On Andre Green

[Content Note: Police killing.]

Last night in Indianapolis, police shot and killed a 15-year-old black boy named Andre Green. The police recount events thus:

The officers were following a car from a carjacking earlier in the night when the suspect turned down Butler Avenue then turned around, started heading toward police and actually rammed a police cruiser in the driver's side, according to an IMPD spokesperson.

Officers say that's when several passengers took off running and police ordered the driver out of the car. He drove toward them, so they fired fearing for the lives.

"We can say with confidence that officers were faced with aggression and they met that aggression head-on," said IMPD Ofc. Chris Wilburn.

He said the entire situation was and still is quite traumatic for the officers.

"They are in shock physiologically," Wilburn said. "They are coming off of this physiological high in that their bodies have had a huge adrenaline dump. But they acted in a professional manner. No other lives were lost as a result of this and no officers were injured."

Police records show Andre Green has a history of running away from home and car thefts.

Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene where investigators found him with a firearm in his hand.

So, a 15-year-old criminal is dead, and the police who killed him are traumatized. And they definitely had no other option but to kill him, which was for sure acting "in a professional manner."

Okay. Maybe. Except:

Andre Green's family wants nothing more than for his friends who were in the car with him to come forward.

"It was so many stories," said Malonda Lamb, Andre's aunt. "None of them were the same as the detectives' or the police. There was someone else in the car with him. We don't know who was in the car with him, but we're asking you, could you please forward? You saw something. You saw them shoot him. You saw them chase him. You saw something. Please, come forward. Please, that's all we ask of you."

So witnesses apparently have a version (or versions) of events that differ from the police's. (A familiar scenario.) And there is no recording of the killing of Andre Green because:

In the time since [Michael] Brown's death, 24 states have passed more than 40 measures intended to change the way police interact with the public, according an Associated Press analysis. Those laws address things such as officer-worn cameras, training about racial bias and independent investigations when police use force.

Despite the flurry of new laws, far more proposals around the country have stalled or failed — including those in Indiana.

...Indiana lawmakers do plan to study at least one issue that has risen to the forefront amid police shootings across the country: Police body cameras.

At least 15 other states have passed legislation during the past year providing funding or setting policies for officer body cameras.

But the focus of the study here in Indiana will be on how to restrict public access to that footage.

Emphasis mine. There are currently no state laws requiring the recording of the police, and the state is primarily interested in studying how to protect that footage, should such a requirement ever come to pass.

There is no accountability. And without accountability, and transparency, there can be no trust.

My sincerest condolences to Andre Green's family and friends. I hope they get they answers they want and need.