No Justice

[Content Note: Police brutality; racism; death.]

There will be no indictments in the August shooting of John Crawford, the 22-year-old black man who was killed by police in an Ohio Walmart, after another customer called 911 to report a man waving an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle at customers, though it was actually a BB/pellet rifle which is sold at the store. The grand jury considered charges of murder, reckless homicide, and negligent homicide, and failed to indict any officer of any of those charges.

A special prosecutor says a grand jury found officers' actions were justified in the fatal shooting of a man at an Ohio Wal-Mart.

Special Prosecutor Mark Piepmeier said Wednesday the Greene County grand jury in Xenia opted not to issue any indictments in the Aug. 5 death of 22-year-old John Crawford III.

...Crawford's family says the shooting was not justified and wants federal authorities to investigate whether race was a factor. Crawford was black, the officers are white.

Late yesterday, it was announced that the Justice Department's civil rights division and the FBI "will carry out a 'thorough and independent review of the evidence' relating to the death of John Crawford III."

I'm glad the feds are stepping in, but I'm angry that they have to.

Video of the shooting has been released, and it looks just as it was described by Crawford's family. The video clearly shows that Crawford was not aiming or loading the weapon when he was shot. [CN: Description of shooting.]

The video, which tracks Crawford as he made his way throughout the store, first shows him walking around while talking on his cell phone and picking up the toy gun from the sporting goods aisle. The video then shows Crawford standing calmly at the end of an aisle, holding the toy gun — pointed at the floor — in his right hand. Occasionally, he swings the gun gently back and forth, but there's no point at which the gun's pointed at anything — let alone at any person.

About one minute and a half into the video, Crawford suddenly moves out of the aisle as police officers enter the store with their guns drawn and pointed. Crawford drops the pellet gun, then trip over it into the rear aisle of the store. The audio in the video, which is taken from a 911 call, suggests police fired almost immediately after they placed their sights on Crawford, but it's unconfirmed whether the audio is accurately synced to the video footage. (The prosecutor in the case said Crawford was shot before he dropped the gun.)

Crawford then moves back into the aisle toward them, then turns away again — at which point he drops to his knees as the cops continue to advance. He falls to his back and his legs splay out (the rest of his body is hidden from view).

The video doesn't show any of the behavior described in the 911 call that sent cops to the scene. The 911 call, placed by a man named Ronald Ritchie (who is white), said that Crawford was "pointing it at people" and "like loading [the gun] right now." The video shows Crawford wasn't doing anything like that when police shot him.

John Crawford is dead for no reason, and no one is being held accountable. That isn't justice.