RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — One man died after a police officer in New York state instructed him to maneuver his illegally parked automotive. One other, within the midst of a psychological well being disaster, was fatally shot by an officer on a Virginia freeway, .
A 3rd man died in Oklahoma after a wrestle with police. His final phrases echoed those utilized by Black males in related circumstances and the chants at civil rights protests: “I can’t breathe.”
The officers concerned within the deaths of Danroy “DJ” Henry Jr., 20, Marcus-David Peters, 24, and Derrick Elliot Scott, 41, all have been cleared of wrongdoing. However the protests since George Floyd was killed throughout a Minnesota police encounter have inspired the lads’s households to attempt to get the investigations reopened.
Racial injustice activists elsewhere, dismayed by a Kentucky grand jury’s resolution to not cost any officers within the taking pictures dying of Breonna Taylor, 26, are urgent authorities to present different circumstances a re-assessment.
These are three of the circumstances prosecutors have been requested to reexamine:
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MARCUS-DAVID PETERS
Marcus-David Peters was a well-liked highschool biology trainer when he appeared to emotionally unravel on Might 14, 2018, in Richmond, Virginia. An officer’s physique digicam captured it on video.
“Male appears to be mentally unstable as we communicate,” Officer Michael Nyantakyi mentioned over his police radio after Peters side-swiped a number of automobiles and crashed his automotive subsequent to a freeway ramp.
Peters, 24, climbed out of his automotive – bare – and bumped into heavy rush hour site visitors. He was hit by a automobile, received up after which laid again down on Interstate 95, flailing his limbs.
Nyantakyi pointed a stun gun at him. The trainer ran towards towards the officer, shouting and threatening to kill him. The officer, who can be Black, deployed the stun gun, which appeared to haven’t any impact, then shot Peters along with his service weapon.
Peters died later at a hospital. A prosecutor cleared Nyantakyi three months later.
The Peters household and native activists have known as on Richmond’s prime prosecutor to reopen the investigation.
“Marcus wanted assist, not dying,” Peters’ sister, Princess Blanding, mentioned.
Commonwealth’s Legal professional Colette McEachin agreed to evaluation the case file, however mentioned that doesn’t assure a relaunched investigation.
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DJ Henry had barely began his grownup life on the day it ended, Oct. 17, 2010, after a police officer in a hamlet north of New York Metropolis requested the faculty pupil to maneuver his automotive out of a fireplace lane.
Henry was a 20-year-old soccer participant at Tempo College. He and a few buddies went to an area restaurant after the homecoming recreation, however left when a struggle broke out amongst different patrons.
Police from two departments responded to the struggle. After an officer requested Henry to maneuver his Nissan Altima, he drove throughout a parking zone and onto an entry street.
That’s the place Pleasantville Officer Aaron Hess stepped in entrance of the automotive and ended up on the hood. Hess fired 4 gunshots by the windshield, killing Henry and wounding certainly one of his buddies.
The officer mentioned he believed Henry was attempting to run him over . A grand jury cleared Hess of wrongdoing in 2011.
Henry’s case, like others, has acquired renewed scrutiny in latest months. Jay-Z, Rihanna, Kerry Washington and different celebrities requested the U.S. Division of Justice in July to analyze. A Justice Division spokeswoman declined to remark.
Pleasantville police initially claimed that Henry drove aggressively towards each Hess and Mt. Nice Officer Ronald Beckley. However throughout a deposition for the Henry household’s subsequent wrongful dying lawsuit, Beckley gave a unique account.
Beckley mentioned he fired his personal gun at Hess as a result of when he noticed the unfamiliar fellow cop on Henry’s automotive, he took him for “the aggressor.” He mentioned he instructed his superiors that the night time Henry was killed.
Henry’s household reached a $6 million civil settlement in 2016. His father needs the felony case reopened as a result of he questions if the grand jury heard all of the related proof.
“I’m not hopeful, however I’ve hope,” Danroy Henry Sr. mentioned. “We’ve got to maintain working within the house that hope creates for this stuff to be doable.”
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DERRICK ELLIOT SCOTT
Vickey Scott mentioned she screamed and fell to the ground the primary time she watched a video of her son moaning and telling police “I can’t breathe” again and again whereas pinned to the bottom.
“Each single day of my life, I hope and praying that these officers are charged with my son’s dying,” the mom mentioned.
Her son, Derrick Elliot Scott, 41, died on Might 20, 2019, virtually one 12 months earlier than George Floyd, 46, used those self same phrases with a police officer’s knee pressed on his neck.
Police encountered Scott whereas responding to a 911 name a couple of man brandishing a gun in a parking zone.
When the officers approached him, Scott ran. The officers tackled him to the bottom. As they tried to place handcuffs on Scott, he repeatedly instructed them, “I can’t breathe.”
The video exhibits an officer pulling a handgun out of Scott’s pocket. Police mentioned it was loaded.
Scott died later at a hospital.
An post-mortem listed the possible reason for dying as a collapsed lung and mentioned a number of situations doubtless contributed, together with bodily restraint, latest methamphetamine use, bronchial asthma, emphysema and coronary heart illness.
Oklahoma County District Legal professional David Prater cleared the officers of misconduct and any felony wrongdoing. Prater mentioned this week that he’s not inclined to reopen the investigation at this level.
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