his wallet and an I pod stolen.
The police officer who shot him (a woman, btw) said he was turning around and had a gun. It’s still alleged, of course, but I haven’t yet heard anybody denying that Williams had a gun. His mother’s reaction, “They could have taken him to jail, they didn’t need to kill him” may be true enough, but she didn’t exactly express surprise and disbelief that her boy might have been involved in an armed robbery.
The police officer has not been charged with murder. Fair enough. Self defense, and if it comes out that he didn’t actually have a gun, she might still have gotten away with manslaughter. Here’s where it starts to get weird, though.
The officer hasn’t been charged with anything, but Brandon Ross IS being charged with the murder. Nobody’s saying he actually did it. But, under Illinois law, if you commit a crime and somebody dies as a result of that crime, you can be charged with murder.
Now, I can understand if you are robbing a store and the owner dies of a heart attack, or you are fleeing the police and run over a little old lady, then you are, indeed, responsible for their death. But to say that Brandon Ross killed Tatouin Williams is just completely untrue. And therefore unjust.
Picture this scenario: You are standing on the street corner, peaceably smoking a doob, and the police come. They shoot one member of the party, pick out one of the others who they don’t like the look of, and charge them with the murder.
That’s pretty much exactly what is happening to Brandon Ross.
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